Category: Reflection

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Planting a Tree

A few days ago, I found out that Dr. William Richard Shindle, my dissertation advisor, had passed on December 11. Instead of great pain, I feel a lingering sense of sadness. Perhaps, it is because I have not seen him in person for over twenty years; perhaps, it is because I know that my remembrance of him will be long-lasting.

Since our first meeting on a snowy day in January 1984, he quietly guided me through my years of graduate studies. As a doctoral candidate, I was totally unsure of how to proceed in the fields musical studies. He kindly handed me his unfinished project on the works of Giovan Domenico Montella.

Socially, Dr. Shindle was introverted. However, a discussion on any musical subject which excited him would lead to long explanations with great details. There seemed to be endless knowledge in his mind. His enthusiasm in sharing it was always palpable.

There is a Chinese saying: 十年樹木，百年樹人. It takes ten years to nurture a tree to maturity; a hundred years; hundred years to shape a human mind. The work of an educator involves more than patience as it requires endurance and persistence.

I am planting a tree as a “Thank-You” note to a mentor.

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A Rainy Mid-autumn Evening

September 29, 2023;
Forecast for Manhattan: Heavy rains all day

Friday night was the eighth full moon of the lunar year, the Mid-autumn Festival. It not only rained all day. It poured. New Yorkers were told to “shelter in place,” a familiar phrase that we had gotten used to hearing since COVID shutdown.

Luckily, I had no specific plans for the day and had plenty of supplies. So, I stayed in and worked on my projects while listening to the rain.

The rain was so heavy that I could hear it with all the windows shut. Then, there was the sound of water trickling down from the bathroom ceiling of my top-floor co-op apartment. The stubborn leaks had been there for weeks. The continuous precipitation only encouraged it to expand.

Part of me was concerned and frustrated. But a huge part of me was giggling inside. I was finishing up an essay on the collaboration between Zhao Yuanren and Liu Bannong and was planning on writing about their work “Listening to the Rain.” Surrounded by the sounds of rain, outdoors and indoors, I sat quietly, organizing my thoughts.

I would remember this particular Mid-autumn night for a very long time.