Every once in a while comes a man or a woman of special significance...a person who touches humanity of those around her and a person whose life should be celebrated for "Profiles in Courage." Lawyer Liza Cheuk May Chan, the author of My Impossible Life, is one such person. Below is a review of Liza and her book, My Impossible Life.

Okay Liza, 

I'm done. All 619 pages, read. Now, I feel like I have lost a friend and I am left alone without my months' long companion...My Impossible Life by Liza Cheuk May Chan--Lawyer, Author, daughter, sister, raconteur, speaker of many languages, teller of many tales, dreamer of...oh so many dreams and "full-contact" participant in the game life. 

IMPOSSIBLE LIFE...IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

What do you say??? What can you say when you realize that My "Impossible" Life, for all its overwhelming humanity, humor, beauty, tumultuous episodes, manic energy and so much suffering is...so, well, so understated. When a comparative or a superlative expression of "Impossible" is needed, all you were left with was the simple word "impossible"...a word that brings to mind Cervante's Don Quixote's, Man of La Mancha and the song, The Impossible Dream. 

Liza, your unsuspecting title begins a 619 page odyssey...one woman's overwhelming battle from carefree, exuberant, poor kid in the cramped quarters of Hong Kong, to "Reluctant Warrior" in the trenches of American litigation, to outstanding, big firm "immigration" lawyer at Dickinson Wright, and, finally, onto the "peaceful warrior" of acceptance..."living a life with balance, serenity, compassion and openness" (page 572).  

I have never seen a better description of humanity's, shared fragile-ness...than the eloquent description you so artistically paint on page 558 of your Impossible Life...

Quote...My "accoutrements" preceded me in my pre-paraplegia days, starting with my "armor": the designer pantsuit, the designer socks and shoes, the alligator belt with sterling silver buckle, the vermeil cufflinks, the famous maker watch and even the designer gold-rim eyeglasses. My name-brand, leather briefcase announced my arrival, and my collectible fountain pen punctuated my pronouncements. It was a "package" necessary for success and advancement in the Corporate Legal world. However, once I became a paraplegic, I could not avail myself of any of those accoutrements. It was not practical for me to put on my former "uniform," and I could not very well carry a briefcase in my wheelchair. Even though I was, of course, wearing clean clothes and was otherwise presentable, the "props" were not there anymore. There was nothing to announce my special station in life or my entitled status or my assumed authority. On the contrary, I was piteously vulnerable, half slumped in my wheelchair; I was "stripped naked" of my protective shell and the cultivated outer appearance. It would be years before I became "comfortable in my own skin." That came when I, finally, relearned and realigned my priorities, and with that, fully accepted myself as a paraplegic. I was no longer in denial, nor did I have to make excuses for my physical disability. I was a good person, a worthy person, a valid person just as I had always been, sans props and accoutrements. I had lived the charmed, privileged, entitled and jaded life, even if mostly on credit. While I was not exactly super rich or even nouveau riche, I had glimpses of and skirted at the edges of that socioeconomic stratum. Spiritually, morally and karmically, it was not authentic or a sustainable life style... End quote (page 558).

WOW!!! Great use of the English language Liza... your third language. I know it is always important for any lawyer to remember..."you never get a second chance for a first impression," but Liza, as you so truly, clearly and dramatically point out, "substance" not "impression" is the actual currency of a real professional...every bit as much as the "reputation for truth" is the "stock and trade" of any good lawyer. And Liza, it was your actual currency of "substance" and "truth" that accounted for your hard fought rise from a small kid in Hong Kong, living in colorful, but terribly cramped quarters... to one of Michigan's premier immigration lawyers at Dickinson Wright, and then to the paraplegic woman you so poignantly describe above.

After your years of financial struggle growing up and after years and decades of education, apprenticeship, practicing law, slow rises, precipitous falls, challenges, suffering, untold surgeries, incessant rehab, alternative healing, "drive you to your knees" pain, adjustments and hardships (all mixed in with your keen sense of humor and flamboyant lifestyle)...finally, after years and decades, life grants you the wisdom to reconcile and describe your emotional landing point. That "emotional landing point" is the "spiritual refuge" you paint in My Impossible Life...as, after decades of suffering, you will yourself to continue to embrace life in whatever form or whatever manner life is dealt to you. Where others might have let go and said "enough is enough," you willfully embraced and adopted the conscious decision to continue to dance with life...no matter how demanding or how compromised or impaired in your half filled glass of hope.

Quote...I have lived, honorably and gratefully, to the brim; I have dreamed, impossibly, sweetly, and ambitiously; and I have loved boldly, purely, and passionately. Yet the point remains that, in the here and now, there are places to go, things to do, people to see, photographs to take, music to get lost in, meditations to practice, life lessons to assimilate, wrongs to right, injustices to quell, dreams to realize, stars to chase, expectations to exceed, promises to keep, destinies to fulfill...and life, however impossible, to live... End quote (page 619)

KARMA AND REINCARNATION... THEN WHAT???

Your endless and overwhelming battle for life (and with life) seems (to the Western eye) to represent and embrace the entire history of Eastern thought and Eastern mysticism about the quality and value of life when there "seems" to be so little of each. But, "seems" seems to be the operative word, because you drew out of your numerous day to day, unremitting struggles...a life well lived and a battle well fought. How do you go on... day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year, decade to decade and Century to Century when...every ounce of life's energy seems to be expended just trying to make it through the day??? Do you just await your next "luck of the draw" challenge from life here on Earth or do you look forward to your next "luck of the draw," assignment of "new beginnings" in the next chapter of a "reincarnated" life??? 

Does Eastern thought and spirituality tell you that your "karma" of this lifetime paves the way for the next incarnation of reincarnation...to what??? or to whom??? Will your love of photography in this life parlay you to stardom in the next go-round as a photographic genius like Ansel Adams, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tony Spina, Rose Marie Cromwell??? Or, will your all embracing love of music in this life open the door in the next life as a concert pianist like Maurice Ravel, Helene Grimaud, Mitsuko Uchida, Lang Lang or as a pop pianist like Elton John (Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me) www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI5xme5k5AQ or Little Richard (Golly, Golly Miss Molley..."You sure like to ball" www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ6akiGRcL8 or country/rock star like Jerry Lee Lewis with a "Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On" ("It's your lover boy me that's a knockin'" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dC0DseCyYE or, a rock star vocalist like Dionne Warwick??? (Don't Make Me Over..."now that I can't make it without you.") www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgxuE7WD6U or Nancy Wilson (How Glad I Am, I'm in the Middle "and you don't know, you don't know, you don't know...how glad I am." www.discogs.com/Nancy-Wilson-How-Glad-I-Am/release/...

LILIAN...THE ETERNAL CHILD OF ENDLESS SUMMER

Losing little, down syndrome sister Lilian was tough... Lilian the eternal child of endless summer. And let no man and no woman ever say a word against Lilian's Mother for the right decision she made when the Mother knew she had no choice but to, eventually, let go of Lilian's daily care to the experts so the mother was freed up to continue to work outside the home and support the remaining sisters inside the home. What pain, guilt, regret and suffering the Mother, the Father and the rest of the family must have absorbed and suffered in silent resignation. It cannot be easy being the Mother and the leader of the family and making all the necessary, but tough decisions. Besides, as Shakespeare wrote..."All's Well That Ends Well." with Lilian now transported in death from Hong Kong to Windsor...an almost circumnavigational global odyssey from Lilian's oriental home, back into the arms of Mother earth and back to her own Mother and Father...Lilian's very source of life, with Lilian in final repose, now resting alongside her Mother and Father...or maybe Lilian now walks the earth once again alongside us, reincarnated, into a healthy mind and sound body. Who knows??? 

IMPOSSIBLE LIFE, IMPOSSIBLE DREAM... DULCINEA

In the last analysis, Liza...you are the Man of La Mancha. You lived, wrote and sang The Impossible Dream all during your Impossible Life, and you always saw in others the Dulcinea that many around you failed to see. I commend you for a life well lived in two different worlds (Eastern and Western), a life well spoken in three different languages (Cantonese, Chinese and English), a life well fought with a single indomitable spirit...bloodied, but unbowed) and a life well examined in...My Impossible Life.

A RENEWED APPRECIATION

As I spent hours shoveling snow yesterday, I thought of you and, instead of cursing the wind and snow, I embraced my plight and said an Ave of thanks that I am still able to push myself out of bed, walk to my daily challenges and physically and emotionally surmount them.

Hopefully, we meet one day. Thank you for the pleasure of knowing you through your Impossible Life.

TRIAL LAWYER

Fred Lauck
http://www.fredlauck.com

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