The letter a mother wrote to her teenage daughter

Sweetheart,

Please read this:

"Eating Bitter

     There is a Chinese maxim: "Eat Bitter or "Eating Bitterness", known as Chi Ku 吃苦. It is a Chinese phrase for enduring hardship. Or as Occidentals would say: "Grin and Bear It." Other references are: “Keep on Trying”, “Hang In There”, “Stick It Out”, “Suck It Up”, etc., all to mean to endure something unpleasant in good humor. Or to continue despite difficulties in a general phrase of encouragement meaning to stay focused. In relation to, quoted by; “If you're going through hell, keep going.”-Winston Churchill. /  “We acquire the strength we have overcome.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson. / “I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.”-Jewish Proverb. / “There is no success without hardship.”-Sophocles.

     Eating bitter seems to be an aged-old saying, like a parent to a child, upon having the child do something without complaint. It has the meaning of working hard and tolerate some agony in order to acquire what it is one is hoping to achieve. However, one should examine “eating bitter” beyond the psychological perspicacity."

There are many successful stories all around the world. Why Chinese can grow their roots in any land and be successful? That's because Chinese are willing to "eat bitter" and adapt to every kind of environment. These are the good virtues of Chinese. Even though we live in other country, we should not lose these virtues.

On the last day of my university, a senior professor came to our dormitory. He said that he wanted to give two suggestion to us: "First, to read a good book every month; Second, to adapt to your environment, not to expect your environment to adapt you." He was persecuted in the culture revolution and was in jail for several years. He wrote his book in jail and became a famous internal medicine professor after the culture revolution.

For 20+ years, I can always hear his words whenever I am in a less than ideal situation. I am also a person, like you, struggling to be recognized. However, this world is not perfect. Not an environment is perfect, not a single person is perfect, include ourselves. Forgiving and adjusting ourselves internally and externally. Look around, there are still a lot of fun and enjoyments. haha.

Mom