Overcoming Obstacles with Kindness
Ping Fu's story is remarkable. She was taken from her mother when she was only eight years old along with her little sister. They had to work in a factory and be soldiers during the Cultural Revolution in China and were starved and abused. She immigrated to the United States when she was 25 with only 80 dollars and did not know very much English. Despite this, she went to school for computer programming and is now the CEO of a software company. The part of the article that stands out to me is that she "found beauty in nature and kindness in small acts of generosity from friends and neighbors." These people who helped her did not judge her for her past, the little amount of money she had, her race, or that she spoke little English. They did not criticize her for any setbacks or disadvantages she had. Instead, they allowed her to find beauty. Ping Fu went on to become generous and compassionate herself and successful overall.
People could have told her that she wasn't smart enough to go to school in the United States because she didn't know English and had no formal education after the age of eight. She only began to learn English at age 20. Yet people gave her the chance to succeed. Friends and neighbors helped her along with her teachers. Ping Fu's own kindness and resilience allowed her to succeed as well. Her story supports the view of the position statement that people with disadvantages should not be criticized and that people should remember those without advantages and help them. Ping Fu does not deserve to be criticized because she overcame great obstacles to become very successful. |
An excerpt from the article: "Imagine being torn out of your loving mother's arms at age eight. Next thing you know, you're alone, crammed onto a train full of people headed for another city -- one you barely know. You think that at least your aunt and uncle, whom you've met a handful of times before, will be waiting for you upon your arrival.
But instead, you're greeted only by a couple of threatening teenagers in uniform who drop you off at a dormitory, where you join a ragtag group of other lost children. When you set foot in the small, dirty room that will be your home for the next ten years, you discover your four year-old sister lying on the bare concrete floor, sobbing. She desperately needs your tender care. In one day, you've not only lost your mother, you've become one yourself. This is no nightmare. It is just one small part of the true story of Ping Fu, told in her memoir, Bend, Not Break . . . Ping Fu's journey only grows more remarkable from that traumatic outset. She went on to face ten years of near-starvation, abuse, and child labor as a factory worker and soldier during the Cultural Revolution in China. She received no formal education during that time. But Ping never let these bitter experiences defeat her. On the contrary, she found beauty in nature and kindness in small acts of generosity from friends and neighbors. She refused to grow hard, but instead opened herself to compassion for all humankind, living the philosophy, "Always err on the side of generosity." After arriving in the U.S. at age 25 with only $80 and a few words of English, Ping Fu worked her way through school as a computer programmer. She has since triumphed as founder and CEO of Geomagic, a software company that is leading the 3D printing and imaging revolution. In 2005, Ping Fu was named Inc. magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year. Today, she sits on President Obama's Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Above all, Ping Fu is one of the most generous, compassionate, and wise people I've ever had the honor to know." |