PART TWO
Jealousy: A gun shoots only the bird that dares to poke his/her head out
Although the majority of Chinese Americans support “Sight”, and some enthusiastically–such as our lead volunteer Linhui Wang of NY, with whom we conducted weekly “Sight” zoom meetings throughout 2024–a small number of Chinese Americans came out and maliciously attacked us. Initially I did not understand why, and I would ask myself this question: If the medical charity work that was done to help blind orphans and the subsequent tour of the film were conducted by non-Chinese Americans (as is typically the case, since charity work is mainly done by Americans), would these attackers still criticize those charity workers?
I concluded that the answer is no. I have come to realize that the main reason that these Chinese Americans attacked me when I did the same kind of charity work as Americans do, and then spoke out about it, is because I am a fellow Chinese American, i.e., they are simply jealous. There is a traditional Chinese saying: “A gun will only shoot a bird that dares to poke his/her head out.”
Such jealousy and sabotage of fellow Chinese Americans is a key challenge for all of us in attempting to succeed in America, socially and politically. Fortunately, with the help of our “Sight” volunteer team, as well as over a thousand Chinese American volunteers and pastors, I was able to ignore the vicious attacks of this small number of jealous Chinese Americans, and I continued my tour.
For 365 days from 5/19/2023 to 5/18/2024, the “Sight” national tour covered 40 states in North America, with 500 shows and a cumulative audience of 50,000 viewers. This is unprecedented in U.S. history, i.e., never before has this type of film been taken to the entire nation, and a free national film tour conducted, as such, by the subject of a film.
God answered our prayer: “Sight” has become the first first-generation Chinese American story in American mainstream media.
On 5/24/2024, “Sight” was released by Angel Studios (the 11th film distribution company that considered “Sight”) to 2,118 theaters in North America and was the longest-running film domestically in the summer of 2024 (92 days), with a domestic box office of $7.2 million, a tremendous success compared to all previous first-generation Chinese American immigrant films in U.S. history.
“Sight” has now taken on a life of its own, which we anticipate will continue for many years to come. It is currently touring internationally, is being shown on airplanes and in hotels, and is streaming on Angel.com and other platforms. The film can be seen FREE of CHARGE at sight.drmingwang.com.
The impact of “Sight” and lessons learned that may be of benefit to future Chinese Americans who desire to tell their stories.
- As my friend the late Iris Chang pointed out in her seminal book “The Chinese in America”, although we have been in this country for 175 years, despite all the contributions we have made to America, we are often still ignored, stereotyped and discriminated against. All Chinese Americans recognize that, and while most choose to be complacent and not that interested in taking action, a remarkably small group of leading Chinese Americans are doing something about it, and that is WHY they reached out and enthusiastically jumped in to support “Sight”. Therefore, to change the fate of Chinese Americans in America in order to truly improve our social status so that we will finally be properly and fairly recognized and appreciated for the contributions we have made to this country, focusing on this small group of Chinese American leaders is vital!
- Passion alone will not cause us to succeed; organization is also needed. I had the dream of using “Sight” to inspire fellow Chinese Americans to stand up, speak out and tell our stories of the contributions we have made to this country, but without our meticulous organization, building a team, and working together, i.e., if I had passion without organization, it would not have been successful.
- As Iris Chang pointed out to me personally, the key to our success in making Asian Americans no longer an “invisible minority” lies within ourselves. Unfortunately, genetically and culturally, there are always going to be some Chinese Americans who are just not happy to see the success of fellow Chinese Americans. While they may not necessarily attack, for example, Caucasian Americans who have achieved the same degree of success and have done similar worthwhile work (such as the medical charity work shown in the film “Sight”), if the work is done by fellow Chinese Americans, they will attack. There will always be some Chinese Americans who are just simply not happy for fellow Chinese Americans who achieve success. This is almost a genetic flaw, a fact of life.
- The “Sight” national tour, and the movement that has followed, is not only “telling our story” to inspire all Chinese Americans to stand up, speak out and tell their stories to let the West know the contributions we have made to society, but for me personally, it is also a tour of “telling Jesus’ story”. Through the story of my invention of the amniotic membrane contact lens and donating my patent to the world, I want to send a message to the world, particularly to the vast amount of young people who are studying the rapidly developing science and technology that is being taught in universities, and at the same time who are leaving Christianity behind, that God wants faith and science to work together. Faith and science do have common ground. My life’s experiences as told in my autobiography “From Darkness to Sight” and the film “Sight” have taught me that science is necessary, but it is just a tool; the sufficient condition to have an uplifting life is faith in Christ, which gives us purpose, about what we should use our hard-earned scientific knowledge for. In my case, God’s calling to me has been beyond what I normally do as an eye surgeon but has also been to do my best to help those who need the most help, i.e., blind orphan children. In today’s unprecedentedly divided nation, we are increasingly fixated on our differences rather than appreciating what we all have in common. We are increasingly unable to work across political isles, racial divides and ethnic divisions, and as a nation we are paralyzed and unable to address our nation’s key issues (gun violence, opioid crisis, environmental disasters, poverty, racial tension, education, economy, jobs, education and healthcare). The root cause of our nation’s division is human nature (greed for power, control and money). We need to heed a higher calling, a calling from Jesus Christ. To work together despite of our differences for the sake of our country, to overcome our human nature tendency for polarization and instead find common ground, is not only a mandate from Christ to all Christians, but Christ has also shown us HOW to find common ground (and we have established the common ground-seeking STEPS through our non-profit, Common Ground Network (www.commonground.network)).
This is not just one man’s dream, my dream, it is also your dream, our dream, the dream of all Chinese Americans and is in fact the dream of all human beings, i.e., to be respected and to be rewarded for hard work.
FREE “Sight” link: sight.drmingwang.com.
If you are interested in the events that Dr. Wang hosts, you can reach Dr. Wang at drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com, www.drmingwang.com, wechat: ballroom123.
- A weekly Tues 6:45pm CT vision zoom, in which all state-of-the-art laser vision procedures are discussed, including SMILE (18+, small-incision LASIK), Implantable Contact Lens (21+), Forever Young Lens (45+, to get rid of both distance and reading classes) and LASER cataract surgery (60+). RSVP drmingwang.com;
- A monthly every 3rd Wed 7:30pm CT “Shi Ban Gong Bei” pearl zoom (how to accomplish double in half of the time): 563 211 2348 (0524 2024). If you are interested in receiving a copy of the SBGB book, please email Dr. Wang your name and mailing address.
- If you are interested in inviting Dr. Wang for a “Film + Testimonial” event, please email Dr. Wang;
If you are interested in donating to the 501c(3) non-profit Wang foundation for Sight Restoration, so we could help more blind orphan children, you can donate online at www.wangfoundation.com, or may a check (payable to “Wang Foundation”) to: Attn: Leona Walthorn, Wang Foundation, 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150, Nashville, TN, 37203, 615-321-8881.
Dr. Ming Wang
, Harvard & MIT (MD); UMD (PhD, laser physics)
Subject of the film “Sight” (FREE link: sight.drmingwang.com)
Director, Wang Vision Institute; CEO, Aier-USA
1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150, Nashville, TN, 37203, 615-321-8881
drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com, www.drmingwang.com, wechat: ballroom123
