M
y dad was born on Vancouver Island in Cumberland, near Courtney and Comox. When Cumberland had a coalmine, it was one of the largest Chinatowns on the West Coast.
My dad lost his father in early childhood. His mother was left with six children to raise on her own. But my grandmother’s life was difficult from the start.
At age nine, she was sold to a wealthy Chinese family that moved to Vancouver. She worked throughout her childhood and was not taught English.
She was married and had her first child at age 14. But my dad remembers her as being very good with her hands, a skilled chef and seamstress. She managed to make ends meet and raise each of her children to be independent.
My dad worked throughout his childhood to support his family, finished school, studied auto mechanics and worked at Vancouver Motors downtown.
He saved enough to study science at UBC and dentistry at McGill. When he talks about his childhood, he never complains about the prejudice he endured or the hardship his family suffered. He talks about wonderful life experiences, his lifelong friends and the kindness of so many people along the way.
My mom was born in the Strathcona neighbourhood of Vancouver. When my mom was nine years old, she and her seven siblings were orphaned. Her oldest sisters were teenagers and her youngest brother was still in diapers.
There was no extended family to help them. To keep the family together, the oldest sisters decided that they would all work to raise the rest of the family until the youngest finished school.
My mom always taught me the value of a good family in which each is responsible for one another, and 76 years later, my aunts, uncles and cousins continue to celebrate the love of family at our annual Boxing Day party.
My parents’ stories could have been told with sadness or bitterness but instead, they are stories of courage, resilience, gratitude and love. The way they told their stories shaped how they lived their lives, related to others and raised our family.
My mom’s love for me was unconditional. She saw the best and expected the best of me.
At first, I thought I had to be a top student and athlete like my brother to earn my parents’ love, but I eventually realized their love came with no conditions. I would always be loved and accepted just as I was.
My mom’s circle of concern continued to expand throughout her life. She had many friends and was involved in helping others in her United Church and community. She would go out of her way to make a positive difference in the lives of other people with not so random everyday acts of kindness.
When she died unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest 12 years ago, I was overwhelmed with grief, but over time I realized that my mother’s greatest gift was still with me. It was her love, compassion and kindness.
I could never give back all the love that my mom had given me, but I was already giving it out and giving it forward. I realized that what I feel towards my own children is the same love my mother gave to me, and if I teach them well, that same love will be given to others beyond my own lifetime.
My mother’s greatest legacy was of love. This legacy of love belongs to every one of us.
Sixty per cent of our body is made up of water. It’s in each of our cells and in our circulation, but we don’t own that water. We consume it in our food and drink, we lose it through perspiration and elimination.
In school, we studied the water cycle. Water evaporates, condenses into clouds, precipitates as snow or rain, freezes, thaws, flows into rivers, lakes and oceans, continuously cycling around the globe. It belongs to no one. It belongs to everyone.
I see ourselves as vessels of love and we are part of the love cycle. We receive love from many people throughout our lives — friends, family, teachers and coaches — and it comes in many forms including the random kindness of strangers.
It doesn’t always come unconditionally — it comes in many imperfect and human forms because we are imperfect and human, but still we receive love from infinite sources.
Love is not a finite resource. It is in us to give, and the giving of love does not diminish us but connects us and makes us stronger.
Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician and his Healthwise columns appear regularly in this paper.
