My Father's Life

My father's generation has no earth-shattering stories. They are the most ordinary farmers in the countryside: they have suffered, been afraid, endured, and also looked forward to it. They spent a lifetime of suffering and survived the darkest days, and waited until the day was about to dawn. Their backs were bent and their hands were covered with calluses, but in the wind of 1949, they straightened their backs and saw hope. The suffering of our parents is the suffering of that era; the hope of our parents is a new beginning.