Thoughts, translated…
That day, I’d gone out, saw the elderly woman who lived at the front of the alley approaching me, she had on bright pink workout clothes, with the matching hat and kneepads, it’d brought out how rosy her cheeks were, plus she’d walked with a light step, you can’t tell she’s almost eighty. I’d said hi, as we passed one another, I couldn’t help, but look backward at her, thinking, I must be like her when I’m elderly too.
not my photo…
The elderly woman had had a difficult life, three days after she’d married, her husband left her, and he was, never heard of again, leaving her alone, in the marriage to cope. She’d chosen, to let go of her resentment toward him, worked all the odds and ends she could possibly find, to raise her husband’s three younger brothers, and now, the three brothers-in-law had, returned her kindness from when they were younger, took care of her, and now, her hard work had finally, paid off. She’d picked up the recycling materials regularly, and tidied up all around her residential area, I was, deeply in awe, toward her stamina and her strength.
There was another elderly woman, whom we’d called Auntie Luan, Grandma Hsiu-Luan, she’d come to our unit to volunteer two days of the week by MRT trains from Beitou, she’d not needed her reading glasses, when she’d used her smartphone, and LINED to her granddaughter who’s currently studying in the U.S. too. She’d often told, that so long as you have enough to get by in life, that although she’s volunteering without any payment, but she’d wanted to make helping others out into a habit of hers, and she could meet others who shared the similar ideals of life as she, that, is a kind of a job that’s guaranteed, to have the values to her.
not my photo still…
I’d loved hearing her sharing her experiences of life with me, she’d learned, that I have a son who’s not yet married, she’d suggested, that if my son marries in the futures, don’t force the couple, to live together with me, that we would get along better.
My husband’s good friend has a respectable career in the U.S., he’d hired a foreign help to take care of his ninety year-old elderly mother who lives on her own in Taipei. And, when she misses her son, she’d called my husband to have conversations, told him, that living inside the mansion is no different than serving hard time in the penitentiary. Comparing, my son who’d never gone abroad, who’d worked for minimum pay would always come over after work, and chatted on about his day with us, and, living in a regular apartment complex, I already feel blessed with a lot. I’m really glad, that I got the chance, to have these mentors in my life, to compare, and contrast, I’d felt, that the heavens are extremely kind to me already, and I’m happy, every single day.
So, this shows the importance of how you need to be happy, with what you have, and NOT envy what someone else has, because, behind all that flash, that gold and glitter, there’s a very lonely soul, longing, and, comparing to them, you may only focus on the materialistic things, and failed to note, that you are richer than they are in actuality.
Life, the Obstacle Course 