Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon June 27
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Hong Chew
Sunday, June 11, 2006, 10:05 AM Posted by kharris | Permanent Link | More Staff Highlight entries
I am a Chinese American born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1977 after the fall
of Saigon (what a dumb war, any new dumb wars). At 2 years old, my
family fled by boat to Malaysia where we stayed at a refugee camp for 9
months (damn mosquitoes). In 1980, we immigrated to the U.S. and
settled in the San Francisco Tenderloin. Boy, this could take a while.
At 10 years old, I was already exposed to the courtroom as a material witness to 2 criminal prosecutions.
My older brother, David, immigrated with me. My younger sister, Mamie, was born in San Francisco. Initially, I attended public schools but quickly transferred to parochial schools (because I got pounded by 13 year old 5th graders). My grade school was Notre Dame des Victoires (Our Lady of Victories), a French Catholic school located downtown SF (Damn, I hated the French). My high school was Saint Ignatius College Preparatory (basically, 90210), which led to U.C. Berkeley for college (booze and parties). After college, I entered the downswing of the dot com boom/bust (big mistake) and worked for a software company for one year before entering law school. I used to have a Siberian Husky named Toby for a pet. Toby was shipped happily to Alaska by his new owners, the Society of Siberian Husky Breeders Whatever.
At 10 years old, I was already exposed to the courtroom as a material witness to 2 criminal prosecutions. I saw a pregnant lady get beat up by some nut case, and I saw a prostitute stab her john. Don’t ask how I came to see these crimes, but I was definitely cross examined for what I saw or shouldn’t have seen. Anyhow, I guess elder abuse comes pretty close.
At 2 years old, my family fled by boat to Malaysia where we stayed at a refugee camp for 9 months (damn mosquitoes).
Anywho, I read a story about a judge written by Leo Tolstoy (spelling). A famous lawyer becomes judge, rich and with a beautiful wife, and feared for his wit and knowledge. But as he lay dying, he never knew what he did with his life, he felt that it all went to waste. The reason for this is that he failed to do what Leo Tolstoy reminds all of us to do in our lives, summed up in two words, “Do Good.”
Thank you, LAS, for setting the example.
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