In order to share her success story with young students and the public, Mayor Shiow-yen Lu was invited to present a speech today (29th). As a mother and a mayor, she shared her insight into how she gave up her NT$ 1 million a year news anchor career to enter the political arena. She said that instead of sharing success, she aims to shed light on how one can pursue one's initial aspirations by setting no limits and embracing challenges. She humbly referred to herself as a “once in a lifetime mediocre talent”, and that is why she has worked especially hard and more diligently than others, because practice makes perfect, often enabling a person to yield double the result with half the effort. The bottom line is that success is possible as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort.

Today's 2019 Mother of Success Lecture was hosted by the President of Asia University Jeffrey J. P. Tsai. Mayor Lu attended the function in the company of Civil Affairs Bureau Director Shih-wei Wu and Information Bureau Director General Huang-sheng Wu. She shared her insight into “accumulating failures on the road to success” and opened a dialogue with the audience. City Councilors Pi-hsiu Lin and Po-hsing Su also participated in the lecture.

Mayor Lu indicated that she forfeited the chance to partake in the civil service examination in college so as to pursue a career in journalism, a job involving the search for truth. While working as a journalist and anchor at CTS, she was earning an annual salary of NT$1 million. By chance, she decided to give up the exorbitant salary in order to accept KMT's invitation to run for Provincial Councilor. At the time, everyone thought she was out of her mind by pursuing such an uncertain future!

Subsequently, when the provincial structure was suspended, she ran for office as a member of the Legislative Yuan. According to Mayor Lu, she served as a legislator in the opposition party for the first time during the President Shui-bian Chen era. At the time, she learned how to serve the people, perform interpellation and run an election with no resources because she was in the opposition party. She commented that “when your life is hard and your back is against the wall, it will make you more determined and mature.”

After her 6th consecutive term in the office as a legislator, she participated in KMT's primary election and ran for the Taichung City mayoral election. At the time, KMT was the opposition party under tremendous pressure for disputes over its party assets. Under such a hostile environment, she was the only one who embraced the challenge and ran for mayor. Again, people around her criticized her as being insane, but she believes that such adverse conditions only accentuate her initial aspirations for joining the election, because there was absolutely no incentive or benefit for her.

Mayor Lu recollected that she was considered as the underdog by the public and the opinion poll, but she still pulled out all the stops and committed fully to the campaign. Never setting limits and always embracing challenges, she successfully pursued an alternative career at midlife as the Mayor of Taichung City.

According to Mayor Lu, by giving up a civil service job and the NT$1 million a year anchor position, she has already garnered fame and wealth at the age of 30, therefore how to achieve self-realization and serve her hometown are the most important considerations. When she retires from office one day, she hopes that she will have made the city a better place with her participation and contribution, “if that is the case, my life will be extraordinarily meaningful!”

Mayor Lu said that she wanted to share how to pursue one's initial aspirations instead of success. We should all contemplate what we really want in life, because each path will be difficult, so rather than doing something that you find exhausting and tedious in exchange for a decent pay, a false sense of security and a lifetime of unhappiness with no sense of achievement, why not bravely pursue your dreams and make tangible contributions to the society.

She believes that as long as you have a vision and goal in life, and if you are really passionate about your job, then all the hard work and sacrifices will be worthwhile. Even if you fail, you will learn a great deal of knowledge during the process.

President of Asia University Jeffrey J. P. Tsai commented that there are highs and lows in life, how to absorb experience from different encounters is extremely important in attaining success. As a mother and a mayor, Mayor Lu will uphold the spirit of empathy and compassion to serve the citizens. It is believed that her experience-sharing today will become a fountain of enlightenment for the younger generation.