Dear President Obama,

 

I’m Dr. Lin Jeng-Teh and I’m writing to you today asking for a little help in aid of a great and wonderful cause.

 

Like me, I’m sure you’ve realized that we (‘modern’ society) cannot continue with our ways. We must do something to get off the path we’re on before we destroy the Earth’s ability to sustain us. We have been making the world more and more inhospitable with each passing day with our careless consuming and profuse polluting. Many others also see this but they also believe the problem is much bigger than them and therefore it’s hopeless to even try.

 

I am hoping to change our ways and encourage people to step up and do something. I feel I could be very effective in this regard seeing as I will be 77 years old my next birthday. I am planning to perform as many concerts as my funding will allow in many different cities around the world raising awareness to our Earth’s plight. I am an experienced composer, piano teacher, singer (tenor), painter and writer. I want to perform three songs, Una Furtiva la Grima, one for lovers, O Sole Mio for old people and one for nature and Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, Member of the German Bundestag Alliance 90/The Green Party, My Love is Green by Brahms.   I will also sing one additional song, The President’s Lullaby, for former President Ah Bien who represented the majority of Taiwanese by standing up for our rights as sovereign Taiwanese and demanded dignity and human rights for all of us and was arrested without evidence. He has been in prison for more than 6 years and his health is failing. 

 

I have two grand-nieces who are very talented musicians, one works with Zubin Mehta and the other had been asked to perform for the Queen of Spain. A former student of mine, Ya Fei Chuang is one of the best pianists in the world. All of them have said that they would help me in my performances. I also wish to exhibit my paintings which can be purchased to help further the cause. In addition to this, I will read some of my literature. It will be the performance of the century. To perform my work in Vienna, in the Golden Hall is my dream, not just for me, not selfishly, but to pay more attention to 1/5 of the population (old folks) as well as the world.

 

To see an old man in his seventy-seventh year do all this will empower older people, around a billion in total, to do something. It will encourage adults to do something as well seeing as how relatively able-bodied they are. It would also alert the younger people that this IS a time for change, that we have to be that change and not simply wait for it to happen.

 

I have recently been to Europe and visited a number of cities’ officials and received support from a number of them, namely Berlin, Stuttgart, Salzburgh and Vienna. The next step is funding. I plan to donate over a hundred paintings for this cause but this may not be enough. I wish you could show me some support with a letter and $1 this would symbolize that we all just need to do something. Each of us doesn’t have to save the world in its entirety but just a personal-sized piece and that, collectively, should do it if enough people are active.  I will encourage each person who can hear my message donate $1 or plant 1 tree. Your endorsement would encourage other world leaders to do something together in a constructive manner for the benefit of the world.

 

This is a worthy case and we can make a big, lasting difference.

 

You could also visit my website, http://singingrevolution.hos.tw

 

Thank you for your time, 

 

Dr. Lin Jong-Teh

 

     我是林榮德博士。今天我寫信給您請求您幫一點小忙,但可能會產生巨大和美妙的奇蹟。

像我，我肯定您已意識到我們現代的社會不可能繼續用我們的方式行得通。我們必須做某些事，在我們毀壞地球之前我希望找到一條活路來鼓舞人類。我們使世界越來越不好,每天我們粗心的大量消耗和大量污染。許多其他人也看見此問題，他們也相信問題如此之大但他們卻绝望而且不願去嘗試改變。

我希望改變我們的方式來鼓勵人們往上爬並能做某些事情。  我感到我可能鑒於這是非常有效的，因為我明年即將77歲。在我的資助允許下，我計劃到全世界許多大城市舉辦多場音樂會喚醒人類保護地球。 我是一位老練的作曲家、鋼琴老師、演唱家(男高音歌手)、畫家和作家。  我想要唱三首歌曲，1. Una Furtiva la Grima(一滴美妙的情淚`)，獻給全世界的有情人，2. O Sole Mio(可愛的陽光)獻給全世界的老人，3. My Love is Green by Brahms(我的愛是綠色的) 獻給為自然奮戰的德國綠黨發言人Sylvia Kotting-Uhl女士，另外我也將加唱一首歌曲，是由我自己作詞作曲,歌名叫「阿扁關在監牢裡」又名「總統搖籃」,阿扁是由我們台灣人647萬票選出,連做2任8年的台灣總統,政績卓著,但卸任即被國民黨無情的政治追殺,未審先判羅織罪名。今被台灣國民黨馬政權,用莫須有的罪名政治迫害,關入黑牢已將近5年,健康已亮起紅燈,急需閣下伸出援手,讓他早日脫離苦海獲得自由。我要為阿扁總統他獻唱，並唱給全世界的人聽，為台灣發聲，為人權呼號。 

我有二個非常有天才的音樂家姪女，一個是世界名指揮Zubin Mehta的助理，另一位曾獲西班牙女王的召見。我從前的一個學生，莊雅斐是目前世界上最頂尖的鋼琴演奏家 。我想我若能到維也納黃金演奏廳演唱，他們都將很樂意幫我達成夢想順利演出，我也希望展出我的百幅油畫義賣並被收藏，義賣所得一半捐做推廣兒童音樂教育基金，另一半捐做種樹救地球的費用。除此之外，我將朗誦我的一些文學作品，那將是世紀性的展演。能到維也納金色大廳演唱是我一生的夢想，不僅是為我自己，也是為全世界1/5人口的老人而唱。

一個將近77歲的人能做到如此壯舉，將激勵全世界近10億的老人去做一些有意義的事情。它也能鼓勵一般成年人劍及履及的去做一些事，它也能使年青人警覺這是個變動的世界，我們必須主動出擊而不是等待，等待天上掉下來禮物。

我最近拜訪了歐洲幾個城市並且得到一些人的支持，如柏林、斯圖加特、薩爾茲堡和維也納。下一步是資金問題，我計畫捐出100幅油畫募集資金但顯然還不足以讓我成行，親愛的歐巴瑪總統我希望你能寫一封信給我鼓勵給我支持，並捐出一塊錢做象徵，那麼我們將能做成許多事。我們每一個人應該更活躍的來拯救世界，21世紀新文藝復興運動就是保護地球。若得知我訊息的人能捐出一塊錢或種一棵樹，那我將受到激勵，有你歐巴瑪總統的背書將鼓勵世界其他領導者一起來做有建設性的事情對世界做出偉大的貢獻。

這是一件值得做的事情，並且我們可以產生大而持久的變化。

您可以參訪我的網站， http://singingrevolution.hos.tw

感謝您花時間看信，    林榮德博士 2013.10.25