大紐約區海外台灣人筆會第八屆年刊
《會長的話-President’s Message》
8th Annual Meeting of the Greater New York Region – Overseas
Taiwanese Pen Club, January 07, 2012
Welcome Address by Dr. S. Lin (President)會長林興隆博士
Our meeting this year is unique and historic because it is taking place in the land of our birth – the land where most, if not all of us, have our umbilical cords buried! We feel connected and at home. Most of us travelled over 18 hours by air, with all the scare and uncertainties that now plague air travel. I therefore welcome all of us to this conference, and commend our efforts, resources and time that we have invested into making this historic conference a reality.
I stand before you this day, with a look back to the four years that I had the honor to lead the Greater New York Region Overseas Taiwanese Pen Club. How soon time flies! We could not have reached where we are now without the immense support, commitment, contributions, and selflessness of all of us. I want to specially thank the Executives who served with me. Our anxieties, struggles, joys, and hopes，our service，toils and sweat have all been worthwhile. I sincerely thank，especially, Dr.Kin Ko 柯金 寅博士（General Secretary) and Mrs. Cindy Tu 涂劉石連女士（Treasurer), both of whom labored tirelessly with me these four years. I thank them for their devotion to the development of the Pen Club. I also thank the rest who served a two-year term with me. I commend you all for your hard work, your faith, and for a good work done. I also thank the entire membership for various supports, prayer, commitment to bringing our Club to where we are right now. Wherever we see ourselves now has been our collective accomplishment. Thank you!
As in every relay race, the baton has been passed on，and I am excited that Dr. Joseph Kuo 郭正昭 教授 has been elected President of the Pen Club. I’ve known Dr. Kuo to be a generous and conscientious person, who has a broad perspective on issues. His leadership abilities are known to us all and I believe that with our support he will take the Club to the next level. I covet every prayer for him and wish him the best.
Over the past four years, we have critically engaged with various themes and explored avenues that we have deemed relevant to our existence. We began with a vision of (re)awakening our collective consciousness, recognizing and defining our collective identity and sustaining our collective memory. We explored the need to carve that path of goodness and the virtues that are so needed to engage in and respond to issues of our time and of posterity with our spirituality. We also explored the urgency and importance of the present, our now – that is, our kairos moment, to write and tell our own story with our lives, to inscribe indelibly with our lives who we are. In this light we see our lives as a tapestry – the rich, colorful, and beautiful picture that collage into the unique people that we are.
The time has come for another to take the mantle to shape the Club in the next level. The future is bright and clear and we can achieve so much as we can envision. The essence of our collective vision is very crucial in this regard.
In my scholarly journeying, I have come to realize that a fundamental challenge that has faced almost, if not all transnational groups and organizations has been the ability of successive generations to take the charter the course of the first. We all can testify to the fact that in a couple or more so decades to come most of us will not be here. We would have crossed over, as we believe in, but the vision and ideals of the Pen Club must not. A new crop of people, what we understand to be the generation after us, that is, the second generation, must come on board. They will be the ears, the eyes, the heart and the strength of not only our community but also the new and independent nation of our homeland. It is contingent upon us to make room for this generation. I therefore challenge all of us to find creative ways of bringing our sons and daughters into our fold and charter the cause of our Taiwanese-American community.
This year’s conference promises to be very exciting, as we are honored to have His Excellency, former president 李登輝前總統 of our dear country as our keynote speaker. I extend our warmest welcome to him and also to the other prominent and internationally acclaimed personalities that we are privileged to interact with during the conference. I wish all of us a fruitful conference and a very happy 2012.
Posted in 2015/01
