For many a cozy December Sunday were wrapping up their work for the year and preparing for Christmas. But on December 14, 2025, ten days before Christmas, a warmth Sunday turned into chilling horror, making one of darkest days in modern history. 

That morning, the Brown University shooting dominated the internet. A Portuguese national shot 11 people at Brown University the night before, and two students were killed. The suspect was still at large at the time. Students spoke with press and they were traumatized.

In the afternoon, while the internet was reeling from the events of the university shooting, the news of Australia’s Bondi Beach shooting reached the U.S., where 15 people were killed. Footage of the live shooting flooded the internet and shocked the world. 

During the evening hour, while the internet and social media were still awash with posts about the mass shooting, another horror darkened the day further.  A man killed both his parents at their Hollywood home, a famous couple from the world of film. The victims were filmmaker Rob and Michele Reiner.

Everyone was shocked that day.  

Nowadays, people are too busy to reflect; December 14th tragedies disappeared from most people’s memory in weeks.  But deep in our hearts, we might ponder why and how our society came to be this way. Especially the son who killed the parents who took care of him until adulthood and offered him a career. It defies human logic and social culture. 

Some very basic of our humanity and family values have been lost for too long. What’s the next? 

For those seeking for answers, on January 18, in a remote California town, Borrego Springs, a film will be shown. It tells the exact opposite story of a family and community that sustained a civilization.

Edelweiss is a short film, told through then 96-year-old Tom Hom, who rewrote immigrant stories of the American Dream with wit, courage and compassion. Tom’s father, with 15 cents in his pocket arrived in San Francisco during the late Qing Dynasty in 1902, and raised 12 children, who are all very successful. His father used his hands to build a successful business and a family in America.  

Born and raised in California, Tom Hom made history by not only becoming the first minority elected to the San Diego City Council in 1963, but also the second Asian to win a seat in the California State Assembly in 1968. As a successful businessman, Tom Hom’s contributions to California are far-reaching: from transforming Stingaree Row—a red light district—into a vibrant Historical Gaslamp Quarter, to his family letting go of three downtown blocks to make way for Petco Park baseball stadium, and his unwavering community commitment until now. 

Tom Hom worked alongside many high-profile politicians and businessmen, including President Reagan and President Nixon, and Martin Luther King Jr. Despite his success, the 96-year-old’s greatest memories are not of worldly success, but of his father’s guidance and his mother’s love—the very foundation of family and society. 

Through this film, Tom invites us to revisit the enduring traditions and timeless wisdom that shaped his life and his community, leading to the ongoing success of our society. His family and personal journey reflect the cultivation of perseverance and endurance, that led to their overall success in life and community harmony. 

Though those core values of traditional Chinese culture have been lost in mainland China since the domination of Communism, in America, Tom’s own life journey is the testimony of these living traditions and old values, and this film arrives just in time for our society.  It showcases his central-long practice of Chinese heritage and family tradition.

Tom’s father inherited the Chinese traditions of the Qing Dynasty before he arrived in San Francisco. He taught his children through his own doing and kindness, and that traditional family practice can still benefit our modern world. They are the true living goodness, and unseen cultural treasures in our modern world. Thus, this film is worth a watch. 

ttp://www.borregospringsfilmfestival.org/2026_film_entries/2025117edelweiss