Giving Up Everything Just to Meet You—A Profile of Intern Anna

When Anna first came to the JRF, she was a junior at National Chengchi University. At the time, Anna was taking a public service internship course offered by NCCU's Criminal Law Center, and I was the JRF supervisor assisting the students with their internships. Anna is a diligent and meticulous student. I assigned a few appeal cases to Anna to organize, and she handled all of them exceptionally well. Previously, I had assigned the Cheng Li-ming case to several other students, but because the case files amounted to two entire boxes, everyone found it too overwhelming and dropped it. After much thought, I figured Anna might be up for the challenge, so I asked her if she would be willing to help organize the Cheng Li-ming case, and she agreed without hesitation.

It was Anna's first time organizing such a complex and voluminous case. There were 19 judgments alone and 19 defendants, involving intricate relationships and conflicting testimonies. However, Anna did not back down. I repeatedly discussed the Cheng Li-ming case with her, asking her to draw character relationship diagrams, organize the legal issues and points of contention across the various instances of trial, and attempt to write the case into an accessible article so that everyone could easily understand it.

I remember it was close to the end of the semester when Anna submitted her first draft. Because I am usually extremely busy at the JRF and rarely have time to review drafts during the day, I opened the document Anna sent me after I got home. I quickly browsed through it, raised a few questions, gave some feedback for revision, and sent it back to Anna. A few days later, Anna sent another draft. I thought to myself, "What a deeply dedicated student! I must give her conscientious feedback in return!" So I provided a few more comments and sent it back. I later learned that at that time, while preparing for her final exams, Anna was still revising the article on the Cheng Li-ming case in the middle of the night, sleeping less than four hours a day…

After the semester ended, Anna continued to wrestle with the files of the Cheng Li-ming case. She sorted out a massive amount of material, but this actually blurred the core focus of the case, and the article lacked a clear structure. So we discussed it again, and discussed it again… Eventually, Anna gradually grasped the key points, which brought us to the next problem: how to present the article. I remember that particular discussion took place at an outside cafe because I was taking compensatory leave, and we talked from afternoon until evening. On one hand, we chatted about the content of the article; on the other hand, we talked about Anna's confusion and doubts. Anna always worked with utmost earnestness, yet she lacked some confidence and was troubled by what she truly wanted out of life. However, I could not give Anna any definitive answers for her life. Just like our ongoing discussions, I always raised various questions, letting Anna strive to find the answers on her own, only to push her to her limits with more questions so she would search for answers again—asking and searching, asking and searching…

After that discussion at the cafe, Anna stopped scheduling meetings with me. After a while, she handed in an article that left me utterly astounded: a miscarriage-of-justice story written from the second-person perspective that made readers feel as though they were living through it and sharing in the emotional experience. I no longer had any suggestions to give Anna; I knew that through all the frustrations and efforts she had experienced, she had found her own direction and completed a wonderful piece of work born from her own heart.

If there is anything that sustained Anna in overcoming so many setbacks, I believe it is that heartfelt desire to help others! For only this can achieve the emotional resonance found in the article. I always watch many students like Anna walk into the JRF, growing and transforming bit by bit, and my heart feels truly joyful. If I gave up better life options for myself and worked day and night on the front lines of an NGO, I think it was simply to meet volunteers like Anna who unselfishly dedicate themselves to the public good!