It has taken me a week, and finally this blog is ready for all to share. The first three entries were trial runs which went nowhere. I hope everyone forgives me for taking so long.
I suppose I should begin by laying down the rules for this blog. I always believe rules should be limited to no more than what one can count on one hand. So, here goes:
1. All descendants of Chee Kwi Kin, and friends are welcomed to participate. Personally, I follow the Quaker tradition: all who have something to add to the dialogue, are welcomed to participate. No-one is left out, not even strangers to our family. Participation can be by actively blogging of events told to us or observed first hand, research with or without 'footnotes' and debate (only civil and without malice) or by silent participation through reading and discussion out side of the blogs.
2. This blog is a reflection of our heritage. Profanity or mockery of ideas/thoughts cannot be tolerated here. While I recognize that there will be events recounted which may open old wounds or expose past injustices or misunderstandings, these sensitive situations should be expressed in the spirit of forgiveness and charity. When we point a finger to another, we are also pointing three towards ourselves. Let this blog bind us together by blood as well as by the spirit of charity and friendship. Our ancestor was a man of eloquence and learning. Let the world see his qualities in his descendants. This blog shall be a tribute to our ancestor and his life journey.
3. This blog belongs to the descendants of Chee Kwi Kin. All personal contributions here are copyrighted and shall not be reproduced without the permission of David Chee, Maureen Chee and Jean Goh. This is to prevent exploitation of our family's history by unscrupulous third parties.
4. Since most of us read and write English, all blogs shall be in English. However, if necessary, we can publish words in Chinese or Hanyu PinYin, bearing in mind that English translations should accompany these phrases/words, to enable universal appreciation of the expressed thoughts.
5. There shall be no censorship of information (just language, i.e. profanity) While bloggers should be sensitive to the feelings of readers, we should not attempt to silence the voices of others who may have less than flattering memories of any family members. While we may not like our dirty laundry in public view, let us remember that dirty laundry will only come clean in fresh water, open air and bright sunshine. Left in the dark, the laundry only mildews and rots with the odor eventually seeping out to disgust the world. Therefore, while I hope our family has no 'dirty secrets', I do encourage all discourse to be open, fair and most of all, given in the spirit of kindness and candour. This is our heritage, good or bad, let us face it together with honor and grace.
LET THE ODYSSEY BEGIN!
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Hello Aunties and Uncles! I am Maureen's youngest daughter, Leia. For those of you who don't know, my father is a white American and I am currently at university in the States. While as part of gen.5 I have little to contribute to the preservation of the past, I want to reflect on how important it is. The issues of Westernization have already been brought up, and particularly for me I feel that I have already lost out on so much of my culture and I appreciate the efforts to restore its value for me and my progeny. However, as my mother pointed out, I hope that this does not just serve for our own purposes, but also to educate others who are interested. From the little I have been told about my ancestors, I already realize how rich our history is and I am sure it is intertwined with those of others, so I am excited at this opportunity to educate ourselves and those around us. Hurray!
ReplyDelete-Leia