Eminence in the Eyes of an “Eminent Awardee”
2 December 2022
This year, Justin Tsang was awarded the “S.H. Ho College Eminent Award”. Justin is a graduate of Biomedical Engineering programme of CUHK and is now a PhD student at the National University of Singapore. Each year, our College selects a student with excellent academic results, good character, and active participation in College activities as the recipient of this award. The awardee will then be invited to give a valedictorian speech at our graduation ceremony. This year, the ceremony was held on 24th November. I was expecting that Justin would share his secrets of success during the ceremony. Yet, to my surprise, he shared what he had learnt through sufferings.
Justin shared how he had been inflicted with different illnesses or injuries over past years, including a fractured fibula in 2021 and more recently, a sprained ankle in 2022 while he was in Singapore. When I visited Justin in Singapore in October this year, he still walked with a limping gait. Amid these painful experiences and long periods of slow recovery, Justin learnt to accept suffering as it is, appreciate small achievements during recovery (e.g., able to fall asleep without hurting, able to simply move the toes), and have hope that future will be better. He then shared that life is full of ups and downs. He encouraged us no matter how down we are now, be tough, and face it with a positive attitude.
I am sure some of us are facing various life’s challenges right now. We may feel hopeless about the future. Justin’s humble and insightful sharing reminded me that a way of defining eminence in life is how we face failures or sufferings. Brothers and sisters, no one is immune from failures or sufferings. We are all in the same boat and let’s go through it together. Tomorrow will be better. Add Oil!!
