My little son, Caleb, was born last summer.  And, with all the celebrations that go along with being a new parent, I have been pondering about my son’s inevitable question:  “Daddy, how much do you love me?”   I would like to believe that I do a lot for my son, although my wife might say otherwise.  But, to equate love with parental duties: Feeding, bathing, appreciating the 1.2 million different shades of green in his soiled diapers, sadly misses the point of a love-filled relationship between a father and a son. (1:00)

Mr. Contest Chairman.  Ladies and Gentlemen.  To every loving father who knows that every child wants their thirst for love quenched.  You are their mentors, leaders, heroes.  Superhuman or not, I salute you.  My answer to “Daddy, how much do you love me?” will not only affect little Caleb, but our family for generations to come!  Recall for a moment.  What was your answer when you cried out for your father’s love?  As I gaze at my son, I think about what it would take to be the perfect loving father. (2:00)

My son will be raised differently.  I've made my fair share of mistakes and I'm sure Caleb will too.  I made a lifelong vow that whatever he does or fails to do, he will be forgiven.  I will accept him just the way he is.  That's what loving fathers do.  My father, on the other hand is a blood-sweat-and-tears, hard-nosed, unforgiving type of man.  The kind who would say that his love was perfectly correlated with the scores on my report card.  I rarely scored an “A”, but I’m alive today because I never scored an “F”.  Failure was not an option, just perfection.  Of course, being Asian, I had to take every extra-curricular activity available, from being a violinist in a youth orchestra to being a Brownie Girl Guide, by accident, of course.  I got beat like a human piñata if I had failed to comply.  Why was my success so important to him?  His response was an invitation to find out the truth myself: "Son, one day, you'll understand". (3:45)

My son will be raised differently.  Those were my father’s words when I was born.  He made a vow that whatever it took, I was going to be raised in a new environment with better opportunities.  Six months after I was born, my father decided to leave Hong Kong and immigrate to Canada.  Life was easy for me, but my father lived a lifetime of toil and hardship.  He had never landed a good paying job.  The truth had been kept a secret until later in my life that he was uneducated.  It wasn’t by choice though, because  the Japanese occupation during the Second World War made it impossible to go to school.  My father grew up in the most unimaginable conditions filled with death, hunger, and despair.  Too painful to say it, his eyes would tell me the whole story: "I did it all for you, son.  Everything I have is yours." A lifetime of suffering, all for me. (5:45)

My sons will live!  The Imperialist Japanese were moving towards Hong Kong, inching closer to grandpa's home, going door-to-door forcing families out, seizing their homes, and killing those who opposed their will.  Grandpa had made a vow to his children that he would do everything in his power to protect them.  When the enemy had eventually reached their doorstep, grandpa courageously held them at bay providing an improbable opportunity to escape.  My father and his siblings never saw their parents again.  In the chaos, they had split up.  My father, no older than a first grader, was standing all alone in the muddy streets of Hong Kong, homeless, penniless, and hungry.  But, my father understood Grandpa's ultimate act of love: dying so his children can live on. (7:15)

So, when my son is ready to ask me “Daddy, how much do you love me?”

Son.  Daddy loves you just the way you are.  Daddy will always forgive you.  Everything is for you, son.  And, most of all, daddy will give his life for you because I'm so lucky just to be able to call you “my son...you are my son!”

Mr. Contest Chairman.