The Most Beautiful Encounter on that Trip

The kindness of these strangers, of how they’re, all willing, to do everything they could, to help this woman, find back her misplaced cell phone that she’d left in a restroom, translated…

Upon thumbing across “Traveling is Meeting up with Something Interesting”, I’d recalled of the heartwarming story of the trip my daughter and I took a few years back.  That was a group tour to the middle strips, a one-day trip, we’d come to the Taichung Opera House as scheduled.  The opera house was beautiful, left us all in awe, but we were only allowed half an hour there, then, we’re to, rush to another location for lunch.  After the tour, as we settled ourselves in the tour bus, my daughter who sat in the back, came towards me, in a trembling voice, she’d told me, “mom, I’d left my cell phone on the second floor restrooms of the opera house.”, then, rushed off the tour bus, waited until I’d gotten it, I’d apologized to the tour guide, as well as the rest of the tour group, asked them to wait, so we can find the cell phone that my daughter had left by accident.

My daughter and I rushed toward the second-floor restrooms, but, the cell phone she’d placed on the counter was, already, gone.  She’d started crying, in a, close-to-howling voice, “gone!  Gone!  It’s, gone!  Someone took it!”, that was from her hard work in part-timing, saving up the money for, watching her in her sorrows, I’d not wanted to, blame her for her, carelessness, seeing how her heart was breaking, mine was too.  Neither one of us was giving up, so we’d, gone through every stall to look again, and then, we’d gone to the counter, to report that she’d, left her cell phone, hoping that someone had picked it up, and return it back to us.

On the bus, my daughter kept crying, and everybody came to console with her, and given her a ton of advices, for instance, go to the police station to report her cellphone missing, to the telecommunications company, to stop the use, and there were others on the bus who’d told us, to have faith, that the cell phone my daughter lost, will be returned back to her soon, that we shouldn’t, fret over it too hard.  At lunch, my daughter naturally, lost, all her appetite, and, those who sat at the table all consoled with her, and put the foods into her bowl and plate for her, but, the torus of the rest of that afternoon, we were both, troubled, and, just, couldn’t enjoy it.

There were, a total of eight tour buses of the tour we were on, there was a woman who saw how heartbroken my daughter was, she’d gone, bus-by-bus, talked to the tour leaders on the various buses, the drivers, to help see if they can track my daughter’s phone back to her.  As we are, on the ride on the way back home, the guide of our bus picked up the mic, and, delivered the good news: my daughter’s phone was, discovered!  It was someone from another tour bus who’d, found it.  Then suddenly, everybody on our bus started, applauding, my mother who’s sitting on the back patted her chest, kept saying, “So happy!  I’m so very, happy!  Seeing how the young one cried, my heart was wrenching!”, ahhhhhhhh, so, my daughter’s upset for misplacing her cell phone had, impacted everybody’s else’s emotions on the bus too.

There was that unspoken gratitude toward everybody, both my daughter and I started getting red in the eyes, what we’re moved by, wasn’t how the lost cell phone had been found, but also, of how these kind people we’d met, helped comforted her too, that was, the best encounter of this trip.  While, that woman who’d, led the tour of our particular bus, who’d gone bus by bus, to ask if someone from the other buses had picked up my daughter’s lost phone, lives in an alley adjacent to my home, and we’d become, best of friends too.

And so, this, is the kindness from strangers whom you just met on a tour, and, because you are sharing the same tours, that’s why, it’d, made you all connected, to the young woman who’d lost her cell phone, and the rest of the group started, actively asking around, and found the woman’s misplaced phone for her, this also showed, how help can come from strangers whom you only met.

The Infant Who’d Died Ten Years Ago, the Police Can’t Find the Body, the Mother Charged with Abandonment of the Corpse of Her Own Young

The case had, almost, “gone cold” here…off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Ten years ago, the woman, Liao was suspected of not being able to care for her newborn son, after her son died, she’d wrapped him up in a towel, and buried him in the public cemeteries; the investigators chased the leads three years ago, and, based off of Liao’s description of the location of where she’d dumped her son’s body, the police dug five times, and not found the body.  The Shihlin D.A.’s Office believed that the infant was dead, without any evidence of foul play, nor neglect, and they’d indicted Liao on disposing of her own young son’s body, and asked the courts for a year’s prison terms for her.

The indictment stated, that Liao had a son a decade ago, because the father was unknown, she took care of hm on her own, at the bottom of 2011, her son died of unknown causes, Liao was suspected of wrapping his body up with a towel, took the body to the Fuder Public Cemetery at Muzha Road Section five, and, dug a hole on a slope, without any containers, just, buried the young infant’s body in, abandoned his corpse.

where she’d, DUMPED her own infant son’s body, in a place like this one!

photo from online

On June third, 2017, the young boy wasn’t registered for school, the school notified Liao, she’d claimed, that she’d given her son away to someone else to raise; her father didn’t know anything, because he’d only seen his grandson once after he was born, he’d not seen his own grandson for years on end, and became worried of the boy’s wellbeing, he’d notified the police.

Three years ago, the police started searching for the missing boy, the data from the health insurances showed, that the boy was born on April 1, 2011, was inoculated five days later, then, there wasn’t any other records from the health insurances.  Liao then admitted, that her son died a long time ago.

The D.A. and the police went on four occasions, based off of Liao’s descriptions, on December, 2018, January, 2019, March, 2019, and April, 2019, to the public cemeteries to find the body, but couldn’t, and on November fourth of this year, they’d dug again, and, not found him.

The district attorneys pointed out, that they can’t prove, that the infant’s death was directly related to Liao’s behaviors, but the child lacked the proper care when he was alive, and Liao should’ve asked for help from outside, and instead as her son died, she’d selected to, dispose of his body, they’d suggested the courts to give her a year sentence.

Yeah, a year seemed, not quite enough, for how this woman treated her son’s dead body, she’d just, dumped him somewhere, and not even had the decency, to bury her own young son properly, and she’s only charged with the disposing of the body illegally?  Yeah, how’s that justice for the dead child???

The Zhongshan Police Lieutenant was Called in to Questioning for Overlooking, Letting the Sex Massage Parlors Slide

When the police lieutenant, takes the lead, in breaking the law, setting, that BAD, example for his subordinates, and the rest of us too!  Officers of the law, breaking the law, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Zhongshan District’s “Pleasure Village” sex massage parlor was found by the investigative bureau for indecency, and the investigators also found, that there were the officers from the local stations who are covering, the district attorneys called in the five operators of the massage parlor, of them, the major shareholder, Liang had his cell phone confiscated in the case of another man being searched, the district attorneys reviewed over the surveillance, found that Liang went through a less experienced gangster, Lu, to bribe the lieutenant of the investigative teams in Zhongshan Substation, yesterday they’d collected the evidence, called Chen, the former operator of the massage parlor, Lin to the station, to clarify if bribes were given and received, late last night, the case was sent to the Taipei D.A.’s Office for processing.

The massage parlor is hidden in the alleys of Jingzhou Street of the city of Taipei, and in its many years of operations, it’d switched the shareholders, and the names, Lu who was taken into custody last night, was one of the shareholders, he also works as a manager of a bar, responsible for chauffeuring the ladies to the shops to give the sex massages, then, he’d gotten percentages from the money made, the D.A. suspected that he was the middleman of this case.

The investigators pointed out, that the Hsinbei City Detectives while examining the case of the gang’s involvement in shooting of the Gym Owner, the members of the Bamboo Union, Liang had been in close relations with another chapter’s sponsor, Shao, and they were both listed as persons of interest of the case, and later, it was found that they were involved in the case of the shooting of the Gym Owner, but their cellphones were confiscated and examined.

After Liang was taken into custody on operating a sex massage parlor, the Northern Airport Station asked for the confiscated cell phone to see if there are evidences of the two relating to each other, and they’d accidentally discovered that between 2014 and 2017, Liang texted, “the money’s collected for this month”, and “Come pick it up”, to Lu, as Lu received the amount paid to him, he’d handed part of what he got to the lieutenant, Chen.

Based off of understanding, the massage parlor is by membership only, if you’re not a frequent customer, you can’t get in, the lieutenant, Chen was suspected of having the check times passed to Liu and then, to the massage parlor, the police checked the place two hundred times, and found, nothing; the Northern Airport Police Station asked the ladies who worked in the sex massage parlors to testify, the ladies stated, that they offer a half set sex massage, but the owner is very connected, and they’d never gotten, caught.

The D.A. before Mid-Autumn used the claims of public indecency, to start off the investigations, and found, that there are the testimonies of the officers claiming that the shops would pay off the police in $200,000N.T. a month, the shareholders, the brothers Liang, Wu, Shu, and Lu were taken into custody one by one.

And so, I’m thinking, that the pay-off is, greater than what you officers made monthly, that’s why you’d, gone to the dark side, covering for these, sex traffickers, breaking the laws, that you were sworn to, protect, and that’s, just bad, seeing how easily money can make people who are supposed to help enforce the laws, break it.

There’s No Fairness on This Path of, Life

This would be a FACT of, L-I-F-E, kid!!!  The conversation between a father and a son, translated…

Summer: The competitions today wasn’t fair?

Me: How was it not?

Summer: They were all sixth graders and we were, fourth graders!

Me: this is, more than, a fair situation!

Summer: How can it be?

Me: You’d played against the group that is older than you, and you’d, lost, that’s normal, and reasonable too, isn’t it?

On this day, the soccer coach at Summer’s school arranged a mix aged competition, the Panthers, a game of eight players, with the fourth graders as competitors of the U10 teams.  And, they were, playing against the U12 teams of fifth, sixth graders.

On the way to the soccer fields, I’d discussed with Sumer, that today’s competition will be a practice competition with the older kids in the school, that he should just, put his skills to practice, best as he can.  He’d started, nodding his head, seemed that he’d, understood me, completely.  Surely, the first game, four to, nothing, they’d, lost.  Then, Summer’s team, the Panthers, lost, ALL the way, game after game, got beaten, by his, U12 older schoolmates.  Using his own descriptions to describe the events: we got, electrocuted by the older schoolmates!

Losing one game, that’s, acceptable.  Two games, it doesn’t feel good.  And, by the third game that they were, losing, Summer immediately started, experience, that people can’t live with, losing all the time.  After losing the series of games, he’d strongly, expressed his, “minor upset” of the matters, felt, that the game has, NO fairness whatsoever.

Toward his upset, I’d thought, where’s the standards of what constitutes as fair and not?  In the competitive world, are there, really, the point of, fairness?  Do we need to, get down to the matter, and discuss it thoroughly the matters of: fair or unfair?  But, as he was, fuming up, I’d not, struck up this, discussion of the subjects.

Since he was little, in soccer, Summer has the will, and the drives to win.  When he’d won, he’d gotten all worked up, and, not hidden his radiant smiles over it, he would also, high-five his teammates, and hug them.  When he’d lost, he’d surely, felt displeased, and, there would be, the aftermath of his losing the games that came.  As the other young competitors started destressing themselves on the cell phone games, he was still, wiping away his tears, unwilling to admit, that his team had, lost the game.  Then, he would contemplate, why didn’t they win this time, and started, evaluating everything, and a few more tears would fall, still refused, to accept that he and his team lost.  This emotional response, more than natural, and normal too.  And normally, it would take a little while, like after we had lunch, or as he’d, gotten completely into the cell phone games, he would then, get himself out of the upset, and, reentering into the group of his teammates then.

For a short while, due to his emotional management when his team lost, it’d, affected the means of how the team played well together, we’d discussed the matter seriously, that if he’d needed to, drop out of the team, to find a new team to join, but he was, unwilling, to, sever off the rapport he’d already, established with the members of his team, and started, changing his behaviors, and, becoming more in tune with his own, emotional response to losing the games.

I kept on believing, that what Summer was upset over, was not because of winning or losing, but the matter of how the games were judged fairly or unfairly.  Winning or losing, was something he could, quickly digest, and accept as is, but back then, he still couldn’t, quite understand, the “difference of opinions on what’s fair and unfair”.

Let’s put it this way, back in the elementary years, he could never accept, why there’s, the existence of, unfairness.  For instance, why was so-and-so, so very, tall, it’s unfair.  Why does someone from class has a cell phone already, it’s not fair.  Why the team members are all leveled differently in their, playing skills, a bit, not fair.  The teachers looked out for certain students, a bit, unfair.

All of these, encounters of, unfairness that troubled him, or maybe, it’s, what he needed to, cross over, before the matter of winning and losing.  I think, even for me, I’d still needed to, introspect my own mind, and troubles, when encountering something that I feel was, unfair.  Fair or not?  This was, a question on the road to growing up, always going to be there, and it will, be a discovery journey we’re constantly on in life too, and will, continue to happen in our day-to-day lives.

And because of this, I wanted to tell him, as the younger graders are playing the higher graders, it’s, going up against someone who’s, out of your level of expertise, it’s only natural that you lose, winning, that would be, unfair, to the, older schoolmates.  Isn’t that right?  If you care about what’s fair or not, you will be more prone to, consider the opposite angles.  Because, you don’t need to get too serious about the fairness of things, because fairness, doesn’t really, exist as black or white.

On the road to life, there’s no, standards of fairness, it’s all interpreted individually differently.  As I finished telling him, Summer then, fell, silent, then, smiled, like he’d, finally understood, that winning and losing is only, in the results, and fair or unfair, that’s all, a false sort of a debate.  Any sort of a debate, there are only, the differences in points of view, it’s nothing on fairness.  I’d recalled, that I’d once told Summer, that in the future, if there’s something he wanted, he’d needed to, work hard to get it, and if he didn’t get it, he should, let go, after all, he had, tried, to attain it.  In the future, I suppose, that will, be how he would, handle things that come up in his life.

And so, this, is on the father’s teaching the son about, fairness, and, there is, no fairness, only the perspectives, the interpretations of what’s fair and what’s not, like how the soccer tournament was uneven, with this young lad’s team, going against older kids, and it’s expected that they don’t win, after all, the kids on the other team are stronger, older, more agile, trained longer than his age group, and this showed, how there’s only the personal interpretations of what’s fair and what’s not, and that’s based off of socialization, and everybody’s socialized differently, so, there’s no, one size fit all!

Bedtime Reader Selection

Which one will it be tonight, biography?  Fiction?  Essays?  Mysteries?  Romances?  Let’s see!  Translated…

The evenings are getting colder now, fitting for a mug of hot cocoa, and getting underneath the covers with, a good, book.  And yet, I’d, eaten up, almost ALL the collections I have at home, in the fact that there’s nothing new for me to red, I’d had to, go out, in the chilly weather to the libraries to hunt for more.

Romance?

Nah!  I’d had to get through the Christmas holidays from November 11^th on my own, the covers for just one, too cold already, no need, to hit my self, even harder.

The exam study guide then?

something, to help me, ease into, sleep here!

photo from online

TOSS!  What I’m looking for, are the bedtime readers, not the hypnotic reading materials that can, knock me out cold in an, instant.

The biographies that are encouraging then?

STOP!  Monday through Friday, I’m already, keeping myself on that tight leash, forced myself, to push forward, go forth, faster, faster, faster I am in desperate need of rest now.

Cooking, the dessert recipes then?

Uh, the timing’s not quite right.  Reading these will only make me feel more and more hungry, then, diet will be something saved for tomorrow, I’ll go on a binge, then, fall into, that state of, deep, regret.

Or maybe, I should, read the mysteries then?  The dark night, the cold, with the scary cases, and the swiftly turned on brain, training my logic, as well as speed of thought.

And, now that I’d, set my genre, I shall have the classics then, Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” it is!

And so, this showed, how much considerations one considered, in choosing a bedtime reader, this woman considered everything, before she’s finally, settled down to the mysteries, and sometimes, it’s too hard to choose, when there are, too many, options available for us out there, and sometimes, you just, gotta, make that second-decision, and see where it leads you.

Instead of Prohibiting the Children from Using the Cell Phones, Try Utilizing High-Tech Management Instead

How to restrict your own children, from getting addicted to the online world, and the high-tech devices, sound advice from the counselor’s office, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Tik-Tok is not, the children’s favorite kind of new age social media, but there are, too many negative news on it, that it’d made the parents worrisome, that if the children are, using Tik-Tok without their, guidance.  The UDN papers interviewed many adolescents’ parents, the following is the first-person interview in summation.

There are a lot of parents around me who watched the videos on Tik-Tok too, there were friends on my FB who’d shared the videos off of Tik-Tok with us, there’s no way of banning our own young from seeing or using this new form of social media.  If we are worried that the kids may view the video footages of sex, of violence on TikTok, and banned it from their use, it only treats the symptoms, and not the disorder itself, in the online era, you can ban TikTok, but you can’t, ban EVERY other form of social network available for the children to download and use, you should set up the clear cut rules of usage of your kids’ cell phones for them instead.

I’d introduced the high-tech devices to my own children by progression, by fifth grade, I’d, given them the iPads, and, as they entered into the middle school years, I’d given them their cell phones.  As the epidemic happened, the school started utilizing the FB groups, LINE groups to assign the homework assignments, and, at this time, I’d taken the advantage, to teach them the dos and don’ts of social media.  For instance, they are only allowed to play the cell phone games after they completed their homework assignments from school, to use TikTok, and, on weekdays, off-line by ten, to avoid the impacts on their sleep.

I know, that there’s, NO way we’ll be there, monitoring the kids over what they’re viewing online, what they’re playing online, but, it’s important that we, as adults, know what programs they’d downloaded onto their cell phones, and how to use certain programs, to prevent the kids from encountering the improper, bad things online.  Using the high-tech device settings it’s more effective than the adults telling the children what they can, or cannot do.

For instance, using the Google Family Link to set the download limitations, using the ratings systems of YouTube that’s available; you can set the usage time on the iPhones too, or limit the time of use of programs on your children’s cellphones.

And so, all of these, are means that are available to all you parents out there, to keep tabs on your children’s time of usage on their high-tech devices, because, let’s face it, high-tech devices had already become, a vital part of our lives, something that we can’t, do without, and, to BAN your own young from using, it’s, just, impossible, so you should teach them how to use their high-tech devices more intelligently instead.

Do We Protect the Self, or Do We, Fulfill Our, Families

And no, it’s NOT selfish, if we go for the self-preservation side, because we must first all, take good care of our, separate, selves, otherwise, how the HECK can we, care for, anyone else???  Taking from the tragedies of the society here, translated…

In the life of families, we are often trapped between the wills of our selves, or the benefits of the families, and started engaging in that, tug-of-war nonstop.

There was the news of how an elderly woman raised up her own two grandson, one of the children showed aggression, and symptoms of A.D.H.D., and, the elderly woman had been under too much stress in caretaking, and, lost it, and strangled the grandchild to death.  Another, how a couple was married, and, in less than two months of their marriage, the husband was, paralyzed, and was in a vegetative state, and the wife filed for divorce, and the courts allowed it.  These two seemingly unrelated events, shared one characteristic of concern: the matter of caretaking of one’s own families.

The two women in both cases, made totally different decisions, on caring for one’s own next-of-kin.  The wife decided to divorce, and, although, she’d gained the reputations of being selfish, of not being moral enough, but her decision, ended the fact that her marriage is bound to, slide down that slippery slope.  While the elderly woman’s persistence to the end, it’d, fulfilled the expectations of the traditional role of women, her sense of responsibilities, and her conscience too, but in reality, and the psychological aspects, the elderly woman, clearly, could NOT stand this kind of burden, and in the end, she’d, self-destruct, and the story ended, tragically.

And it made me wonder, as a part of the family, must we, give everything we have, for our, families, to sacrifice our own, happiness?  Is this, the necessity, the forefront, of setting up a, perfect, and happy family?  If at the end, there’s only, the suffocating burdens, that sense of, responsibilities that remained in it, enough to drown, cover up everything else, and, at this time, how can we still, keep the connections of the family intact?

In the families, when do we choose to preserve ourselves, when do we, sacrifice ourselves, and fulfill the needs of our, separate, families, from my past experience as a family courts judge, this, is from my observations: do take good care of your selves first, then, treat your loved ones the way you treat yourselves, kind too, then, as you feel, that you’d done, everything you possibly can, and still it’d not worked out, at this time, do be bolder, selfishly, embrace yourselves then, then, love your families, the way you love your selves.  I believe, that there would be the regrets that came with this, but so long as you’re willing, this regret can still, be made up for, I hope that we are all, living happily.

And so, these are, tragic stories of how giving to the family, caused the caretaker, to fall apart, like for the grandmother, she didn’t have a choice, or at least she couldn’t see the other options, and eventually, the caretaking became, too burdensome, and she’d ended up, murdering her own grandchild, while the other woman, she may seem selfish, because, it seemed as though she was, abandoning her husband who became, paralyzed, but she didn’t want to become his caretaker for life, and so, she’d selected divorce, and surely, it got her the bad reputation of ill-fitting as a wife, but heck, at least, she’d made a decision, to save herself actively, instead of being driving to murder her own handicapped husband after she grew tired and weary of taking care of him long-term, like the elderly woman who felt that she didn’t have any other, choice!  So, it’s NOT selfish, to look out for number one, and, W-H-O, is number one?  Oh yeah, we, individually, ARE, number ONE in our lives, and if we don’t take good care of ourselves first, how the @#$% (maxed out!) can we, take care of, anybody else???

On the Matter of Alexander Leehom Wang: from Peeping into the Private Lives of the Stars, to the Collective Loss of Hoard Responsibilities

How the case of infidelity, the bad behaviors of the singer, Wang is only, the tips of the iceberg, of a bigger problem of this, society of ours here!  From the Front Page Sections, translated…

The singer-songwriter’s divorce became a nuclear bomb for the Asian entertainment circle, the rants online is never-ending.  Although he’d announced his temporary exit of the entertainment industry, but the affair, his sex addictions are still, being discussed by the entertainment industries, and, the ricochet bullets are flying all over the places now.  The reputation that Wang built up on himself of being a gentle, honest, good man, a high quality performer, all destroyed in an instant, and this became a mirror of truth, reflected out the deteriorating culture of Taiwanese entertainment industry, and the wayward shift of values in the society in Taiwan, and this, should be the topic we need to discuss, aside from this “show” that we’re, currently, watching right now.

This time, although Lee, Wang’s wife, is the less capable party of this marriage, but, she’d used her sharp words, and her accurate timing, to HIT Wang back, and she’d scored, and the online community noted her as the “hammer of Thor”.  After the physical abuse of the legislator, Kao by her boyfriend, Lin, the people are more critical of violence, of the party that wasn’t, faithful enough in a marriage, it’d shown, how Taiwan IS, progressing, toward a more gender equal society.  On the other hands, the incident of Leehom Wang also showed of the false image of a “high quality” performer, the weakening of morality, and responsibilities, and the trends of him being a “giant baby” and “mama’s boy” got out too.  the seemingly free and open environment, is actually, quite the opposite, plus the manipulations from the press, it’d, weakened the citizens means to check the facts before they take their sides.

The entertainment industries are with a ton of good looking men and women, and it’d become, a hotbed for sex scandals.  But, on the matter of image completely collapsing, Wang’s case was the first few; reason for it wasn’t because he’s divorced from Lee, but because of his bad means of handling these, crises.  For instance, toward the accusations brought against him, he’d neither affirmed, nor denied, not made an apology for his, wrongdoing, and, his father’s coming out to speak on his behalf, it’d shown further, how his marriage had, gone bad.  Plus, using the Japanese old name to refer to Lee, his father had, caused even more of the effects of what he’d, wanted to, achieve.  Especially of how whenever Wang got into trouble, he’d looked to his parents to solve it for him, but, not fought for the custody, or even, the rights of joint custody for his own three children, it’d made us note, how irresponsible he truly is, toward the society, as well as, his own, family.

stars who were caught, cheating! Found online

With Lee’s disclosures of Wang’s many bad behaviors, with the embellishments from the paparazzi, we also observed, the abnormal biosphere of the entertainment industry.  Of these, some of the singers used the idolizing of the fans, to extort, and to deceive; some of the artists even used the interactions with other artists, stars, to increase ones’ own fame, and popularity; and once something happened to the individuals, they’d immediately, severed off connections, or tried covering for the individuals.  In the movie industries, are there only the sex, the rich, the fun and party, that’s, common to all?  In, seeing the stars that we are closely relating to started derailing from the right means of behaving, wouldn’t the friends warn each other, or would they just, watch the individuals, keep on, heading down that track of, self-destruction?

In recent years, the media only cared about the number of hits, and it’d, added to the expansion of the cases of infidelity by Leehom Wang, and some of the already forgotten cases are dug back out again.  And because of this, in exposing each other’s bad behaviors, there were the performers who’d, overdosed and rushed to the hospitals; the singers posting the warning phrases toward sex, and, members of the online community immediately reacted that it was similar to Wang’s bad behaviors.  This not just, added to the heated debate, but it would also, add to how the public sees the members of the entertainment industry as, “All the same”, and, those in the movie industries, the singers who are wise, should take heed.  And, the intelligent members of the audience, also need to remain rational, to not get fooled by the performances, or follow the crowds and blame whoever it is that the crowds are, blaming.

The public issues votes just ended, Tsai’s government is doing the budget case of the city and county of Hsinchu’s merging together, Wang’s affairs, sex addictions is covering all the discussion spaces online, surely, the president is considering the matter.  The former head of the county of Kaohsiung, Yang beckoned the public on FB, “to go easy on Leehom Wang”, and stated, that there are, eighty, ninety percent in the politics who have the affairs, that we should, demand more about them.  Set aside that Yang may have exaggerated, but, from the Department of Health & Welfare Sanitations, the Medical Welfare Corporation C.E.O., Wang, the head of public health insurance, Lee with their cases of infidelity coming out into the open, the government took a laissez-faire attitude to, wasn’t this due to the debauchery of morality of the persons in power too?  So, what’s the difference between Wang being noted as a “giant baby” and this?

Looking at the end of Wang’s marriage, from how he’d, disregarded his public status, to how the media had, exploited and consumed the stories, it all showed, that this, is due to a lacking in social responsibilities.  In the past three decades, Taiwan had, quickly changed, the values of old is no longer fitting to today, and, as we’d lost those old values, and still not yet found new ones to follow, all we have, are the, exaggerated, mottos, and all of these are what’s feeding to, the Leehom Wangs right now!

And so, this brings out the bigger problem, of how these role models of society, singers, performers, presidents of countries aren’t leading by better example, and so, naturally, everything become corrupt, from the top, down, and, because the very top is rotten, there’s no way of those at the bottom, to not be, rotten.

Why are You, So Awful, to Your, Unfaithful, Husband?

A case of, blaming the VICTIM here!!!

Why are you, so awful, to your, unfaithful, husband???  Uh, isn’t it, obvious?  He CHEATED on me, and what, I’m just supposed to, forgive AND forget, and take him back in my no-longer-in-existence, loving arms, provide him with a soft place to land, a TIT, to suck on?  (Wait, isn’t that his MAMA’s “job”???).

Why are you, so awful, to your, unfaithful, husband???  I mean, there are, worse things than, cheating, like if your husband’s a bad drunk, and would BEAT you after he comes home at night, drunk?  Or, that he’d, owed, a ton of, gambling debts, and you’re, constantly, getting harassed at work or at home, by the collectors, there are, WORSE things, than having a man, cheat on you.

and, here’s, how they will, make it up, to us, women!

photo from online

Why are you, so awful, to your, unfaithful, husband???  That’s not, the “air” of what a woman should be!  A woman should be, forgiving, after all, he had, admitted to you, that he was, cheating on you.  Why are you, so awful, to your, unfaithful, husband???  He had, already, made it up to you, by registering the properties, the cars, under your name already, and he’s providing for the school tuitions of your children, what MORE, do you want?

And this, is a classic case, of going after the one who’d been, wronged, the one who has the reason, the proofs, of wrongdoing in her hands, and this is still just, BULLSHIT, of how you, mother FUCKERS, as well as the rest of the fucking god damn society just, expects us women, to TAKE it, now, think on this: if it were us women who’d, cheated on you mother fuckers (not name-calling!), will you, men, be so understanding, so kind, to forgive us all for our, infidelity?  Yeah, I think not!

And therefore (⸫), you mother @#$%ERS (maxed out!), don’t got, NO right, to ask us to forgive you when you cheat!

on and this too!

photo from online

And, losers, DO stop, double-standarding, us all already, huh???

One-Way Airfare

The twists and turns of, fate, how this woman made the plans, but, fate stepped in, translated…

In a white lacy dress, with her hair straight, to shoulder-length, as she’d entered from the door, she’d sat down in front of me, stated, “Ms. I need a one-way airfare to London.”

In that era, when the e-ticket hadn’t been invented yet, the counter clerks of the travel agencies served the functions of the homepage of the travel agency websites, needed to have an assortment of skills, to understand all the knowledge there is, available to know, so we can, tailor to the needs of our, customers.  And so, as she sat herself down, I was on the phone, with my fingers, tapping away on the keyboard, asked her to wait.

To keep my customers’ waiting not too bored, I’d, kept a cactus, which allowed my customers to look, to touch.  She’d, looked upon the potted cactus with enthusiasm for a bit, started playing with that hanging décor on her Chanel bag.

Because the one-way airfares are more expensive, without the discounts, after I hung up the phones, I’d asked her why she’d only wanted a one-way airfare.  She’d told me, “I’m marrying my fiancée in England, and won’t be returning back here anytime soon.”  I’d flipped open her passport to book the flight for her, and glanced over at her date of birth, only twenty.  I’d offered my blessings, “Congratulations!”, and this seemed to have gotten her enthusiastic in telling me her story.

Growing up in Hualien, she has indigenous ancestry, at the celebration of the tribe two years ago, she’d met her husband from England.  He owns a textile mill, came to Taiwan, to understand the weaving methods, the artistic of the natives, and so, the elders of her tribe set up the visit, she, being the only one with a college education, tagged along as a translator.  As her husband returned home, the two wrote to one another in letters, and fell madly in love.  Two days ago, they were engaged, and readied themselves, for the return back to England.

“I liked calling him ‘daddy’, because he is older than my father.”, she’d smiled, and told me, “I didn’t care how others see him as!  I love him, simply because he’d liked my identity, and loved my culture, and encouraged me to get into my favorite subject, history after we married, he’d made me feel free, to be, me!”

That feeling of being moved, and blessing filled up my heart then.  I’d stopped what I was doing, and focused on listening to her, sharing her joys.  Before she’d paid the fees, she’d left the visa, her passport, and her plane ticket, said in a musical tone, “let me know when the visa’s ready!”

Four days later, the visa was approved, but I’d, tried calling her the whole day, nobody answered.  Seeing how the departure date was in three days, I’d waited on, anxiously.  Two days passed, a man called me back, stated in his Chinese that wasn’t, fluent enough, “Vivian’s dead”.  It was like thunder and lightning striking at the same time, hard for me to believe.  The man continued, “after she’d left the travel agency, she’d gone on a cab, the driver ran a red light, and she’d, died on impact, they couldn’t, save her.”, then, the gentle sobbing came into my ears, my eyes turned red, and tears started coming, my hands, trembled, couldn’t make a word out.  Don’t know how much longer it was, the man came back on, stated, “after the forty-nine days worth of offerings, I’ll come to get the visa.”

It was the year I was twenty-four, the very first time, I’d felt, how unpredictable, how short life can become, and I couldn’t, stop myself from crying.

A week later, the man showed up, looking really weakened.  The travel agency decided to give a refund back.  The man said thank you, asked me, “are you the last person she saw that day?  How did she appear on that day?  Happy?”

Returned back to how she’d looked that day, I’d told the man from my memories, that innocence of a young child, playing with the decoration, how focused she was, in observing the cactus I have on my desk, how her eyes filled with, joys, and hope, and also, expectations too………………

And so, this, is how unpredictable life can be, this woman made the plans for her life, and yet, fate stepped in, and took her life, and, there’s no right or wrong, it just, is, and, yet, the travel agency worker was able to, see her joys, and shared the woman’s moment of expectation, of dreams of her life in the future with her husband from England, and now, it all, ended, way, too soon…