Dr Jiwei Li, Family physician, Vancouver

My word of the year is ‘Telos’; what gives me meaning in my day-to-day rhythms. I am most imbued as a human when I see communities thrive. This usually happens when I hear everyone’s stories. My family comes from rather modest circumstances chastening me to thirst for stories from the marginalized, those with the least voice.   

During the pandemic, I have heard many people’s stories of languishing. What gives me meaning is simply to listen, to hear people’s resilience, their communities of support, and even during the most desperate times - the love that stitches people together. This is particularly true for refugees. Most refugees I talk to come from war-torn countries rife with political and social instability. Hearing stories of inequities that they now experience in Canada, I am often confounded by their inextinguishable hope. This is especially real for their children. I remember the extraordinary courage and optimism in one particular Syrian boy’s eyes after experiencing a series of difficult circumstances at schools and with his health in Canada. Perhaps this boy’s ineffable hope is what gives his parents wellspring during the pandemic. Perhaps that is the shared hope that gave my parents wellspring as immigrants to Canada 45 years ago.

When I am languishing, these stories I hear from newcomers to Canada are the ones that give me telos; shaping why I am a physician, a father, a simple human participating, day-to-day, in the stories of human triumph.