A HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM ALAN VIET PHAN OF "THE HARTCOURT COMPANIES". WONDER IF THE CRIMINALS AND CONMEN THAT HE HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH IN THE PAST VISITED HIM AT THE HOSPITAL?
AT LEAST HE DID NOT SIGN HIS NAME WITH A "phd" WHICH HE IS NOT
"-----Original Message-----
From: Alan P
To:
Date: Monday, January 07, 2002 12:38 PM
Subject: My Year-End Detour
Hi Friends:
Many of you have wondered where I had disappeared over the last 9 days? No reply to Emails or phone or anything. Well, I took an interesting detour on my life journey and lived to tell you about it.
I had a quadrupled by-pass heart surgery on the last day of the year. It was physically painful and draining, but I felt a mental rebirth as I will start 2002 with a “fresh” blood supply designed to maximize my energy. What a wonderful gift from God and the American Medical Technology.
For those who did not know me too long, this is the second heart attack: the first one was in Christmas 1987, 14 years ago. I was a different man then: I smoked, I ate, I drank, I worked too much; without any physical conditioning. I abused my body senselessly and my spiritual life was equally appalling: I was a self-centered arrogant executive who was money-hungry, yet always full of anger and envy.
The first heart attack of 1987 changed my life profoundly. I quit my high-salaried hi-pressured job at Em Kay Group, I returned to the simplicity of being a small businessman in Southern California. I started playing tennis everyday, working out at least 3 times a week, eating the right diet and trying every day to become a person I could call “a true gentleman”, someone with honesty, integrity, loving, giving, learning… to really live a life full of purpose.
Everything changed, and I cannot thank God enough for this spiritual renovation.
However, one thing I still could not face until last Sunday: I had 3 major blockages in my arteries and my
cardiologist kept asking me to let him operate on these blockages. The way he described the operation was too painful for me to actually schedule it. So I procrastinated for the last 14 years on this matter. Thanks to my good habit on diet and exercise, I experienced no pain or problem.
However, just 5 days before Christmas 2001, the flu virus weakened me to the point of great vulnerability: by the time I got back to California on 12/29, the worst was about to start. I had a heart attack with severe chest pain on Sunday 12/30 and on Monday 12/31 I had an open heart operation which lasted 6 hours.
The operation was successful and I am now a new physical being with a new energy source. However, the healing process will take at least 6 weeks and until then, I can work only at half-capacity. I am glad that it was over and I am looking forward to the new challenges like a player looking at a new ball season.
A few quick lessons I have learned from this life-changing experience:
Physically, it is very PAINFUL. I suggest that you should never try it. I could not forget the moment when the doctor removed the stitches from the metal rib frame he just put in one day earlier: I would have chosen the Nazi torture chamber instead. Therefore, if you are young, keep your body in a good shape with diet and exercise; if you are old, make sure that when the blockages in the arteries are full, you are old enough to die anyway; I was gone for 7 days but the whole world did not miss me a bit. I always thought that people would miss me for at least a few weeks; but the reality is that you are as important as your delusional ego allows you. Think of this fact the next time you ask for a pay raise or demand some concession because ”nothing could run properly without me.” Like my old mentor used to say,” The cemetery is full of irreplaceable persons”; If you are lucky enough, you would meet kind-hearted angels at the most-needed moments. After surgery, the 3 nurses who took care of me are so devoted and giving
in their duties that they erased my cynicism on today’s workforce. They are immigrants from the Philippines, from El Salvador, and from Alabama, so they also prove that as a melting pot, America ‘s experience with them is as successful as with the Europeans last century. After surgery, I had to learn how to breath, how to stand, how to walk, how to be toilet-trained just like a little child. When the major assignment of the day was to take a shower, your perspective on life would be improved greatly. A small wildflower, a nice-day smile, a lonely bird, a blue sky…brought to my life more happiness and meaning than they used to. I am grateful for such gifts forever. Above all, when I was (almost) at my deathbed, my only thoughts are on the people I love and like. I did not think of a single enemy. I wonder why I spent so much time thinking about them when I was working. As for the people I love, I am so grateful that my life could be blessed with such sweet memories and wonderful feelings. No, you cannot bring with you anything when you are dead, but you can certainly bring with you the most beautiful memories. There you have it: old soldiers just refuse to die. There are always battles to be fought, war to be won and plans to be carried out. I have 421 Emails in my Inbox after 9 days, so if I don’t get around to you sooner, please don’t write me off. The good old Alan Phan is still old but much better, I promise.
May God bless your heart and your spirit. 2002 will be the Great Year we are always looking for.
Best
Alan |
