My friend Samuel Chu's new essay, "Strangers into Collaborators," shares a remarkable family history, from his father's work helping people escape after Tiananmen to Samuel's own efforts helping a younger generation of Hong Kong activists find safety.
Freedom and Fugitivity Often Travel Together
One Line That Stayed With Me
I keep returning to one line: "Freedom and fugitivity often travel together."
It has stayed with me because the transitions in my life have rarely been solitary. Again and again, moving toward a freer or more honest future has depended on people who offered perspective, opened a door, or helped me see the next step.
Relationships Become the Scaffolding
Samuel's essay is a powerful reminder that relationships are more than sources of comfort. They can become the scaffolding that helps people survive, act, and build what comes next.
When you're running your life with personal OKRs, it's easy to focus on individual goals and measurable outcomes. But Samuel's story shows that the people around us often determine whether we can move toward freedom at all.
Read Samuel's Work
The essay appears in the Los Angeles Review of Books. And you can follow his ongoing work for more on the intersection of activism, family, and what it means to help others find safety.
Some pieces remind you that the most important transitions happen because someone else made them possible.
Read "Strangers into Collaborators" and consider who has been your scaffolding.