The trials of life that came at old age, translated…
I’d gone to visit a couple of my elders recently, an eighty-five year-old person who’d lived alone, in an abandoned, rundown workers’ shack, he’d needed to burn his own firewood to heat up the water for his own bath, he’d normally picked up the recycling materials, and lived off of the elderly sustenance from the government. When he was younger, he’d worked very hard, to raise his children, and sent his daughter to Japan to study too, but as he got older, his wife believed that he’d gotten too old to work, and, kicked him out; his eldest son who lived in the middle parts of Taiwan leaned toward his own mother, and was unwilling, to help his aging father to sustain a living. And as I’d gone to visit him, I’d become, confused, maybe, there is, an unknown past of this family, but, when one’s own young mistreated their own elderly father like so, that wouldn’t be fulfilling their filial piety duties to the elder now, would it?
There was, another elderly couple, who, back when they were younger, they’d argued a lot, and, worked hard, sent their young to top-notch schools, and, made sure they’d graduated from the highly acclaimed universities too; when they were younger, they had it all, bought two properties in Taipei, and built a mansion in the countryside, after they’d retired, they’d moved to the countryside, their days were happy and free. But, what came before my eyes were, the elderly woman was bedridden due to illness, and, fixing the meals, going to the bathrooms, bathing, everything in her daily life is reliant on her husband, who’d had heart surgery. Their son and daughter-in-law live in the mansion that they’d worked so hard to buy when they were younger, rarely came to visit them.
not my photograph…
The elderly man used to be macho, with a bad temper, and that day, I’d watched him, squatted down, and, gently, helped his own wife put on her shoes, then, he’d told me in tears, “She’d become weaker by the day, I don’t know how we will both live from here on out…”, although his children all had their careers working, but, they’d gotten into huge fights over the elderly couple’s assets. I’d asked them, out of confusion, “You’re both approaching ninety, wouldn’t it be easier, if you’d hired someone to look after the two of you? Otherwise, if you’d gotten tired out, what would happen?”, the elderly man had that difficult expression about him, replied, “I don’t know how much longer my savings are going to last us, if we hired someone, I’m afraid, that we won’t have enough money left.”
As I’d walked out of the elderly’s homes, my eyes turned red, and there’s this, heaviness inside of my heart, they’d given everything when they were younger, and, at old age, they may not have the equal returns. Everybody has her/his own fate and destiny, and naturally, their lives are going to be, different, and I’m approaching midlife now, I’d thought to myself: how do I, treat myself with kindness? How do I, plan out my finances after retirement? From here on out, I should focus on my health, exercise more, giving to the community, helping others out, hope, that my elderly years would be, good and peaceful.
not my photograph still…
So, visiting these elderly people, you’d learned that you need to prepare, ahead of times, for your own old age, because nobody can predict her/his future (unless you’re me!!!), so, this person realized, the importance, of the values that she needs to keep, and that, is a good realization, because it’s always better that you’d realized these things about yourselves at a younger age than later, because when you’re still younger, you can still make a change, to alter the directions your lives are to take…
Life, the Obstacle Course 