I received this email from Dr. Rongfen Wang almost a month ago. I have not published it before now, and I fear that what I write on this subject, on this sleepless night, will be maudlin and rambling.
I did not publish it, mainly out of embarrassment that such as Dr. Wang would write such as this, to such as me. She has been tested and showed her mettle, I have not.
In December, I and two of my brothers, visited the Civil War battle site at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Fredericksburg was the sight of the most awful slaughter of Union soldiers in that awful war. However, the visit was not just of historical interest. It was a pilgrimage, for in that battle our great-great grandfather was killed, at a time in the day, just after sun fall, when he had seen wave after wave of his fellow soldiers die traversing the same path that he was now ordered to traverse.
As his regiment advanced, wounded Union soldiers, who had made the ground slippery with their blood, grabbed at their pant cuffs and implored them to stop, that their mission was hopeless. My great-great grandfather went.
Walking the route that he took, knowing what I know he knew, I know that I could not have done what he did.
I am untested, and my generation of Americans is the untested generation. Our fathers conquered Nazism abroad, and apartheid at home. My generation has reaped the benefits, but has never contributed a fraction as much to make America greater still.
Our courage, our duty, our judgment, our morality, have not been tested as were our fathers,--or our great-great grandfathers. So, when I hear myself saying, or even thinking, "I KNOW that I would do such-and-such" under fire, I know that I do not know.
Rongfen Wang has been tested as few human beings have even have. She has survived, but also continued the fight for what is right, undeterred.
Over the last month I have had a hard time even re-reading Dr. Wang's email, as deeply moved as I was by it, because of everything that I have written above. However, I came to conclude that, typically, this was selfish of me, that the point of the email was not about what it said of me, but what it said of her.
The email is about Dr. Wang's generosity of spirit, and her undeserved modesty, that round out the portrait of a person who history already knows to be a human hero. Courage and determination demand will, and will often produces arrogance. To see courage, determination, will, AND kindness, generosity, and grace in one person, is rare indeed.
And so, in that spirit, I publish Dr. Wang's email now.
From: Rongfen Wang
Date: Feb 15, 2008 12:38 AM
Subject: Greetings from Wang Rongfen
To: publocc@gmail.com
- Hide quoted text -
Dear Mr. Harris,
I have got your email and web address from Mrs.
Mosher. Full of admiration, I have studied your
website. Thank you so much for your attention on the
human rights situation in China. Thank you also for
the persistent fight against violence and murder. You
are a shining example to me. Many of my fellow
countrymen know the name Benjamin Harris from
your internet hunt of Bian Zhongyuns murderess.
Mrs. Mosher has kindly translated two articles of
mine, the one is already in your BLOG, here is the
revised version:
http://www.cicus.org/info_eng/artshow.asp?ID=8610
Here is the other letter to the president:
http://www.cicus.org/info_eng/artshow.asp?ID=8793. I
would greatly appreciate your criticism and support,
and thank you in advance
All the best
Wang Rongfen
