Three Wishes Granted by the Good Lord (need to link to the electronic copy of the newspaper with translation)

March 22, 2009, is marked as one of the most heartbreaking days for the Oakland Police Department and many of Oakland’s citizens. On that dreary day, four Oakland policemen were killed on the line of duty, a record-high in the city’s history. On March 27, 2009, a monumental funeral was held at the Oakland Oracle Arena to commemorate the fallen officers. There were over thirty thousand attendees, all mourning over these fallen policemen. On that same day, the Oakland Chinese community leaders set up a donation booth for the Oakland Chinese community to make monetary donations to the families of the four fallen policemen. Dr. Suen could not personally attend the funeral because of obligations to his patients, but he stopped by the donation booth during his lunch hour.

Like many donors, Dr. Suen did not expect any sort of recognition. During what was supposed to be a two-minute stay, a young lady at the booth began conversing with him. The young lady turned out to be a reporter for The China Press. The reporter then initiated the interview with a tape recorder and took Dr. Suen’s picture.  She asked Dr. Suen how much he was about to donate. Dr. Suen showed the four donated checks. On March 28, 2009, Dr. Suen’s was featured in The China Press, but more importantly, the newspaper quoted Dr. Suen, saying that the Oakland Chinese community cares deeply about such a tragic event.

On the morning of March 27, 2009, Dr. Suen expressed three wishes. The first wish was to pay his deepest respects for the fallen officers. The second wish was to make simple contributions to these families. The final and most significant wish was to inform the general public that the Oakland Chinese community cared deeply about such a tragic event. The Good Lord granted him all three wishes that day. For the following three days, the Oakland Chinese community raised over $40,000 for the fallen policemen’s families.

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