The peanut butter & jelly center of a sandwich here, from the Front Page Sections, translated…
“As the children get older, the parents are, no longer around………”, was once a phrase that made the professional nurse, Lin felt; seventeen years ago, after both her parents fell ill, she’d quit her job of a nurse, leaving behind her $50,000 to $60,000N.T. salaries, returned back to her hometown, to look after her ailing parents. At age fifty-eight, and her eighty-eight year-old and ninety-two-year-old elderly parents are now, living off of a total of $17,000N.T.’s farmer retirement and elderly government insurance, they’re living poor, but are, very happy together.
from the newspapers…
Back when Lin was younger, she’d worked as a caretaker of the elderly, after she was divorced from her husband, she took care of her three children on her own, and because she’d made fifty to sixty thousand dollars N.T. a month, she was able to put a down payment on a presold house in Kaohsiung. Seventeen years ago, her father who was once an excellent hunter in her tribe had a stroke, and in order to care for her father, her mother was overwhelmed, and fell ill too, she’d decided to quit her job, and focused on taking care of her parents, later on, she could no longer afford to pay the mortgage anymore, and she’d, sold her home too.
She’d recalled, as her parents fell ill, she’d once part-timed as a nurse’s aide, and took care of her parents at the same time, but, the person she looked after had things to say, and she’d felt it was improper too, and she’d become a janitor for the operating rooms; and although her wages were reduced to just $15,000N.T. per month, she’d felt, “so long as I’m making some money, I need to take care of my parents.” She clearly realized, that her parents were, way more important than money, she’d lived, without any hesitation whatsoever.
“They’re elderly now, and, I can’t put off taking care of them.”, she’d stated, as she watched, working as a nurse’s aide at the hospitals, after the elders passed away, then, the children started crying, regretting not spending time with them, she’d not want to have regrets like that, she wanted to put her whole heart and soul into caring for her parents, while they’re still around.
http://p.udn.com.tw/upf/newmedia/2016_data/20161003_quicksand_middle_age/index.html
Every two hours, Lin would get up out of bed at night, to watch over her own parents, and, as the elderly parents weren’t feeling well, she’d helped giving them massages, and she’d needed to, take her parents to the hospitals a lot too. For a little over a decade, she’d lived like this, and, she’d fallen ill too, was diagnosed with breast cancer, diabetes, and herpes, and so, as she’d taken her parents to see the doctors, she’d gone in to see the doctors herself.
Without a job, without a viable source of income, taking care of her ailing parents full-time, the economics became a huge problem for her, Lin did everything she could, to save as much money as she possibly could. She’d rented a patch of land from Taiwan Sugar Company for $600N.T. per year, and early in the morning at around five or six, she would ride out, to get the vegetables, and prepared the breakfasts, to feed to her parents, and, after breakfasts, she’d rest for a short while, then, bathe her parents, given them haircuts, change them into clean clothes too, massage, and, she would, take her parents outdoors to get some fresh air too.
As she ages, she was asked, if you fall ill too, who will take care of you? Lin fell silent, thought awhile, said, that she’d not thought about it yet, that whatever will come later, will come later on.
So, this, would be the hardship for the middle generations, as their parents age, and became ill, many members of this middle generation became the primary caretaker of their ailing parents, and this raises an alarm: who will take care of the generation of this aging middle-generation, after they get older, seeing how there’s this, steady decline of birthrate, and, people ARE, living longer each and every generation…
Life, the Obstacle Course 