Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Dr. Henry Lee: A Good Man

Saw a pretty interesting show on TVBS’s SUMMIT 101, where the featured Dr. Henry Lee, the forensic science expert. What captured my attentions is not his skill nor capabilities, but him as a person and his characters, and perhaps some of his insights as well.

Lee gave me a very solid feel, someone strong and trustworthy, yet excellent and open minded. Some quick background: I think he was a former police officer who went to US in the early days with just USD 50. Then he worked his way through university to get his PhD and fight for his chance to achieve his life ambition: Police Forensic Science.

I think he is a pretty famous person nowadays, got a few of his moment in the interview which captured my attention.

When he was going for the university, he tried to cram the subjects of 4 years into two. The tutor said he was crazy and wouldn’t allow him to do so. He said, “It’s my fault if I fail. It isn’t my fault if you don’t let me to do it.” Somehow he convinced the tutor and succeeds at the end (after all, this is a success story). So, should blame others for the lack of opportunities to try, as it is us who didn’t try hard enough to try.

The interviewer ask him, wouldn’t things be different if he didn’t venture to US? It’s the person which matter and we just go through different path at different places. Every profession had its peak, and it’s still possible to turn out to be great. I guess we shouldn’t blame on the places we are at, and we still have the freewill to move on.

To succeed in any profession, what is important? A team. You must treat others better than you treat yourself, so that others will be happy and willing to work for you. No matter how great you are, you can’t function without a good team. You need different people to do different things, and it’s the collaborative effort which give you result. Another thing is you must have curiosity and courage. We must be willing to take risk, and don’t take unnecessary risk. I guess I kinda have the second half, but not the first half. I think it’s kinda difficult to find a good and responsible partner, which we could work well together. I co-operate with Simon for a few times, but he is busy nowadays with his son and law degree (prioeity shift). Mei Ru is my best partner at the moment, helping and supporting me whenever she could. Perhaps I really have to look seriously getting people together to venture together, yet good and willing people are hard to come by.

About crime. It is not enough to depend just on the police, but the people's heart. If everyone can do a good deed everyday, the crime would definitely reduce significantly. The state of economy relate closely to the crime level, sounds logical and undeniable. If there is more 1st time offender, it means the society’s education is not functioning. If there are more repetitive offenders, it means the correction system is not working. We should give leniency and forgiveness to 1st time offender and enforce a heavier punishment for repetitive offender. In order to counter crime, we must learn how to prevent crime (society education and economy), stop crime (severe punishment for repetitive offender) and reduce crime (enforcement effectiveness).

At the end, I believe a good character is more important than intelligent, skill, capability or money. It is all about what you are made of, how you carry yourself and how people look upon you. I believe Lee is a good person, at least he gave me such an impression (it maybe be the truth, or he is damn good at it).

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