by Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
In early August, I had an amazing reconnecting experience with my good friends from my undergraduate years in Minnesota, U.S.A. We have not seen each other for 20-30 years, though we have been in contact once in a long while. Some of their children are even my godchildren, for we are more than ordinary friends. Regretfully, I could be a much better-connected godfather to them.
I should highlight that these “buddies” of mine and their children are Caucasian Americans. My buddies are around my age, and most of their children are young adults and adults, some of whom already have their own families. I decided to visit my buddies this summer while we were still healthy enough to move around, not confined to wheelchairs or hospital beds. And while we still have the mental coherence to recall those precious memories, have good laughs, able to appreciate and be grateful for who we were and what we had gone through together as friends.
Duluth is where we had our undergraduate education, though our majors were different—psychology & philosophy, biology, and art. What brought us together was my Caucasian friends’ genuine curiosity and respectful interest in Chinese culture. They were good friends of Chinese students, and those from Hong Kong in particular. Such genuineness, keen interest, and respect for our culture and personhood have sustained our friendships, mutually enriched by cultural diversity, for almost half a century.
Moreover, the university’s curriculum design emphasised a liberal arts education, which came as a breath of fresh air to me. Tertiary education in Hong Kong at the time adopted a focus on specialisation. This visit has brought back not only fond memories but also what made Duluth such a charming small city of natural beauty and personal relationships. And the university was a learning community that prepared me, not only academically and professionally, but also equipped me with positive psychological and social skills, and an open mind to navigate my uncharted future.
My double majors were psychology and philosophy, and later, educational psychology in graduate school. Every discipline has its merits in empowering its students with its core knowledge and skill sets.
But it was ‘relationships’ that have formed me to embrace the unknowns with confidence—the personal and nurturing relationships between professors and students, supervisors and supervisees, and between peers. All these, I believe, must have God’s blessings in them.
A good American friend of mine came to Hong Kong with me after college graduation. In this visit, he incredibly recounted in detail of whom he had met, what he had seen, and most certainly what he had tasted. They were described as if they were his recent experiences. In fact, they were his significant life experiences over forty years ago.
A couple of his children, with whom I happily reconnected during this trip, told me that their father’s experiences in Hong Kong and his friendship with me have indirectly broadened their mindsets and taste for different cultures. That being American is not their only reference in life. This is truly significant for today. Young people who are not confined by their cultural or national identity but happily engage in mindful dialogue with the ‘others’ in the world is exactly what our world needs.
As we get ready for September 1st, the start of the new academic year, our focus also turns to our young students. The first few weeks of the academic year have been a time of heightened anxiety for our students in recent years. We certainly do not want our students to become some aimless nomads of life, or some lonely souls crushed by the heavy and unceasing demands of our competitive world, including our ‘competitive education industry.’
Instead, we should pay closer attention to our students’ emotional feedback. We must also ask what types of learning communities we can provide for their positive personal growth, their sense of well-connectedness with adults and peers, who are genuinely interested in them. We must not forget that they will need a community that can help them navigate the unknowns and look forward to a future with hopeful confidence as nationals of their respective countries, but also as caring citizens of our Common Home.
+ Stephen Cardinal Chow, S.J.
