This memorial is dedicated to the lasting memory of Xinfu Xu, a renowned physics teacher from the Xian No. 83 middle school and the middle school of Xian Jiaotong University. His inspirational teaching and unflagging dedication to students will be forever missed.
Zhang A-Yi (张阿姨), MingGang, MingQiang
On behalf of several very close high school... more此文原为徐老师追思会所写, 很遗憾最后未能成行, 特将文字贴在此处以哀悼我们敬重的徐老师
王冲 (八十三中八二届三班)
Zhang A-Yi (张阿姨), MingGang, MingQiang
On behalf of several very close high school friends of MingQiang who couldn't be here, please allow me to express our deepest sympathy and condolences to you and all the family members. We are here being with you and supporting you. We are so sorry for your loss, but it is also a loss to all of us, his students.
When MingQiang told me of Xu LaoShi’s (徐老师) passing the other day, I was shocked since I knew he was healthy enough to go back to China in 2017 and visited his old colleagues in Xian, which was just a year ago. Then there were so many thoughts and memories that raced through my head. Just like many of you, I thought about the last time I saw him. It was exactly 19 years ago when MingQiang invited us over to their Toronto's home for Christmas. Xu LaoShi and Zhang A-Yi were so kind and insisted that we stayed in their bedroom, for which my wife and I still feel un-eased whenever we recall it. I also immediately had all kinds of images in my mind of Xu LaoShi teaching in the class, speaking on the stage to all students, and particularly the smile on his face when the gang of us went to your home, bugging MingQiang with high school boys' stuff.
It’s quite easy for me to stand up here and proclaim that every person who ever had Xu LaoShi as a teacher will tell you that he was the absolute best and most well-respected teacher there ever was at our school. It’s easy for me to say this because I was sitting in his class, because I’ve been hearing it consistently from the time even before I was in school through today, 36 years after I left school, whenever you meet and talk with alumnus either you know or you don't know. That consensus is loud and clear.
To me, Xu LaoShi was not only my teacher, my best friend's dad, he was a mankind that devoted himself in helping his students succeed and influencing the future life of his students with his energy, intelligence, and enthusiasm. I remembered in the summer of 1982 when we took the nation-wide qualification test, on that particular day for physics test, we were standing outside waiting for bell ringing to enter the test room. Xu LaoShi came over and pointed to an example in the text book, saying "you guys take a look at this example and refresh your memory". We did and guess what, when we went into the room and opened up the paper, the question was actually in the test.
I have always been wondering, without that last minute remind, could I fail that test or I might not get the score I needed to qualify the college I finally went to. Then, I won't be working on what I am working on now, I won't be living as I am living today. Xu LaoShi was such a great teacher that he was so dedicated and committed to his duty, to his students, taking this last chance to give his students a final push, hoping they could jump over the fence or open the giant gate in front of them for their bright future. Throughout his life, how many of these reminds, advices actually happened and thereafter impacted and changed someone's life without knowing.
These days, our classmates shared a lot of sympathy thoughts in WeChat. One of them wrote, she still remembered that Xu LaoShi walked her across the street, helped her get the taxi going home. After forty years, what we learned back then in the classroom might have already faded away. But those short and touching moments still remain in our memory, and will keep us remembering him as a great teacher, advisor, and most importantly an influencer. So no matter how respectful a school president he was . . . no matter how strict and how kind he was with us as students . . . and no matter how much he loved his physics classes that he so tirelessly and expertly taught to so many of us . . . Xu LaoShi influenced each and every one of us in many more different ways such that we can never, ever accurately or fully explain with the mere tools of these Earthly written words . . .
. . . only a heavenly based language is capable of conveying that message . . .to which we will leave in God's hand. less
尊敬的汪牧师、郑牧师,各位亲朋好友、主内弟兄妹妹们,我代表全家感谢各位今天参加我父亲的追思会。87年不是很短暂的时间,如何用一句话来概括我父亲的一生? 我认为只有一句话 - 爱在行动不在言语 (He shows his love through his actions, not his words)。