Sad personal news...

[Dien Rice]

Dear Sowpubbers,

As some of you may know, around 3 weeks ago my father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. The last 3 weeks my two brothers and I have been dealing with the emotional and other burdens...

I thought I'd just share that as an explanation why I've been less active than usual on the forum lately...

Here's an email I recently sent out...

3 weeks ago, my life suffered a heavy blow. Unexpectedly and suddenly, my father passed away. This note is to share a few words with you here in explanation.

Thankfully, his passing away I believe was without pain for him (or with very little pain). However, it has left his other family members and me with a gaping void in our lives.

My father is someone I admired very much. He was a good man of integrity. Yet he was always positive, and also always caring about his fellow human being. You could say that his whole life was devoted to that. He could have worked in many different fields, but in the end he devoted his life to being a professor specializing in the economics of developing countries - or, in ordinary words, he devoted his life to helping some of the world's poorest people to attain better lives.

He was not just an "ivory tower" academic, but also worked on various projects which helped in practical ways.

For example, in the tsunami of Dec. 2004, the hardest hit area was the province of Aceh, Indonesia, where over 120,000 people died. In the aftermath, my father worked in Aceh to help rebuild and redevelop the region's economy (which had been destroyed by the tsunami). That's just one dramatic example of where he used his expertise to help some of the world's least fortunate people.

His passing away shocked me, because my father seemed to be quite strong.

However, rather than writing a million words about my father, I just want to share one more thing I learned from him.

My father lived a life of gratitude.

By spending a life where he saw some of the world's least fortunate people, he was grateful for what he had. He lived a life of gratitude for his loving family, for his friends, for the wonderful Earth and sun, for his health, and for the opportunities he's been given. He was a religious man, and gave thanks to God for these things.

I believe that being grateful for what you have is one of the most wonderful things you can do for your own life. Thank you, Dad. I hope I can live a life as good and as meaningful as yours was.

Some here (including Gordon) have been supportive "behind the scenes"... Thanks! You've been wonderful, and really helped me when I needed it...

Best wishes,

Dien