I’m a Stray, the Perspective of a Dog, Abandoned

Found online, translated…

Just Walkin’ Alone, with Nowhere Particular to Go

Nothing to Hover Over My Head When the Rain Came Down on Me

Looked Here, and There Too, But Found Nothing Edible

Looks Like I Will Be, Feeling the Hungers in My Dreams Tonight

I’d Dreamed About My Owner But He’d Become Too Blurred Out

I Guess, He Wanted Me, to Learn to Fend For Myself

I’m Still Wearing the Shirt You Gave Me as a Present

But, No Matter How I’d Lifted Up My Head I Can’t Recall Those Happier Days

I Still Recalled, the Heat From the Palms of Your Hands

And Recalled that Small Passage We Took, to Get Back Home

It’s Just that, I Fear that You’ll No Longer Recognize Me

What to Do, I’m Hurt It’d Often Reminded Me of You

I Can’t Take Myself to the Vet

McDonald’s, Ketucky’s, They’re My Favorite Fast-Food Restaurants

And, You’d Used to, Sneak Me Inside

I Expect, You’ll be Showing Up, Hug Me, Don’t Look Down on Me

Don’t Let Me Feel that, the Skies Are Really Gray

So, does your hearts ache, after hearing this story, from the perspective of a D-O-G?  You should, after all, you’re talkin’ ‘bout something getting abandoned, and, s/he had once had a good home, but, for whatever reasons there may have been, s/he is not, without that loving caretaker, wonderful owner, and this can also be “applied” to people getting abandoned, NOT just P-E-T-S!!!

Fallen

Tripping and Falling, and, Acknowleging it…the very first step to starting to heal…

Her Adoptive Mother Was Selfless in Helping Her Find Her Birth Mother with the Assistance from the Police, and Now, She Has the Love from Both Mothers

That’s the spirit, isn’t it???  From the Papers, translated..

A sixteen-year-old, Liao’s birth parents were separated before she was born, from when she was three, she was raised by her maternal grandmother’s landlady, the adoptive mother treated her as if she were her own, but, she still felt that she wasn’t whole, she’d missed her birth mom; with the assistance from the Sinchuang Police Substation, the mother-daughter pair who hadn’t seen each other for thirteen years met up, the adoptive mother was happy to see this as well, the adolescent girl now has love from both her mothers.

Lin, the woman who’d adopted the girl said, back then, she saw how the grandmother who wasn’t well off at all raising her granddaughter alone, she felt awful, and the little girl was very close to her too, and, loved her so, and although her children are both teens, after she’d talked with her grandmother, she’d told her she was interested in adopting the child.

And because of her religious beliefs, she’d even consulted the gods about it, turns out, that the two of them have the affinity of mother and daughter after all, although the adolescent’s birth father was opposed to this, he hadn’t signed the papers, to allow for the adoption to take place, but the woman still treated the adolescent girl as if she were her own, raised her up, and after the child’s maternal grandmother moved away, they’d lost contact.

Awhile ago, the adolescent talked of how she’d wanted to find her birth mother, the adoptive mother, Lin was supportive of that, and so, she’d asked the help from the social worker of the social welfare center, last year, she’d gone to the police station, to ask for assistance, but at first, she only had the name of the birthmother, without finding out how to contact her.

Later on, the officer from the birthing registration department was able to track down the girl’s birthmother’s older sister, but she’d suspected that it was a scam, until the young woman told the story that almost no one knew, of how she’d gotten her name changed, did the aunt believe her, and, in the evenings, she managed to get into contact with her birthmother.

But, the birthmother said, that she couldn’t raise her daughter up back then, that, was why she’d given her to her own mother, and, in the decades’ times, she’d felt awful, for abandoning her child, and she missed her so, and never worked up the courage to track down her daughter.

On the 25^th, the police had originally arranged for the meeting of the adoptive and birth mother, after the adolescent learned, she’d insisted on taking a leave of absence from school to go, but, she was kept, in the office next to the room where her birthmother and her adoptive mother met up, during which time, she kept begging and pleading, said that she didn’t hate her mother for abandoning her, just missed her mother.

Later on, in the encouragement and communication from the officer who assisted in tracking her down, the birthmother agreed to see her daughter, when they’d met, they held on tightly to one another and cried, and, the bystanders were all very touched, and backed slowly, out of the room, to allow the estranged mother-daughter pair to talk alone, for over an hour.

The birthmother kept on apologizing, and the adoptive mother, Lin also consoled with her, told her, that she would be willing, to keep on caring for the teenager, and she’s welcome to visit at anytime, so, their daughter can have the love from both her mothers.

And so, this, is a great ending, isn’t it?  Because the adoptive mother was open enough, not fearing, that if this teen sees her birthmother, then, she would forget about her raising her, and, it’s with this kind of generosity from the adoptive mother, that this story ended, perfectly.

The Children of Migrant Workers: Forgotten Beings

The sad stories of children, whose mother came here to work, for a better future, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

Forward…

In the train stations, as well as the parks, you’d often seen the migrant workers from southeast Asia, accompanying the elderly on their walks, or caring for the next generations of the Taiwanese people.  They’d taken out loans to come here, in hopes, that they could somehow, improve the wealth of their own homes, and, Taiwan became another sort of a homeland to them.

In Taiwan, there’s a group of “invisible children” from migrant workers, they’re the children, born under migrant parents here in Taiwan, they’d followed their parents around, working here, most of them don’t even have statuses.  The reporters went into their places, to make the outside world aware, of these children, who were actually, a part of the Taiwanese community, but were, unseen.

Last year, the child of a migrant worker, at eight years of age, was discovered by the social workers, he and his parents resided in the cemeteries long-term, as the little girl was found, she was skin and bones, she’s supposedly in the third grade, but had not yet received any education at all, relied on her parents teaching her simple mathematics and phonetic spellings, as this story was brought out to the open, it’d caused the society to become active.  But, she is not the only case, the social services foundations made the rough estimate of around 150 kids who are living like this in Taiwan right now.

Up until now, the basic human rights of these children from migrant workers are overlooked by the government.  The Department of Immigrations estimated that there are about 40,000 unregistered or missing on file migrant workers in Taiwan, as for the unregistered children of the migrant workers, the number is still unknown.

The reporters of this paper followed the leads that the migrant workers gave them, tracked to a place up north, where the workers left their kids to be taken care of, before the reporters set foot into the place, they’d heard children’s laughter.

As the reporters entered into the facility, they saw over ten kids playing in the living room, as the kids saw the adults, they all raised their arms high up, called out, “a hug, a hug”, other than these two, three year-olds, there are seven to eight infants, sleeping in a row, on the couch close by.

The caretaker introduced, that there would be forty to fifty kids who come and go in and out of the facility each and every month, like “Xiang”, the two year-old from Vietnamese migrant workers, he just started talking, calling the caretakers in the facility “mommy!”

The caretaker said, that “Xiang’s” mom because she couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from him, had once taken him up into the mountains to work, but, she couldn’t manage, and, because the weather was too cold, the child had frostbites, and so, she was, forced to drop her son off here, “Every time his mom came to visit, she’d cried and hugged him, she’d cried like hell each and every single time!”

The eight-month-old “Hua”, is a child from Indonesian parents, because the parents lived closer to the facility, Hua became the luckiest kid in the facility, the parents would come visit her every week when they had time off.

The three-year-old Ting, is the most depressed child of all, her Indonesian mother dropped her off, before she went southbound to work, and, it’s been two years since she was dropped off, the facility hadn’t heard from the mother again.  The caretaker observed, that her mother may not ever come back for her, “It’s so very sad”.

A caretaker stated, that the nationality here is based on “belonging”, so, before the parents of these children claims them back, take them home with them, they’re all, considered, “ghosts”, with NO status, or benefits whatsoever.  The caretakers said, most of the kids don’t cry out of turn, and are really well-behaved, and, their mothers will take them home, after they’d made enough money; as for those who were just left and abandoned, became “ghosts” without the proper citizenship status, and their future is blank.

And so, this, is awful, because the parents don’t have the statuses and the kids were born, and, the parents had to work, they couldn’t possibly watch their young, and so, they’d, dropped them off at this place, and these kids will just, get kicked around by the systems, and, many of them won’t even get a chance to grow up, I’m certain of it!

The Man in Charge of the House, the Woman, Outside

Flipping over the tradition here that’s for sure!!!  Translated…

With the advances of time, there’s no longer that forceful tone of voice on stressing how men are supposed to work outside the homes and women, inside anymore, but, hearing about a man who stayed at home, most people would still frown over it.

Before I met my husband, I’d carried the traditional values too, hoped that my husband could work outside, and the wife can stay at home, and just, watch the kids.  And still, my idealism falls far from my reality, I have a job which I enjoyed working and loved very much, and, my husband is a soho who stay at home, but, I can say, with confidence, that I am, very happy.

My husband’s work is busy, sometimes, he’d waken up earlier and turned in later than I had, but gladly, he has flexible hours, and so, he took charge of cooking the meals, and chauffeuring the kids, all I need to do, was the basic cleaning.  Some problems that normal families met up with, not in my house, for instance, the children not being close to their fathers, or, both the couple worked, and, there’s no time to cook the meals.  My husband could set time aside, to accompany the kids, I’m truly blessed.

When I’d asked my kids who they loved more, mom or dad, they’d told me, “both”.  And, gladly for my husband, I got to have a warm meal as I came home from work every night; my husband had even cooked according to recipes or from the cooking shows on television, tailored to the nutrition and the varieties too, I’m truly grateful for how much heart he put into it.

Actually, the older generations still might feel, that it would be unfitting for a man to stay at home, that I may strain myself out, and were mistaken to believe that I’m the one, shouldering ALL the household responsibilities, so at first, they’re very against this way of life from the start, but, as the time passes, my husband proved to them, that he was hardworking, and so, everybody felt how much he’d given to the family and received the affirmations too.  We’re very proud, and satisfied, with our ways of life right now.

I truly understood, that so long as you’re willing to pour your hearts into it, whichever way of life you choose, you two can live together, get along well, and maintain a peacefully household that runs smoothly.

So, here we have, a household, where the mom goes out to work, while the dad stays at home, and, at first, their families are against it, but then, the couple showed them, that they’d made it work out fine.  So, who says, that a man is not fitting, cooking in an apron, this one disproves just that theory all right!

Class, Let’s Go Find Us Some Girls

Translated…

Back in school, a group of us, hormone-raging boys getting together, and the topics of our discussion are already on girls, and, the conclusions of our discussions are always, “I want to get me a girl!”.  And, we can’t EVER get that innocent mindset of our seventeenth year back again, the girls are so leisurely, like creatures from another planet, what, are they all thinking of?

And now, my daughter is in college, plus I’d taught for over twenty years, my female students would often share with me what’s on their minds, and, I’d finally learned, that most of the boys had missed the BUS.

A very good looking, and economically well-off female student, after she had a rough marriage, she’d sighed, “If I’d only had the wisdom on mate selection, then, my life will not get stuck here.”

“If you can have your youth to do over again, what qualities would you look for in a man?”, I was curious.

With a daughter already, past age thirty, the female student said, with this set tone of voice, “Someone who gives habitually.”

“The habit of giving?”

“Yes, I worked with my ex, he’s good looking, I felt, that he was someone I could rely on, but, I didn’t expect, that he’d be so selfish to give to me.”

“But, before you wed, guys usually mask up their bad qualities, how would you be able to tell, if he’s the giving kind?”

“Teacher, I’d found that you can watch his interaction with his friends, a selfish man wouldn’t have that many real friends, after I wed, I’d realized, that my ex had only coworkers, and, he had barely, NO friends he could talk to.”

Last week, as I’d gone to visit my wife’s eldest sister, both families, with college age girls, we’d started talking about mate-selection, my eldest sister-in-law mentioned a similar standard to what my female student mentioned—look at how he’s getting along with his families.  “A guy who is hovered over by his kin probably couldn’t keep a good relationship with his wife later on, because his wife becomes his closest of kin.”, my wife’s eldest sister-in-law continued, “people are creatures of habit, a person who’s used to being looked after couldn’t start looking after someone else after s/he wed.”

I’d recalled the four brothers that we are, of my third eldest, he’s the most hardworking, although he was diagnosed with cancer, but, after he’d returned to the workforce, he was able to attract my third sister-in-law who’s quite good looking and a great catch.  Later on, the two of them worked together, started up a company of their own, and now, they own four separate companies.  Turns out, that the good habits of your younger years, not only will they feed to the blessings from work in the future, it could also help you find the love that lasts for life.

My college age girlfriend is now, taken up with a boy, my wife asked me why I’m not at all worried, I’d smiled and answer, “I had done my ‘investigation’, that boy had gone to work at construction sites with alongside his dad, he’d helped built the MRT stations in Taipei too, plus, he’s very kind toward his families, and my heart is at ease with this kind of habitually giving to others kind of guy.”

Of course, a love that allows people to give their lives for, is a never-ending coursework in life, my daughter, as well as my own student, they both have a long way to go.  But, as a father, and a teacher too, I’d hoped, that the male students won’t keep making the same mistakes when they were younger.  Life is a long and winding river, with enough energies saved up, it will surely, merge with another huge river, and the energy that’s accumulated is not the brand new hairstyle, but the ability to help do the dishes without being asked, or to not slack off during cleaning time in school.

So, men, who are looking to find the ladies, the next time the bell rings for the cleaning period, don’t just fall flat at your seats, DO pick up those brooms and dustpans, and run to your designated cleaning area, because the girls are waiting, for a man, who can shoulder up his responsibilities.

So, this one teaches you H-O-W to observe someone, from the smallest perspectives, and, what better place is there, to examine someone for who he really is, at his own home, after all, you’re most comfortable at home, and, that, is when everything that’s BAD about you shows, and, it is important, to watch the interactions of someone with her/his family, but that, would still NOT be the primary or KEY determinant of how good a man he is, consider every single aspect there!

Prospect

Translated…

I’d hung a flag in my mindset, because today’s the Memorial Day of Peace, the wars sat in a row, the cannons stopped firing, just to hear a dove speak, with the goals of getting the nation’s economy up, by saving up on high-end feeds, and secondly, by building cheaper, more affordable cages for the pigeons.

And so, this signifies the desires of the people, in here, the pigeons are a metaphor for citizens of this country, and, what the citizens of this country are longing for is just having a stable job, a way to make a living, to feed one’s own family, oh, and a roof over our separate heads too, because before those first TWO level on the hierarchy of needs are filled, there’s NO way any of us can have the minds, to contemplate anything else further, after all, we are all, living things, that need to keep ourselves alive and safe, right???

Ready to Embark on the Journey Called Love Yet???

Ready to embark on the journey called love yet???  Nope, still NOT packed up completely, plus, what, would the weather be like there?  I must, be prepared, for any and everything here!

Ready to embark on the journey called love yet???  Perhaps, you’d been waiting, for this day so long, as your last love had left you, brokenhearted, and in pain, and you’re just, eager, to getting yourselves, back on the “market” again, after all, getting WITH someone, IS the best way of getting OVER someone, right?

Ready to embark on the journey called love yet???  No, not really, but, since you’d left, my friends kept setting me up for blind dates, trying to get me to go out more, without knowing, that I needed time, to mourn for you, for us, even, I know that their hearts are in the right place, but, I just wanted, to be left alone, with the memories of you, of us…

Ready to embark on the journey called love yet???  Don’t worry if you’re not right now, because, you will soon be, as, everything will eventually, heal back up, and becomes, brand new again, you’re not just, quite ready, to move on from your last yet, and, sometimes, these wounds, caused by love, takes a BIT longer than expected, so, just, give it time.

How Did a Little Boy Who Dreamed of Becoming a Soccer Star End Up as a Primary Jihadi Terrorist After He’s Grown?

Story by: A. Jamieson, for NBCNEWS.com, with the “discussion” afterwards by ME!!!

LONDON – Masked executioner Jihadi John, who the global face of ISIS, was a sports-obsessed 10-year-old who liked Manchester United, PlayStation game Duke Nukem and listening to teen pop bands.

Mohammed Emwazi, who has beheaded Western hostages including Americans James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, wrote about his childhood dreams in an elementary school yearbook.

The 26-year-old London-raised college graduate was unmasked Thursday as the mystery figure in the ISIS propaganda videos.

“What I want to be when I grow up is a footballer,” the future killer wrote in the St Magdalene’s Church of England yearbook dating to 1996.

Asked where he thought he would be when he was 30, Emwazi added: “I will be in a football team and scoring a goal.”

He was also a fan of British band S Club 7.

One of Emwazi’s former teachers described him as a “diligent, hardworking, lovely young man” who was responsible, polite and quiet.

“There was never any indication of any kind of violence at all,” said the teacher, who spoke anonymously to NBC News’ partner Channel 4.

So, you still have to contemplate, ponder, as to W-H-Y, or even H-O-W, this little boy, raised, under quite “normal circumstances” (whatever “normal” means!!!) can become so EVIL, but, we can only speculate, that, something MUST’VE gone wrong in his growing up processes, but, we don’t know for sure, and, this time, perhaps, “nature” played a bigger role, or perhaps, not, nobody will EVER know!

Starting Off Friendly School Week Right, Implementing the Policies Against Violence & Bullying

Wow, so, the local governments ARE taking the initiatives on putting an END to bullying on the school campuses, huh???  From the Newspapers, translated…

In order to help prevent the infiltration of gangs, drugs onto school campuses and prevention of bullying, the Hsinbei Department of Education had set up the first week of every semester as “Friendly School Environment Week”, asked the school officials to become more aware to bullying in school; this year’s activity was led by the mayor of Hsinbei City, Chu.

Making the schooling environment friendly means “Anti-violence, anti-bullying”, the local governments are working hand-in-hand in recent years, to give the students more protections, the Department of Education stated, that at any time, if any students have any issues at all, they’re free, to report the issues to the schools.

The Department of Education proved the effectiveness of the program by pointing out, that just last year, the drug use and abuse on campuses had lowered almost twenty-percent compared to two years ago, and that the cases of bullying in school are lowered by twenty-one percent, and this time, the Friendly Campus Week used “Justice is found in friendly campuses, say no to bullying” as its catch phrase, at the same time, the government would set up safety nets, and hold yearly conventions on the matters, to increase the level of sensitivity toward the issues of the school officials, as well as the students.

And so, would this work?  Nobody knows, as this program is still quite young, and, in order to see if it works, let this program run for a couple of years, and then, we’ll compare, but, based off of the statistics given here, yeah, it’s working, because prevention always works better than treatment.