Soochow’s Guardian Angel: Uncle A-Guo Always be There Rain or Shine

Every morning during rush hours, vehicles and pedestrians inbound to Soochow’s Waishuangsi Campus always fill Linhsi Road, but the traffic is never jammed and accidents are nowhere to be seen. All this order and safety must be attributed much to one special person who has been around on campus for 18 years.

Dressed in a yellow uniform and a black vest with a cap covering his dark and lustrous hair, he always earnestly directs traffic in and out the school with an illuminated baton, urging students to watch out for cars in enthusiasm. He might be no stranger to any faculty, staff or students on campus, but his name is probably much lesser known. He is the senior security guard with a nickname “Uncle A-Guo.”

Aged over 70, he has been doing his job in vigor relentlessly as always. His voice on the walkie-talkie stays consistently orotund as time passes by. His affection for Soochow University comes from the school’s enjoyable environment and amiable people. “I’ve been working here for 18 years. The surroundings are pleasant with mountains and rivers around. The school administration, faculty and staff are all very nice to the guards, and treat us very well,” said Uncle A-Guo.

In his 18 years of career in Soochow, there have been quite a few things rarely known to most people. He mentioned that the school has changed security guard companies a few times, and the first new company intended to assign a new chief director for security guards. None of a total of nearly 30 people could stay on the job due to excessive stress and workload. The company ended up calling Uncle A-Guo for help, telling him: “Only you can handle this!” From then on he has remained in this position regardless of which security guard company was in charge.

In addition to directing traffic, the security guards are responsible for patrolling the campus and controlling access into the school, which necessitates not only full attention but also consideration. And Uncle A-Guo is always willing to do more. “Once in summer, I saw the paint on the wall of a student dorm had peeled off, so I patched it up with new paint. And things like the grids for parking spaces outside the First Academic Building was also my work,” he described with relish these extra tasks not included in the job of a security guard.

There have been even more thoughtful deeds from Uncle A-Guo’s initiative, such as making bus schedule cards for the faculty and staff, working overtime during events like ultra-marathon or school’s anniversary celebration, as well as barricading the graduation photo area to avoid accidents. Each of these seemingly trivial acts shows his great loving care to the school and its people. “All I care about is the safety of the students and teachers. That’s all.” As usual, he smilingly undertakes his duties each and every single day without any complaints. In response, everyone in Soochow should express gratitude to those silently devoted to the school just as Uncle A-Guo.