For Phillip Wong

Kind. Composed. Helpful. Intelligent.

Phillip wanted to see others succeed.

He loved his work, because it let him help people do just that.

His time with people of the Maseeh College was like a smooth stone cast into a still lake

—

its ripples spreading outward, subtle but lasting, long after the water had closed over.

As that polished stone sank from the surface to the quiet bottom,

it watched the ripples interact with everything above — with everyone.

Now the stone rests on the lake floor.

Perhaps it still senses the echoes it set in motion.

Now part of the foundation, feeling the way its ripples soften the shore

and shape the surface of other stones.

Phillip’s presence is still with us —

in the memory of a man who cared,

and in the ongoing work of those he inspired.