A Sad but Inspiring Story

2024全球脊柱大会在泰国曼谷完美收官。北美脊柱协会前主席Jeffrey教授每年对此次大会的特别贡献。今年他写信告诉我，明年我们应该可以相见。今晚我又一次想起他告诉我的他父亲特别悲壮的人生传奇故事。“我的父亲在我的一生中给我的启发最大。他的故事很悲壮，但却很励志，这在他们那代人中可能很常见。他在中国大陆中部一个小镇外的一个小农场长大。他很早就知道，如果不离开自己的小镇，不改变自己的处境，除了在农场工作，他将永远没有机会做别的事情。13岁那年，他和爷爷把所有能背的农产品都打包，两人走了几天的路，来到了最近的小镇卖掉了所有的农产品，爷爷把所有的钱都交给了他。我父亲拿着钱去最近的城市上学了，自此他再也没有见过他的父母。他努力供自己上学，离开了祖国，最后在宾夕法尼亚大学取得了政治学博士学位。生活在美国的他，直到五十多岁才有机会与亲属联系，而那时，他的父母和大部分兄弟都已经去世了。他还给我讲了他如何从战争中生存下来，如何努力寻找食物，如何努力求学的故事。这些都给我留下了深刻的印象，所以我知道了种瓜得瓜、种豆得豆这个道理。每当医院有重要问题或紧急情况时，我就会想到他的艰难，这真的让人觉得很有意义。他给我最难忘的一个建议是，你无法控制别人的行为和想法，你只能控制自己的行为。所以，即使别人对你不公平，也要公平对待他们，做正确的事。这样一来，你就可以一直活在你所做的事情中，你就可以在晚上安然入睡了。他是一名教师，虽然是移民，英语不是他的第一语言，但他找到了与人沟通的方法。”

The Global Spine Congress 2024 (GSC 2024) has written a perfect ending in Bangkok, Thailand. The former president of the North American Spine Society (NASS) Prof. Jeffrey Wang has made great contributions to this congress every year. This year, he wrote to me that it might be a good chance that we can meet in the next year. Tonight again, it came to my mind the moving, tragic, but legendary story of his father that he told me. “My father has inspired me the most in my life. He has one of those sad but inspiring stories that are probably quite common to people in his generation. He grew up on a small farm outside a small town in central China. He knew early on, that if he did not leave his town or change his situation, during that period of time in China, he would never have the chance to do anything else but work on a farm. At age 13, he and his father packed all the produce they could carry on their backs, and the two of them walked several days to the nearest town. They sold all the produce and his father handed him all the money. My father took it and went to the nearest city to go to school. He never saw his parents again. He struggled to put himself through school, and left China to get his PhD in political science at the University of Pennsylvania. Living in the United States, he did not have the opportunity to contact any of his relatives, until he was in his fifties, and by then, his parents and most of his brothers had passed away. He told me stories of how he survived the war, struggled to find food to eat, and struggled to get his education. These had such an impression on me that I try to take nothing for granted. Whenever there is an important issue or emergency at the hospital, I think of how tough it was for him, and it really puts things into perspective. One of the most memorable pieces of advice he gave me was that you cannot control what other people do and what they think, you can only control what you do. So even if others are treating you unfairly, treat them fairly and do what is right. That way, you can always live with what you do and you can sleep at night. He was a teacher, and although an immigrant where English was not his mother tongue, he found a way to connect to people.”