A Trip To the Past (寻根記)

My family and I went on a discovery trip from 12 to 13 September 2016.

Besides my family, there were five other related families that went on the trip.

We wanted to visit the old house of Mr Liew FeiRu (刘斐如) who is my late grandfather.

The old house is still standing and is located at Gongzhou (公州), a village in Dapu (大埔).

Dapu (大埔) is a county in the prefecture-level city of Meizhou (梅州) and Meizhou (梅州) is part of the province of Guangdong (广東).

The description of my final destination may give you a better idea about the large geographical size of the People’s Republic of China.

The people on that trip represent four generations of Mr Liew’s descendants and they range between the age of three years old to 87 years old.

The ancestral house was initially occupied by a family of friends. They did not have to pay any rent but they have to look after the house.

Unfortunately, they were drawn over time to move to the big cities and our old house had to be abandoned.

For years now, the old house that once stood proudly as a shelter for many of our ancestors was being left to derelict and ruin.

Although our old family friends made it a point to clean up the place before our arrival, I could see that the paints were chipping away.

Some of the doors and windows were no longer usable. The roof was leaking and the pillars were rotting away.

As I walked from room to room, I could feel a wave of sadness coming over me.

I could hear voices from the past – voices harkening to better moments spent in that house.

Moments that became part of memories, some of which were turned into lessons for life.

These lessons shaped lives and the generations that came after them.

If you reflect on your past life, you’ll realise that places that were close to your heart played a major influence on your life.

The experiences that you went through in these places; including some of your homes and workplaces, and your responses to these experiences shaped your personality and behaviour.

Those of us who are privileged to inherit such places or memories of such places will have to seriously consider how we want to preserve these places.

More importantly, we need to preserve and recount the stories that were connected to these places and the lessons from them.

We may have to share these stories again and again so that those who come after us can be inspired to rise up to pursue greatness and claim their places in life.

When you move on from this world to a better world, you will leave behind your story.

That matters more than many things you’ll leave behind.

I pray that your story and the places in the story will be worth telling,

Your story will inspire others to craft their stories to have beautiful endings.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

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Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!