I celebrate...

On this day, first of June, 2020, I celebrate my marriage to and wedding with the most loving and supportive wife, friend, and partner in this life that I am more and more humbled to live.  I celebrate our two boys who were both born abroad, who I plan to relocate with to California so that I may show them the America where I was raised, show them the America where my maternal grandmother and I were spit on at the local grocery store when I was barely five years old, show them the America where I was physically assaulted by a substitute Bible class teacher who calmly whispered to my face with his nose touching mine “you and niggers are all the same” at a private Christian middle school in front of my friends and fellow schoolmates (you can’t make this shit up), show them the America where I was pulled over by a police officer while driving from Los Angeles to Vancouver who keyed my car door right in front of me while saying “nobody your age should be driving this nice of a car” (it was a black Nissan Pathfinder by the way).  On this day, I celebrate the other almost countless times that I’ve been overlooked, ignored, stare-downed, belittled, disregarded, disrespected, and seemingly existence denied at the park, the library, the supermarket, the beach, the mall, the parking lot, the movie theater, the gas station, the fast food place, the farmer’s market, the ball game, the internet…

On this day, I celebrate the America where my uneducated immigrant parents had and grasped the opportunities to became small business owners, to work and provide for their family to the best of their abilities.

I celebrate every single one of my teachers who brought me comfort and security with just the presence and power of their smile, the educators in my life who went above and beyond to challenge and instil lasting principles that guide me to this day.  I celebrate the authors of every book I’ve ever read, the music artists of every song and impactful assembly of lyrics I’ve ever listened to, the writers and illustrators of every comic book I’ve ever enjoyed that were just as if not more substantial than text books, sports coaches with their teachings of teamwork and discipline. I celebrate student-run organizations.

I celebrate Dan Rather, Connie Chung, and Peter Jennings during most of my childhood and adolescence for their integrity and commitment, the creators of Star Trek who still to this day recognize their responsibility in providing entertaining and educational content that are as relevant and vital to modern society as ever.  I celebrate and ache for Fred Rogers…

I celebrate Bob, Kim, Patrick, and the entire Aitken family for embracing me as one of their own in a time of confusion and helplessness during my childhood and to this day.  I celebrate John and Audrey Shaw for their decade plus years of care and guidance who taught me more about life than playing a musical instrument.

I celebrate Chuck Norris and his family and the simple yet empowering advice that I didn’t know I needed to hear from a white male celebrity of, at the time I thought, almost deity-level status during those consecutive years of spending Thanksgiving at my parents’ place of business.  I celebrate Bill Gates, Michelle Kwan, Adam Sandler, and co-founder of Yahoo! Inc. Jerry Yang.

I celebrate my parents for their sacrifices, for ingraining core values directly and indirectly that have and continue to help me strive to be the best husband and father I can be.

I proudly celebrate all my family, friends, and acquaintances in healthcare, medical, firefighting and law enforcement, and service fields and industries for their unfaltering courage and ongoing examples of heroism. I celebrate my friends from all across the world, from different cultures and backgrounds, my millionaire friends, my business owner friends, my friends who’ve been to prison multiple times, my friends who are great at what they do, my friends who are struggling but persevering, my friends who are imperfect and are trying, who acknowledge that I am too…

I celebrate my understanding and acceptance of the reality that there are no acts of senselessness, that there is a society of people and a planet of humans in pain, that every cause has a pre and post-effect repeated and recycled.

I celebrate my right to celebrate, to choose to be enraged but not choose to hate, to hope and respect instead of to blame, condemn, marginalize, neglect, exclude.

// Joey Gu