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From The Asian Reporter, V17, #12 (March 20, 2007), page 7.
What we can know, what we cannot
Some Sundays ago, Chester Yeom and his wife, their son, and their daughter went to church. Everyone understands that. Church is where we find solace with each other, where we make peace with God. Immigrants especially understand this day of rest, from work. A day of respite from our worries.
Later that same Sunday, Chester told Alex Lee he would take his place, his afternoon shift behind the cash register of his little market on the corner of S.E. Belmont Street and 34th Avenue, so his friend could go to his church. And that’s understandable too. That’s what good guys do for each other. That’s what friends are for. Right behind family and ambition and persistence, right behind belief in our labor and faith in God’s grace — good friends are what make American dreaming possible.
At a little before four, a determined young man under a dark hood, behind dark glasses, shot Chester. A bullet went into his right ear, through his head, then lodged between two of his neckbones.
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Oregon Health & Science University neurologists have explained, so that we working people can understand, how a spinal injury like the one that crumpled Chester can sever nerves connecting our brains to our toes and calves and knees and hips, our fingers and elbows and shoulders too. You can understand why Chester’s lungs are animated now by a gentle machine wheezing then softly drawing lively air.
Into, then out off of him.
In and out of Chester Yeom.
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Every wife and daughter, every mother and sister, Asian or Arab, American or African, all the same, understands why Chester’s wife is back at her job, at their business, behind their teriyaki counter at the bottom of that tall pink downtown tower reaching as high as can into Portland’s sad, low-slung overcast. Understands why work relieves a woman’s sorrow. Sorrow unknowable.
Reasons unattainable.
Silence unbearable.
And for this, for this suffering — as much as for what felled this strong husband, as much as for what’s taken from this solid father, as much as for what injustice is done to this good and reliable friend — for your unfathomable suffering, Mrs. Tiffany Yeom, we are so sorry.
Please accept our sincere sympathy for your family’s many-many losses. Ampun’allaah.
Notas:
Unico Properties Inc., an owner and manager of the U.S. Bancorp Tower, where Plaza Teriyaki is located, has set up a fund for Chester Yeom’s family. Please make your donation at any U.S. Bank branch.
Kindly send your sympathies to: Grandview Baptist Church, 14855 S. Leland Road, Beavercreek, OR 97004.
Ampun’allaah (Indo patois, from Arabic): may God have Mercy.