Beyond Limits
by Shu Chin Li On Dec 3, 2021
In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had falling snow on snow
This time, viruses replaced snow,
covered the earth with their traces &
deepened life gloom and doom.
It all started in mid-March 2020. Parts of the world were shut down. I was stuck at home, and nowhere to go. New York City, where I lived already slipped into the pandemic.
Every day, I was watching the daily tally of Covid-19 deaths and infections to climb. Bad news ran like wildfire. Its smoke choked me, and its ashes blackened my heart. Elmhurst Hospital near me sank into a war zone. Hundreds of lives died in weeks, and dead bodies were quickly shuffled to refrigerated trucks.
The devastation was worse than the 9/11, Hurricane Sandy or the city’s power blackout. Two months entering the shutdown, sad news arrived at my door. Grucell, a choir friend, died of the Covid-19. I was worrying, “How soon would the viruses get to me?”
Under those darker days, I was terrified. Yet I found ways to connect the family, friends, and others everyday via Zoom. One day, I checked into a Toastmasters club, a thousand miles from me in New Zealand.
On my computer’s screen tiles, I noticed a young man, Raymond Mok. He reminded me of Stephen Hawking. Raymond had lost the ability to walk at the age of ten. Since then, he had been living on a breathing ventilator. It was a rare muscular disease that kept him on a wheelchair. Years of social isolation also plunged him into dépression, and he once thought of ending his life.
Emily Dickinson once said that hope is the thing with feathers. One day, miraculously, Raymond flied out of the darkness after being inspired by a Toastmaster’s speech. He began to recognize that he still had the power to make positive changes despite his physical limits. He switched his job from technology to counseling, and made public speeches, hoping to influence others, like him, with similar physical challenges.
Sadly, Raymond was not able to carry his ambition forward. Six months after I met him, he passed away at the age of thirty-four on August 30, 2020. But his words and courage made the lasting influence on me and shaped my attitude toward life and death.
Since then, I became more devoted to growing and learning. Later, I enrolled into an online story writing workshop. This is how I met another remarkable person, Nina Lesiga. She is the most exceptional adventurer I had ever met.
In the first class, we encountered in a breakout room. Nina just signed off from another zoom meeting. There, she was making music with other fun-loving people from everywhere.
I said, “Nina, using flowerpots to create a symphony is incredible. You must have a terrific sense of music.”
Nina replied, “Yes, it is a lot of fun. I have been teaching ukulele for free at a community college in Connecticut for years.”
Then, we went further to get to know each other. Nina continued, “I retired from a corporate job as chemist. Now, I am a solo traveler who lives out of the comfort zone.”
What she said was not clear to me until she shared with me her story. It happened on International Silly Day. Do you know there is such day that exists? I did not.
Anyway, on the special day, she took a 3-hour Metro-North ride from Bridgeport, CT, to Grand Central Station, and then further down to Union Square where she met other travelers there. Their mission was to take off pants on a NYC subway ride.
What they did was weird and hysterical, but the adventure fitted Nina’s mission to create novel experiences and to live out of her comfort zone.
What I learned from Raymond was my body is not my limit, and from Nina, she taught me that it is never too late to start something new, fun, and unexpected. Today, I create my first-ever podcast episode. That brings me onto another growth path I did not see at the start of this pandemic.
I am thankful for the support fr
