At thirteen, I accompanied my mother to the Hawaiian Islands.

In the words of Sun Yat-sen: “At thirteen, I accompanied my mother to the Hawaiian Islands. There, for the first time, I saw the wonder of a steamship and the vastness of the ocean. From that time on, I was eager to acquire the knowledge of the West and to fathom the mysteries of nature.” These words are the remembrance of a boy standing at the threshold of destiny, his young eyes opened to a world far greater than the village of his birth. They remind us that a single moment of wonder, once planted in the heart, can ignite the fire of lifelong purpose.

The ancients spoke often of the transformative power of the journey. For Odysseus, the ocean was not only a path but a teacher, revealing both peril and possibility. For young Sun Yat-sen, the voyage across waters was not merely travel—it was initiation. The sight of the mighty steamship, a symbol of modern invention, and the boundless horizon of the sea, awoke in him the thirst to learn, to explore, to seek wisdom beyond the borders of his homeland. Thus was born the vision that would one day shape the course of a nation.

History shows us that many great leaders have been marked by such early encounters with the unknown. Peter the Great of Russia, as a young man, journeyed to the shipyards of Holland and England. There, amid the hammering of shipwrights and the science of navigation, he grasped the strength of the West and returned determined to reform and modernize his own people. In both Peter and Sun, we see the same truth: the soul that has glimpsed a greater world cannot be content with ignorance or confinement.

Sun Yat-sen’s words also speak to the eternal hunger of the human spirit—to fathom the mysteries of nature, to go beyond what is seen into what is hidden. The steamship he admired was more than a vessel of iron; it was the embodiment of human curiosity and mastery over the elements. It symbolized a bridge between East and West, between tradition and modernity, between the known and the unknown. For a boy of thirteen, such a vision could either pass as spectacle or become a seed of destiny. In Sun’s case, it became a seed, watered by desire, nurtured by study, and harvested in revolution and leadership.

Yet let us not forget: the path from wonder to wisdom is not inevitable. Many see marvels and pass by unchanged. The difference lies in the heart that refuses to forget the vision. Sun Yat-sen did not merely admire; he sought to understand. He did not merely dream; he labored to acquire knowledge. His eagerness became action, and his action became the foundation of a life devoted to the transformation of his people. In this lies the secret of greatness—not only to behold, but to pursue, to translate vision into reality.

The lesson for us is clear: never dismiss the moments of wonder that stir your soul. They may come in youth or in age, in travel or in books, in nature or in human invention. When they arrive, seize them. Write them upon your heart. Let them shape your hunger for knowledge and your willingness to act. For in such moments lie the callings that lead men and women beyond themselves, toward service, discovery, and legacy.

Therefore, O seeker, walk with your eyes open, as the young Sun Yat-sen once did. When you see the vastness of the ocean, let it remind you that your own life is but one wave in a greater sea. When you behold the marvels of invention, let them teach you that human hands and minds, guided by vision, can alter the course of history. And when you feel the stirring of curiosity, do not let it fade. Chase it, as Sun chased the mysteries of nature, until it leads you not only to knowledge, but to wisdom, and to deeds that will echo beyond your years.