Love's labors not lost on university
The University of Hong Kong recently conferred an honorary fellowship on So Moy Yuen for her contributions to the university: serving it as a cook and cleaner for 40 years. This should be an example for us to pay more respect and honor to ordinary workers, says an article in Oriental Morning Post. Excerpts:
People who watched the recent ceremony of the University of Hong Kong to bestow honorary fellowship on a woman surely must have been moved. An old, almost illiterate woman was given the honor for dedicating her life to the service of the university, and thus contributing to the development of many generations of students.
The university's move is an apt example of how to honor ordinary workers. It not only reflects the humanity of the university's faculties, officials and students, but also a deep understanding of the educators about the idea of education.
For more than 40 years, So Moy Yuen worked as a cleaner and cook in the university, caring for several generations of students. Such was her dedication to her work that she won the love of all. In more sense than one, she is an important member of the university family.
So Moy Yuen deserves our highest respect, so does the University of Hong Kong for bestowing such an honor on her.
But where is the Chinese mainland's So Moy Yuen? Do students on the mainland have any interaction with cleaners and cooks? Right from childhood we are taught the ultimate end of education is that we can lead a life different from cleaners and ordinary cooks. That is enough for students to view cleaners from a different perspective.
By conferring the honorary fellowship, the University of Hong Kong has told the world that a university is not only about education, but also about love and respect for fellow human beings. Love will guide youths out of a university's gate into the wider world outside. Only if we love and show more care for ordinary workers can we honor the motto "labor is a matter of honor".
(China Daily 01/27/2010 page9)
