Masterpiece

In Loving Memory of My Father: Dr. Benjamin Franklin (04/22/2006)

Dr. Benjamin Franklin--An Enlightened Divine Wisdom and Interview Series

Written by Dr. Trudy Hu, 04/22/2006

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 as the youngest son (total 11 children) of Josiah and Abiah Franklin. Benjamin Franklin was the youngest child of the four Franklin generations and his father, Josiah Franklin, was the youngest child of his generation.

During his 84-year-long life, Benjamin Franklin was a charming, diverse, and lovable individual in human history. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was a writer, entrepreneur, public servant, independent thinker, scientist, engineer, statesman, and a wonderful American Idol. As a journey man, his life was listed in the following hall of fame.

11-year-old intelligent writer (His pen name was Mrs. Silence Do-good.)

17-year-old run away spunky boy

21-year-old artisan

25-year-old public citizen

38-year-old scientist and inventor

43-year-old statesman

65-year-old rebel

69-year-old founding father

70-year-old mentor

72-year-old diplomat and peacemaker

79-year-old sage

Dr. Benjamin Franklin has been a divine member in Heaven since 1790. He has overseen the universe for 216 years and is extremely busy with the current universal affairs. It is our privilege to have a 10-minute interview with Dr. Benjamin Franklin through his divine campaign manager. The following is just an excerpt of the lengthy record.

TH (Interviewer, Trudy Hu) BF (Benjamin Franklin)

TH: Dr. Benjamin Franklin, would you please share your wisdom with the current engineers' career future on outsourcing issues?

BF: I was an apprentice under my brother, James, when I was 11 years old. Before I was "fired" like "Trump" does on your TV show, I "outsourced" myself from Boston to Philadelphia.

TH: Why did you choose "outsourcing", a tough lifestyle, by yourself as a young lad?

BF: It was hard to be an apprentice in my era than a legal citizen or an illegal immigrant in the 21st Century. As an apprentice under my brother, I had to work for him at least 7 years without pay. I worked long hours and my brother owned the IP (intellectual property), claimed the credits and stock options. "It Was Hard To Be an Apprentice" then has changed to your current tune, "It Is Hard To Be a Pimp."

Later on he failed his promises and wanted me to sign another 9-year contract, I just had to "outsource" myself to survive. During my time, there was no "Meals on the Wheel", "Food Stamps", "housing Vouchers", "No Child Left Behind" grants, etc. It was hard to start any business in your hometown controlled by your family, extended family, or any well-established family. Just like Irish Americans, Italian Americans, African Americans, Jewish Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Mexican Americans, they all took turn play the game; it is called "Musical Hot Seat" and the outcome is that I am surrounded by colorful saints with different accents in Heaven. Without any computer or internet, it was hard to email anyone who could go to street to do any strike, march, or form any Unions during my era. I was young and I just wanted to work and support myself.

TH: I knew that you ran away from home (Boston) with only a few coins in your pocket. You bought 3 rolls and you gave your bread to a poor mother and her children. You helped a boat owner rowing the boat and you insisted to pay him for the boat ride. As a teenager without anything, what motivated you to do that?

BF: I always believed that, "Industry and frugality are the means of procuring wealth and thereby securing virtue." "To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine."

I spent my money on basic food and the leftover was all on books. When I wanted to start a printing shop in Philadelphia, my father refused giving me any "venture capitals", but he gave me the best investment seed money, "steady industry and prudent parsimony" and "help yourself before asking anyone for help." Wealth always follows industrious people who practice virtues as a religion, no matter where or who. Among all career men and women, engineers are one of a few contemporary professions that still follow my basic principles. But I am afraid that they might be the next target of "Musical Career Hot Chair."

TH: What advice would you give us regarding illegal immigrant issues?

BF: Try to find out why people are singing "Run, run, run as fast as you can, because I am a gingerbread man" and what is luring them to and what is driving them away.

Send some engineers to those places where "gingerbread men" are running away and help those "gingerbread men" to build a better social and political engine like the new places they are running to. Using my principles and my political design may not be a bad idea and I just do not like the popular self-promotion (scheme of Mrs. Noisy Do-nothing, my jealous rivalry.) My marketing skills are based on those of Mrs. Silence Do-good.

Engineers are the b est house builders, scientific and technology builders, and I believe that they need to take a pro-active role to reinvent a social and political system for more suffering souls globally. I see so many sons and daughter of Evil (Mrs. Noisy Do-nothing) walking on earth and so many confused "gingerbread men" running around. They seem to have a whole lot of fun in this New Gaming era. It is time to launch another kind of creative outsourcing trend globally to land rewarding jobs for American engineers.

TH: Dr. Franklin, I know that our time is running out. Would you please give us a quick comparison in America's change and a few instant tools for us to fix?

BF: The definition of my time (THEN) and the definition of 21st Century (NOW.)

THEN: Industry--Hard working

NOW: Industry--More products, Lower cost

THEN: Frugality--The royal road to wealth

NOW: Frugality--Working poor, Mockery, Sign of shame

THEN: Virtues--Tools to discover success and treasures

NOW: No popularity, Out of date, Soon-to-be-outsourced

THEN: Education--Self-improvement, Self-learning

NOW: Education--More Budge, "No Money, No Learning"

THEN: Insurance--Safety net for the poor or unemployed people (women)

NOW: Insurance--Expensive commodity, Potential free money

THEN: Welfare--Fire insurance for the poor

NOW: Welfare--Free Money, Free Food, Noisy Do-nothing's Work-Life Balance

THEN: Taxes--Non-existence

NOW: Taxes--Death and Taxes, Two sure things in the whole Universe

THEN: Garbage--Useless waste, Normally bio-degradable stuffs

NOW: Garbage--Lots of goodies, Some are quite expensive and fancy, Some even look like human figures

THEN: Money--Rewards for good contribution

NOW: Money--Rewards for good cheating

THEN: Science--Observation of Natural Laws, Pioneer Spirit of Enlightenment

NOW: Science--Trademark of geeks, Weirdos, Disposable

THEN: Math--Foundation of Rational Thinking

NOW: Math--"Meth" (methamphetamine), "Mess", or Mass

THEN: Engineers--Sons and daughters of Silence Do-good, Integrity, Honesty, Knowledge, Temperance, Benevolence, Justice, Improvement of human civilization

NOW: Engineers--Critical Turning Point to More Enlightenment or Darkness. Let's spin the Wheel of Fortune.

I need to go now, otherwise, I may be prosecuted and crucified. Pray hard, but "Make it concise, it will save you a lot of time." If you follow my principles and virtues, you shall be blessed abundantly and see my divine face ($100 dollar bill) everyday.

TH: Dr. Benjamin Franklin, American's founding father, who had the innate aversion to aristocratic authority based on egocentric abusive power, oppressive ignorance, and prejudice (roots of jealousy, bigotry, and evil.) American national identity is based on the virtues and values of its middle class which is modeled after the prototype of Dr. Benjamin Franklin's personality and values; that is, intellectual brilliance, scientific observation in nature and mankind, tolerance and humor toward follies, pragmatic commonwealth, benign social system engineering, and graceful jocularity. He never went to an expensive university or paid for any titles, but he started the first university, University of Pennsylvania, and the first public library in Philadelphia. In addition to numerous roles and achievements, he has been an everlasting professor and deist in the Universe and an eternal luminary figure in the entire human history.

I bet that Dr. Benjamin Franklin would say that "just call me BF Freeman" because Franklin stands for "Freeman" when other Englishmen chose Smith, Carpenter (trade) as their last name several centuries ago. We hope to interview Dr. Benjamin Franklin soon, so stay tuned. Thank you so much for spending your precious time with us.

This is Trudy Hu Freewoman, Correspondence in the Universe Press.

Dedication: This article is dedicated to honor my loving father who has nurtured me and helped me all my life. He was the Chief Engineering Officer (CEO), Navy, in Taiwan long time ago. He has passed away in November 2007 and joined my mother who passed away in 1999.

Note: Trudy Hu is a psychologist, a presenter, a speaker, and a writer. She can be reached through her website: http://www.DrTrudy.com.

Professional Comments:

"In fact, the difficulty we find in placing Franklin or in defining him is inseparable from the complexity of his monumental achievements. In the last five years alone he has been the subject of at least four biographies- a gracefully intelligent survey by Walter Isaacson, a forceful and meticulous re-creation of his French years by Stacy Schiff, major scholarly books by H. W. Brands and Edmund S. Morgan, and now is is created "alive" for a crisp chat with the lucky psychologist Trudy Hu! Franklin emerges in all of these reconstructions as a founder of not only American institutions and technologies but of a model of America itself.

Trudy's endeavor to present the importance of Uncle Ben's contributions in form of anecdotes, quotes, and his own voice, permeates through unusual aspects of technological exploration and innovation, and leaves engineers with a feeling of enormous responsibilities and a great seed of inspiration! A very creative article on Ben Franklin that I have come across in the last few years..."

Guruprasad Madhavan

Clinical Science and Engineering Research Center

Department of Bioengineering

Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering & Applied Science

State University of New York

Binghamton, New York

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dreaming of Home and Mother by John Ordway, American Composer (11/18/17 morning)

Dreaming of home, dear old home.

Home of childhood and mother-

Oft when I wake it's sweet to find

I've been dreaming of home and mother.

Home, dear home, childhood's happy home!

When I played with sister and with brother

'Twas the sweetest joy when we did roam

Over hill and through dale with mother.

Chorus.

Dreaming of home, dear old home,

Home of my childhood and mother-

Oft When I wake it's sweet to find

I've been dreaming of home and mother.

Sleep, balmy sleep, close mine eyes,

Keep me still thinking of mother-

Hark! It's her voice I seem to hear-

Yes, I'm dreaming of home and mother.

Angels come soothing me to rest,

I can feel their presence as none other,

For they sweetly say I shall be blessed,

With bright visions of home and mother.-Chorus.

Childhood has come, come again.

Sleeping I see my dear mother-

See her loved form beside me kneel,_

While I'm dreaming of home and mother.

Mother dear, whisper to me now,

Tell me of my sister and my brother-

Now I feel thy hand upon my brow-

Yes, I'm dreaming of home and mother. -Chorus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Loving Memory of My Mother: 記念我的母親, 寫於 4/5/2004

A Gift of Life and Love--Written by Dr. Trudy Hu on 4/5/2004 in Chinese and published on 5/10/2011 in English

Dedicated To My Mother:

I understand the pain of birth and creation now, but you have long gone.

I understand the wisdom of resiliency now,

but you are nowhere to be found.

Now I understand the transformation of devastation that you had undertaken, like the excruciating process of generating a breathtaking pearl.

You dedicated your life as a trailblazer to enlighten the darkness.

Your strength and character have been burnished and crystallized like the luminesent gem stones in the humble womb of Mother Nature.

Your virtue and intelligence, as a foundation stone, shines dashingly like a diamond embraced by a purified heart of gold.

It is hard to let you go but I can see you and feel you in the forces of life, in the cycle of life, and in the heavenly water from the Cascade.

Your ultimate beauty of sacrifice and everlasting love is manifested

through budding leaves in the Spring,

fragrant blooms in the Summer,

withering colors and sighing in the Fall,

and the vibrant evergreens in the barren Winter.

Hereby, I bid you a final goodbye.

Your passing is still a mystery (July, 1999).

But surely you left me a gift of life and love.

Your Grace, Mercy, and Legacy will guide me through the lonely wilderness.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Long Version:

You were born into a fisherman's family.

You grew up in a small island west of Taiwan,

as a Japanese colony in 1930s.

You were expected to do more laborious hard work than your 3 elder brothers,

and raised your younger sister and brother at the age of 9.

But I was too young to understand the hardship that you have endured.

As a young girl in that era, the opportunity of education and career was denied.

You used to say to me that you would have several doctoral degrees, if you were given the chance.

But I was too young to understand the denial that you have endured.

You met Father at 21, who was a Navy officer post Chinese Civil War and followed the withdrawn military from China to Taiwan in 1949.

You were banished and disowned by your own father because it was unacceptable for a native Taiwanese girl to marry a poor soldier from China.

But I was too young to understand the abandonment that you have endured.

As a military wife with 3 young children living in a shack, you struggled to make the ends meet, while father was sent out for missions all year around.

When people asked you to go to church, you secretly prayed that "I do not know who you are, God, but if you give me a house, I will believe you."

A few weeks later, the little shack was burn down and you were assigned to a small military house in a Navy base (Tso-Yin, 左營).

You were humbled and grateful to the almighty and omniscient God.

Later, you started to work as a seamstress after you were rejected to receive a loan in order to take your sick child to see a doctor.

But I was too young to understand the helplessness and the grief that you have endured.

Your sewing business was expanded to edging, tailoring to embroidery.

You purchased 3 machines from Japan.

You worked from 6am to 1am everyday while Father was still at sea and returned home once every 1-2 years.

You worried about his safety during the unpredictable typhoon seasons with all sorts of shipwreck news.

You also tolerated some rude customers' complaints and insults.

You still had to cook, clean, educate and discipline the rebellious and insolent behaviors of your children.

But I was too young to understand the agony that you have endured.

When your customers suffered physical and mental pain, you always offered a helping hand.

When your friends were in sadness, you closed the shop, visited and comforted them.

When you reached out to your neighbors whose souls and spirits were disturbed,

the disturbed soul yelled out, "Don't enter her house. Her house is protected by the Holy Ghost."

You were amazed by others' invisible vision.

But I was too young to understand the awe and disguised blessings that you have received from the Lord.

Before the annual College Entrance Exam, I asked you if I should put down National Taiwan University (NTU) as an option because I only considered Teacher Colleges which were tuition & fee free.

You said to me, "Why don't you put down the top choices of the top university (NTU)?"

While my high school teacher said to me, "It doesn't matter if you put down NTU as a

choice or not because you will never enter the top school anyway."

However, I entered the #1 department in the #1 university which was the only one option that I put down among all other teacher colleges.

But I was too young to understand my self-worth and potential that you had nurtured inside me.

You opened a jewelry box and asked me to take some jewelries before my departure to USA.

I chose a silver cross necklace and you asked me, "Why don't you take the gold rings, diamond bracelets or necklaces?"

But I was too young to understand your sorrow about my upcoming overseas journey and

long-term separation between us by the Pacific Ocean.

Years later, I returned home temporally as a young bride.

During the noisy wedding banquet, my mother-in-law dressed like a bride

but I was forbidden to wear the dresses and jewelries I purchased myself.

Silently, you gave me a diamond ring on a gold band which was the only ring that I cherished.

But I was too young to understand that you saw all the humiliation under layers of the

hypocrisy with your piercing senses.

When your grandchildren were sick in Taiwan,

you and Father took turn to take care of them in their homes(Hsing, Hsien Hsiung,邢献雄)(Hu, Ching Hsien, 胡靜賢) or in hospitals.

When my first daughter, G., was born in California, you and Father helped me out

for 6 months while I was completing the internship alone with a newborn baby.

You made all her baby clothes day and night.

Every stitch of her baby clothes bears the witness of your maternal love.

You even flew to Singapore to help your eldest daughter (Hu, Ching Hsien, 胡靜賢), wealthy son-in-law (Hsing, Hsien Hsiung,邢献雄) and their 3 teenagers (邢幼萱,邢幼潔,邢幼婷), even though you suffered from a severe medical condition.

You told me that you worried about your aging husband who might get sick by working too hard to support your eldest daughter's family in Singapore.

You tolerated your son-in-law's long-term abuse and comments to his 3 teen girls in a luxurious spacious apartment (paid by his affluent company) in Singapore; "Go to study now. It is

not your job to do kitchen works. It is your grandparents’ job to do the cooking and cleaning jobs."

After you had some cold symptoms, you were sent back from Singapore to Taiwan alone in May, 1999, because they still needed Father's domestic help in Singapore.

When the plane arrived, you were too ill to walk out of the airplane by yourself.

My younger brother burst into tears when he saw you being carried out by a group of kind-hearted strangers from the plane to the gate of the terminal.

A few days later, you were diagnosed with a lung cancer in a final stage.

I was full of rage and anger but you still tamed my temper in the hospital.

You said to me on your deathbed that you did that out of unconditionally parental love.

But I was too young to understand the unbearable anguish and heartaches that your own children imposed upon you and the unconditional love you gave us until your last breath.