Joe

I was born in Taiwan, but I left when I was three. I did all my elementary school in South Korea, and when I was about to get into high school, my family moved from Korea to South America. Then I did my university studies in North America. As a child, I hated moving around so much because you lose all your friends and have to learn a new language, but later on, it became an asset. The world is becoming more globalized, so people want others who have experience with different cultures and countries.

I came to Canada in 1997, which was after I graduated from university. I wanted to come to Canada because my family had already immigrated here and I wanted to be close to them. I was also able to find a job here. The job I had was a research position in material science, the same topic as my major, with the federal government in Ottawa. I was researching how to make building materials last longer in our cold weather. I remained in the engineering/technology field until I got married and had a family.

When my wife was 43, she had cancer, and the year after that, she passed away. That’s when I realized that life is short and anything can happen. When I took a few months off from engineering, I decided to think: What do I want to do? I decided to do something that I felt was more impactful—not just about making money. I was 50, and it took me about 10 years to figure it out. That’s how I ended up being a pastor until I retired last September.

I’m now a chaplain at a senior living community. There’s a team of two chaplains, and it’s easier for residents to share their issues with us since we don’t have any power. We’re here just to help the residents.

I found myself here by accident. The CEO of this place used to be a pastor. Every summer, when I was working as a pastor, we needed someone to cover our other pastor while he was on holiday. So, the CEO used to come to our church. I usually took these guests out to lunch since they came all the way to help us, so he got to know me. One of the chaplains at this retirement living community decided to take parental leave, so they thought of me—especially since they needed someone who could speak Chinese, as almost two-thirds of the residents are Chinese. I ended up filling in for three or four months until the chaplain came back, but after a year, he decided to become a stay-at-home dad, and I got his job.

Right now, one of my hobbies is music. I don’t even play music, but I like to go and listen to other people play. I also like to sing, though I don’t often get the chance. Reading is probably my number one hobby. I actually didn’t want to be an engineer; I wanted to study European literature. But being from a Chinese family at the time, my dad said, “No, you’re a boy. You’re not going to study literature. You are either going to be a doctor or an engineer.”

The lesson I learned is that there are a lot of things we like to do and don’t like to do, but in life, you may not be able to do everything you want. You might end up doing something that you really don’t like—like what I went through with engineering—and at the time, not see anything good coming out of it. But later, it does turn out to be beneficial. So I advise young people to be open-minded and see everything as an opportunity.