Last Wednesday, when I came back from a brother’s memorial service, I logged in my working company’s network to check my emails. My co-worker pinged me, “Are you affected?” I told him, “I don’t know there is a resource action occurring and I don’t know my condition yet”. Then he gave me a long list of people who have been affected by this round of resource action that he has learned so far. My reaction was WOW! it looks pretty serious.

Later on, I had a chance to talk to two of the affected colleagues whom I have been working with for quite a long time. Even though this is an unpleasant situation, I find that one of them is positive while the other is certainly not in a good mood. Both of them have been with the company since their young age, therefore, their agonizing feeling in separation is certainly understandable. As the perceived practice of this resource action seems to be targeting older age employee, both of them quickly became easy target – the endangered species – in this action.

While I am not encouraging people to stay in his post in old age, unless necessary, the reason I called the old age employees the “endangered species” is due to my observation of “eroding” respect from current industrial companies, unless you are in a high-level management position. In my mind, I always perceive experience is one of the precious assets that a person can accumulate and offer. However, oftentimes, an old person’s experience may not be appreciated by younger generation.

For those who have raised children, do you appreciate experience from others, especially from your own parents? Chinese has an old saying, “養兒方知父母恩，觀老方知己未來”. In a paraphrase, it means we learn parents’ heart and efforts when we go through the same parenting process. And, we learn how we will be in the future by seeing our parents’ life. This is a vivid picture of knowledge and experience transfer.

In the Bible, there is a good example of knowledge and experience transfer too. Before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, Moses reiterates God’s commands, decrees and laws to them. He said, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 以色列阿，你要聽‧耶和華我們神是獨一的主. 你要盡心，盡性，盡力愛耶和華你的神‧Deuteronomy 6:4-5”  Moses wants them to know the LORD is “truly” their Lord of life and they need to love Him wholeheartedly. This is ultimately important because the land of Canaan is a place full of idol worshiping.

Then, Moses urged them, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. 我今日所吩咐你的話都要記在心上，也要殷勤教訓你的兒女‧無論你坐在家裡，行在路上，躺下，起來，都要談論‧也要繫在手上為記號，戴在額上為經文Deuteronomy 6:6-9”.  This example tells us how important it is that we need to explain things to our children, and if we don’t, they end up learning the hard way.

In celebrating the Father’s day, let me wish all the fathers in this world a “Happy Father’s Day”. To all others, please don’t let your parents become endangered species. You should cherish the time and opportunities that you can spend with them. And, you should learn from their precious experience. Ultimately, parents are God’s gift to each one of us….