Yesterday - Mantovani Orchestra (YouTube video)
Graduating Class Photo - NTUMC1968 (June 17, 1968)
L.J.N., a classmate of mine in our NTUMC1968 class, recently talked
to me about the “brain drain” that occurred half a century ago.
In the late 60s and early 70s, due to whatever reason it might be, more
than half of our graduating class bought “one-way ticket” to come to
the United States, the so called "human capital flight".
However, years later, some of them left their promising careers behind
and again bought another "one-way ticket" back to the homeland. They
are the most dedicated and devoted professionals, who had decided to
return and offer their service to the motherland. They included L.C.L.,
L.M.C., Y.C.P., and C.L.J.
L.J.N. mentioned the books he had read: "台北人" by 白先勇 and "大江
大海 一九四九" by 龍應台, and stated that both authors are "part of the
stories". He suggested that we also write our own stories as "a witness of
our very unique life experiences and our time in the history."
He is a semi-retired pediatric surgeon, but has particularly been
interested in the history of medicine. He has translated several books
about medical history into Chinese, and in which he also gives lectures to
his medical students.
As most of the classmates in our class are either approaching 70, or some
are even already there, we all have countless unique personal stories to
tell. The stories include moments of uncertainty and moments of turning
points. I particularly like those turning points that were at my best,
although I must admit that there were also many moments of anxiety
and uneasiness as the result of uncertainty.
To me, 往事只能回味.
Yeh Tze
