That Excellent Catcher

Memories of our own, childhood years, how this young boy, became, a man, the day he stood up, against, his own, father, translated…

Back when he was younger, my father was almost to the point of, abusive, harsh, disciplinarian.  He’d often used physical measure to punish us, the time I remembered the deepest was how I got strung up by the beams of my home, with my hands tied behind my back, and beaten up by him; and sometimes, my mother would be, beaten alongside us too.

And, just like all those, tragedies, with, too many, reasons, too many, excuses, and, with the erosions of decades of time, almost everything had been, forgotten in details; but, the heavy, burdensome fragmented memories would still, surface back up from time to time.  At around ten years of age, when you weren’t as tall as mom, you’d, fearfully stood by her side, watched your father eat his breakfast, as he’d, grilled your mother.  You can’t remember what he was so angry about, just that he’d, picked up an empty bowl, and, thrown it at your mother, who’s no more than three meters away from where he’d sat.

Maybe it was, instincts, reflex, maybe?  You’d, moved your feet, turned to the side, extended your arms, and, everything happened, lightning, fast, like with help from above, you’d, magically, blocked that bowl that came flying toward your own mother; the bowl was like a fly ball, after hitting your arms, rolled on down, a couple of times, and, halted, unbroken, on the, floors.

from being helpless like this…photo from online

You’d not cried out in pain, and was, shocked, and glad, that the bowl didn’t, get, shattered.  Perhaps, your father, in the midst his anger too, was, surprised, couldn’t believe, how the fast ball he’d, thrown, was, caught, by the kid who’d, never, practiced any catching skills, and, gave him an, out!

Afterwards, you’d never asked what was going through your mother’s, mind the.  The awful memories, ought to be, forgotten, just like you’d longed that you could, wanting to know, what you did was right, or was it wrong, in the moment it’d, occurred.

Many years later, you were, married, and your wife told you, that your mother, who wasn’t at all, talkative, had, mentioned it, many times to her in private, almost once every time they saw each other.  And mom was, smiling, with that sense of, comfort, “Ahhhhhhhh, that young boy…was…certainly, an, amazing, catcher all right!”

So, this, is a young boy’s action, to protect his own mother, from his own father’s, abuse, and, it must’ve been, a very, difficult childhood, to grow up in an environment so volatile, when you don’t know when your fathers are going to come home, and blow up at your mothers, and yet, this young boy stood up, and SHOWED his father, put an end to the father’s, hurting his own, mother.

Digging Up Earthworms

Lessons of life, values from these lessons, gained, in the, childhood, years, translated…

My family raised the ducks when I was young, we mixed in the wheat husks, with the leftover porridge to feed to them, chopping up the leafy greens, while the duckweeds we’d scooped from the pond nearby, became, their, snacks, and from time to time, we’d, fed them the earthworms too.  Earthworms were a treasure to the farming families as the ducks ate them, they would grow up fast, and we could, sell them for a higher price.

Back then, we the children would go out and dig up the earthworms to take them home with us, and, after the rainy was the best time for that, they all came out to the surfaces, some were, wriggling in the soil.  I was, actually, too afraid of them, but, I’d still, put on my rain boots, with that hoe in my hand, and, faced this, challenge.

like this…

photo from online

As I, tilled up the soil, I would see the earthworms, wriggling hard, thankfully, my younger brother who was standing by, quickly picked them up one by one, into the bowls we saved for our ducks, roosters, hens, and chickens.  An earthworm became, like a tangled yarn, wriggling, and trying to, get away, with the ducks, fighting to have their equal shares, the speed to which the former run, doesn’t quite measure up to the latter, and, in a very short time, the earthworms, are completely, gone.

No matter how I’d feared doing this, I’d learned, that earthworms, even though, they are, at the bottom of, the food chains, they have their, values to contribute, quite, a huge one!

And so, this, was the lesson of respect for anything and everything living you’d, gained, from your childhood experiences of, digging up the earthworms, to feed to the fowls that your family was, raising, it’d taught you, that no matter how small the living organisms, they all have something to, contribute to the world.

Home of the Broken Dolls

Call it, shelter, or, dumpster!

There’s this home, of the broken dolls, where, all those dolls that got torn apart (made of cloth), shattered (made of porcelain), go to, die.

Home of the broken dolls, that, is where you belong, you’d been, broken, and I do NOT want you around me, not, go on, GET!  Home of the broken dolls, how cruel those young children are, just, cast us all away, tossed us all away, like we don’t matter, but we had, we were, once, important, significant others in their young lives, it’s just, that they’d, outgrown all of us, and we became, unwanted, TRASH!

where ALL those broken toys go and, D-I-E!

photo from online

Home of the broken dolls, that, is where you’ll be, you got broken by my childhood, and it still, wasn’t my fault, that I couldn’t, save you, I was, too little, too scared myself, I had to, duck for cover, when the storms came, and, you got struck by thunder AND lightning, ‘cuz I forgot, to take you with me into hiding…

I’m sorry, doll, I really am, but now you’re, broken, I have, NO need for you, and you still can’t blame me, for tossing you out, you want someone to blame?  BLAME yourself, for being, MADE from, such, fragile, material…………

In this home of broken dolls, all dolls lay waiting, to D-I-E, they’re all, unwanted, disowned, by their, children.

A Child, Never, Held…

A child, NEVER, held he was, and he’d become, fearful, of acts of, intimacy shown towards him, and yet, he’d, longed for, the intimate connections with, another…

A child, NEVER, held, we were, NEVER held, by our parents, ‘cuz their parents got too busy, making their ends meet, and not hold them either, and so, how the @#$%, can our parents, learn that we, as their young, need to be, held?  They can’t, and, chances are, growing up, not being held enough, we all turn into, nonhuggers ourselves too.

not enough of this in childhood…

photo from online

A child, NEVER, held, fears that show of, intimacy toward her/him and yet, s/he, longed to, be shown, the sentiments of, that intimate connection with another, and, there’s, NO better way to connect intimately with someone else, through our bodies, is there?  Nope!

And so, this child, NEVER, held, gets, caught, between, the drives of longing to be held, but couldn’t, reach out to get held.  The child becomes, totally, stuck.

A child, NEVER, held, grows up, not knowing, how to, hold, and, just, grabs a hold onto, everything around her/him, fearing, that what s/he loves, will slip, through her/his, grasps, not knowing, that when you hold something (or someone) too tightly, it causes her/him/it to, SUFFOCATE, and whatever that was held too tightly, struggles, to break free…

leading to this…

photo from online

The Predator Raped & Molested His Friend’s Young Daughter Over Thousands of Times in the Span of a Decade, Got a Severe Sentence

The long-term, sexual abuse of this young child, into, her teenage, years, and, this is called, justice???  Yeah right, get REAL!!!  But hey, the judge had, spoken, and case is, closed!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

She was Not Yet Five When Her Mother’s Boyfriend Was Asked to Help Take Care of Her, Although the Settlement Agreement Was, Reached, but the Man Didn’t Get His Sentence Reduced, Due to the Maliciousness to Which He’d, Raped Her

Yo, in 2008, was asked by his friend to help watch his three-year-old daughter, but, before the young girl turned five, Yo started raping, molesting her, for around ten whole years, until the victim could no longer take it anymore, and told a volunteer counselor about it.  The Yilan District Court found Yo guilty of forced sexual behaviors of a child of under age fourteen 608 times, molestation for four hundred times, a total of thirteen-years, ten months; and, for the sixty-two times of sexual molestations of the child, a year an eight months, and he could pay the charges and not serve the time for this.

Yo is currently sixty-six years ago, and even though he’d, admitted to what he’d done, and settled with the teenager, the teenager’s father forgave him, and begged the courts for mercy for Yo, but the judge believed that the crimes Yo committed was serious, and not given him a lighter sentence.

the molestation of a young child…

photo from online

The verdict pointed out, that Yo, being the victim’s grandfather’s friend, the victim’s parents were divorced when she was young, her father wasn’t doing well in his ventures, in 2008, he’d, handed her and her older brother to be cared for by Yo, back then she was only three years old.

Yo was suspected of raping the young girl from August of 2010 to mid-October in 2012, in the frequencies of once every two days, a total of 404 rapes on her during the time; from 2012 to 2017, he’d, raped her in her bedroom, in his residence, a total of 204 times.

From September of 2017 to October of 2019, he’d patted her breasts, patted her pubic areas, molested her, for about four times a week, a total of, four hundred times counted; from when the adolescent turned fourteen, he’d raped and molested her another, sixty-two times to the start of June in 2020.  In the end, the girl couldn’t put up with it, and finally, told her social worker whom she was getting counseled for long-term, and that was when the whole thing busted, wide open.

The courts found Yo guilty on 406 charges of forced sexual acts of a minor younger than fourteen years, and, sentenced him to seven years two months; the charges of having sexual intercourse with a minor of under age fourteen, a total of 202 counts, seven months each, that he is to serve a total of thirteen years, ten months for.

And, the molestations charges of a minor between ages fourteen to sixteen, sixty-two counts, with three months sentence on each count, a total of a year eight months in prison, which he could pay the fees, and not serve the time.

And yeah, how’s this, enough, for punishment?  I mean, imagine it is you, who got FUCKED (don’t pardon me here!) by this “friend” of the family, someone you trusted, because your parents entrusted you to him, and what of the emotional sufferings, the psychological problems this young woman will develop (and she will in her future!) for what she was put through, by this, SEX predator that wore the false fronts of a “family friend”, huh?  How’s this punishment, SEVERE enough?  It’s nowhere NEAR, enough!

Drawing Out Monsters

Monsters, they started, spilling out from the ink of the artist’s pen…

He’d, taken out that sketchpad, and then, his hand took on a life of, its own, and, the monsters, they came out, one by one, faster, than the, speed of life, he’d, sketched, page after page, after page, after page, and his monsters are still, nowhere NEAR, done with him, not by, a long, long, shot!

like this…found online

Drawing out monsters, she started, coloring up those pages, of her childhood life, and, the monsters, made scary noises, thrilled her, she thought Teddy was her, best mate, until, the monsters, took him away, and she was, left, without, the protections of him (the Teddy bear???).  Drawing out monsters, it seemed, that there are, always, more monsters that, longed to, come out, onto the pages, that she will, NEVER be done, like those princesses that danced, through the nights, and, it’d, made her, so tired…

Drawing out monsters, she’s, finally, finished, she’s, now an adult, and, became a mother, to her own, lost, child, and, as those monsters, started, getting restless again, in her memories of her childhood, she’d, told them, to be quiet, baby needs to sleep, and, sometimes, the monsters, they became, better behaved, listened, but sometimes, they still, acted up, every now and then, and that, is where, those, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications came in……………

The Children in Protective Custody Increased by the Hundreds Annually, Couldn’t Go Home, the Government Adopts Them Out

The Social Services of Hsinbei City estimates, that there is an increase of about a hundred young children placed by the social services annually, about eight hundred young children placed by the government, and cared for, by the government.  The manager of the Hsinbei Domestic Violence Prevention Center, Hsu stated, after the placements, the system will help the families of origin to readjust to be a good enough environment for the children to be returned back; and if it’s confirmed that the families can’t work, then, the children are, adopted out, the adolescents are trained to have a viable life skill that can help them live on their own.

Hsu told, that younger children who are placed out of their families of origin, means that the families aren’t safe, without the provisions of proper care for them, after placing the children out, “restructuring of the families” is an important task, so the help in finding work, parenting lessons, and setting up a resource provision system, like patching up the relationship among the members of the families, to provide more resources needed to care for the children.

Hsu pointed out, that the children in foster care right now, a lot have physical or psychological problems, like the drug-addicted babies, with the symptoms of withdrawal, developmentally delayed, A.D.H.D., then they would need steady medical treatment interventions, and the early intervention measures; if the child in at school age, then, the system also helps them in adapting to their new schools.

social services with young children they need to place…

photo from online

This is, quite, contradictory, to the government’s “complaints” of how there’s a sharp drop in birthrate isn’t it???  Children in foster care, in social services, trending now, off of the Newspapers, translated…

Hsu said, other than the children growing up, the parents also need to have added abilities to them, to find other families as resources for help in caretaking, as all the requirements are matched, then, the children will get, returned back to the families of origins.  But the return to the families of origin is by progression, from supervised visits, waiting until both parents and children are stabilized, then, the return home steps are taken, slowly, increase the time spend at one’s own, families of origins.

Shortest, it’s a few months, longest, the children may NEVER be returned to their families of origin, Hsu stated, that there were the families with children placed out, in a short time, found a strong enough set of resources, for instance, other family members with the money chipping in, in two short months, the young children were, returned; but there are also the cases of after four, five years, the children still didn’t get returned back to their, families of origins too.

Hsu said, that if the families of origin are drug-addicts, with multiple times on record of prison sentences, then, these parents will get their parental rights, terminated, and the young children will get adopted out, from within the country, then, matching the children up with foreign families.  And, for children older than fifteen, and still couldn’t go home yet, there are the plans to help the kids to pay for their own education, to find work too.

And so, this system is, set up, quite well, and, this is also, very awful, because these children in foster program are on the rise by the years, and most of whom came out of families with teenage mothers, who couldn’t care for them.  This is the problem, that came out of teenage pregnancies, and there’s a need, to get these younger generations more educated on the matter, so they don’t keep on, cranking them babes out.

Afternoon Tea

Let’s have a tea party then, shall we???  We shall!  Translated…

One night, I called up my mother, chatted over the MERS-CoV situation, how it’d not, gotten better, and we can only, video chat, I really want to head back home, to have afternoon tea with her then.

The following day, my four-year-old ran over to me at increments of minutes, and inquired, “mom, what time is it?  Is it the afternoon now?”, and, as noon approached, I’d answered him, “after lunch, it will be afternoon.”  And on that day, he ate faster than he usually had.  After meal, he’d taken my hand enthusiastically, pointed to the tea pot with water in it, said, “Mom, didn’t you want some afternoon tea?  It’s afternoon now, let’s, have some tea!”

like this??? Photo from online

spending some quality time with her sons…

Being naïve, he thought that the tea poured out of the pot in the afternoon is, afternoon tea!  Being tentative, he’d, remembered my random conversation with my mother to mind.  And so, I’d smiled, and, washed up two delicate cups, poured in the water, and, sat down with him, and, drank that, extra sweetened tasting, “afternoon tea”.

And so, this, is the interactions with a young child, sometimes, they can, surprise you, like how this young boy took his mom’s conversation with her grandmother to heart, and, offered the gentleness to his own, mom!

Insects of My Childhood

The mealworms, that helped you, rediscovered, that inner child that you’d, forgot that existed, returned you, back to, that wonder of your, childhood, years again, translated…

“Do you want some yellow meal worms to raise?”, one autumn morn, my coworker asked me with great enthusiasm.

I was curious, and did what he’d told me to, set up the environment and the following day, he’d brought me a plastic box, with two white chubby maggots in it.

I’d looked at them for long, found that they were cute, and interesting, I’d, carefully, taken them home, it’d made my wife and child started hollering loud, at the sight of them, but they’d still, watched the maggots with me, how they’d, eaten through the dirt, and dug the holes.  It’s said, that children are mirrors of our own pasts.  I couldn’t help, but recalled, how it was when I was, raising, those silkworms for my science class back in the days, it was, exactly, like this, I suppose.

Every day after work, I’d watched the maggots with my son.  The most exciting, of course, was the monthly, soil change.  To help those, meal worms, to see the light of day again.  We were able to, see the changes in them, more closely.  Once, the worms’ colors became darker, they’re about to cocoon.  Seeing how they’d, dug up that cocoon space on the side of the box, and, every day watching these insects, was something all new.  It’d, left me in awe, at how multifaceted life truly, is.

the life cycles of meal worms…

from online

My wife laughed, and said how much of a kid I’d, become too, and I don’t, deny that.  Because the world of child with a ton of things that interests me, is forever, intact in my mind, waiting, for that something new for me to, discover.

And so, you were, able, to find back that lost childhood of yours, through the mealworms, because they reminded you, of how simple life can be, how you can, easily, get excited, over, the little things in life, and hopefully, you’ll, hold on to this, as you age…

The Urban Legend of Mr. Dinosaur

Yeah uh, mommy’s a liar, that fooled, EVERYBODY, including, the new janitors at the science museum too!  Translated…

“It’s said, that Mr. Dinosaur at the science museum will clock out and get off work at five, and before he goes home, he would check to see if there are any children who were in the museum, if there are, then, he’ll, grab them, take them home, and make them into his supper for the night.  Hear it, the music’s played, the older children are all heading toward the exit now.  Come, Mr. Dinosaur is about to, clock out”.  This, was the unproven, urban legend of the science museums, and the source of where this legend came from, only three person, know, two were eaten, by the dinosaur, while the third, I’m not, at liberty, to say.

like this clip, from A Night in the Museum, off of YouTube

Night at the Museum (1/5) Movie CLIP – Throw the Bone (2006) HD – YouTube

On this story, my three kids believed with absolutely, NO doubt, not only once, as they’d heard the music of closing time playing, they’d, grabbed my hand, and ran fast toward the exits, “Mr. Dinosaur is about to clock out!”  Once at the museum, they’d, dragged me to leave quickly, while the workers saw how cute they were, how they’d helped cleaning up the environment, they’d wanted to give them some origami, and heard them hollered aloud, “Come quick!  Mr. Dinosaur is about to get off work!”, the workers asked me what that was about.

And so, I can, only, given them hint, as they’d heard, they showed that look of, disbelief, then I’d added, “you just started working, a short while ago, right?  This is the urban legend of this science museum”, the workers looked at me with doubt, “is that real?”. “Yes!”, I’d, pointed at my kids who were, eager, to escape the museum, “look, how they’d, hurried now!”, and so, I was, able to, fool the museum workers too!

Yeah, so, the children aren’t the only ones who are, gullible here, the adults are too, and, anybody with a sound mind can tell, that the story of the dinosaurs coming to life and eating the children who are still in the museum after closing time, knows that it’s, a way a parent tries to get the kids home, because they’d, played for too long, hung out too long in the museums, and, the new workers are, fooled by this mom.