The Air, My Friend

The column by Jimi Liao, translated…

Because I can’t keep my self all the time, keep maintaining that bright happy smile,

So, I’d made an enormous sculpture, to tell myself: be happy, smile more!

the artwork of Jimi Liao, from UDN.com…

This is just odd, and, it’s so sad to see, that there are still, adults “educating” their own young like this: that they can’t be unhappy, they need to be happy, and you DO realize, how this, is considered as a sort of emotional NEGLECT, right???

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The Succulents

Lessons of life, these small plants have to, offer to us, and, it’s, an important one too!  Translated…

Don’t know when, raising the succulent plants became, a trend.

One afternoon, I was strolling down the underground shopping strip, and, stopped in front of a small plant, and, I’d, suddenly understood, where that sense of healing that people talked about came from.  Those chubby leaves, resembled the paws of the bear, with the lighting, the soft and thin fuzz, made me feel, extremely, calm and collected.

On the succulent plants, as I thought, the images of those potted cute things came.  The healing sensation culture, made the succulent potted plants became a total trend, turning it, into a brand new sort of merchandise, they’d gotten, posted on the websites.  These plants are regulars at the cafés all around, an assortments of handicraft designs of them too, the potteries.  Real and fake, the fake looked, so very, real, and, how easily, human were, saved, in this mixture of what’s real and what’s fake, and, doesn’t this symbolize how we’re, squeezed too hard daily, that we needed to, look toward this small plant, to find our renewed energies?

At this moment, I stood, before the glass window, looking at the bear paw, in the temperature and humidity controlled room, hearing the salesperson tell of how to care for the succulent plants.  Thinking, that, they’re, both succulent plants, and, could it be, that the ghost plant?

wonders of nature here…photo from online…

In my childhood memories, the succulent plants weren’t as precious as these.  It’s a sort of a food, instead of a decorating plant.  This began, with my eldest uncle who’d loved his plants as if, they were, his own children.  Way before the trendy gardening came, my eldest uncle and aunt already, decorated their yard and rooftop, into small gardens.  In my impressions, he was always, living in dirt.  From when I was younger, I’d, watched him digging into the dirt, in the front yard, he’d told me that he was, loosening the soil by the seasons, so the flowers and trees can, grow better.  He’s the kind of man that would, pluck a flower as he trekked up the mountains for you, to taste the nectars.  Once, he’d had me select my favorite flower by his racks of plants, that I can take one with me.  I’d only recalled that I got very excited, and ran toward that patch of flowers, but felt panic all of a sudden.  Having the conditions of selective difficulty, I’d felt, anxious, of the sudden influx of the choices presented to me.  In this heat, I’d, pointed toward that patch of gray off to the corners.  As I walked near, the greenish purple color of the plant, made it look mysterious, the leaves were criss-crossed, like a dream catcher.

My eldest uncle laughed, “You sure do know how to pick them, this is for eating!”, he’d quickly plucked a few leaves off, ran into the house to wash them up, not long thereafter, I’d, stared at the fatty leaf, hesitant, as I, took a bite, that crisp sound, with the sour and stale juice that came onto my tongue, and, as I chewed it more, the taste turned, sweeter, perhaps, it’d, tasted like the unsweetened bell fruit, with that taste of herb to it.  This discord of the appearance and taste, was impacting to me, “It’d, tasted like the bell fruit!”, my uncle’s smile became a squint in his eyes, nodded toward me satisfactorily, “This small leaf, will grow into many flowers, you got the pick!”  He’d placed the leaf into the palm of my hand.  Looking at the fatty leaf, I’d thought, “nice to meet your acquaintance!”, and that was when I recalled, that my very first cultivated plant, was also a succulent.

It’s, quite amazing, the parent plant stayed in a huge garden with the enriched soil, and the high humidity, did it ever imagine, that its leaves were going to, move into the lanai of a building in the city?  But, it’d, lived up to the expectations, the leaves multiplied.  In a couple of years, the small finger-sized leaves, became this, bush of leaves, a small garden.

Weird, how as we aged, we’d gone from a leaf from the ghost flower, into a bear claw crassula?  From when I was younger, I’d believed, that life will be like a ghost plant, with the goal, worked hard, under the sun, and, get enough water, I will be able to, bloom, grow, leaf after leaf, after leaf, and successfully, bloom.  But, the reality was like the wind, slapping you across the face.  And after awhile, we’d, slowly, grown, into a viewing plant that’s, fearful, of getting hurt, used to, hiding ourselves, inside that transparent glass container, trading in our protective colorations, for cuteness, sitting in our, isolated, universes, preserved ourselves.

very different in appearances, but, same in “nature”, with the strong will to survive, in the harshest of all conditions!  Photo found online…

Sometimes, life is like a cruel desert, turning us, into, a cactus.

I’d often forgotten, that beneath that healing image, the cacti, with the needles, are a member of the succulent plants.  From succulent, into prickly, that soft fuzz no longer in existence, replacing them, the prickly needles.  The flesh, through the grinds of the days, became calluses, but, the calluses, the thorns, used their stubbornness, wrapped up your heart that’s, softest and most fragile, most, easily hurt.

Hey, did you ever see a flower of a cactus?  Oh yeah, it blooms too.

I’d once, owned a round and stout, cactus with the shorter thorns.  Days into years, its plain looks made people think it’s, nothing more than a décor. Yet, one spring, it’d, started, budding around, with a small light hidden within.  I will, never forget that morn, as the sunlight shone slanted onto the lanai, and, there appeared, a palm-sized flower out of the cactus.  Bright yellow like a fire burning, but, thin as the wings of a butterfly.  The petals soaked up the sun, golden, in full bloom, shown its deepest, gentleness.

At that very moment, all the memories of pain, walking through all those summers, became, light as a grain of sand.

And so, this, is the lesson that people can learn, from these plants, surely, they’re, not easy to care for, but, if you look after them well, they will, show you a side of life that’s, quite inspiring, and teach you, that weathering through the seasons of life, is something as plain as living from day to day.

“We Didn’t Even Know a Thing about the Sports Cars, and Were Just Trying it Out……Can’t Believe Someone Actually, Fell for It”, Using the Sports Cars as Baits, He’d, Scammed a Whole Bunch of People

There are still, a lot of people who are, PREYING on greed in this world, and even MORE, who are, falling for it!!!  From the Front Page Sections, translated…

A man, Chuang, used how the younger generations are into the sports cars, set up a scam group, claimed that he was investing in a sports car rental dealership with a lot of returns, there were, at least a dozen who were scammed, they’d lost over millions of dollars in sum; the police arrested five suspects, and found, that Chuang had NO knowledge of sports cars, that the photos used to scam were selected at random from online, and charged his and his accomplices on fraud, organized criminal, and money laundering charges, after the district attorneys interrogated, they’d asked the courts to mandate the three suspects in custody, which the judge signed off on, the two teens involved were returned home to their parents.

The police in Taichung a little while ago were reported that there was an online scam ring that solicited younger generations of men and women who’d just started working, had them invest in the rental sports cars companies, with only $20,000N.T. to $40,000N.T. needed to invest, and because the amount wasn’t high, there were, a lot who’d, entered into the “program”.

The police chased the leads, and found that the head was a 22-year-old man, Chuang, he was sentenced for obstruction of sexual freedom, and was just released at the end of last year, he’d found two youths, and set up an online investment scam, used FB, WeChat, and LINE along with other programs to spread the messages of “The Race Car Rental Company: Guaranteed Returns”, claimed that if you invested $20,000N.T in two weeks, you’ll get $10,000N.T. in interest, and claimed that this was legal and stable, “five more spots left, act now!”

Then, Chuang and his accomplices found the multimillion dollar sports car’s photograph, claimed that they just received a brand new car delivered, and someone already booked it for two months in advance, a victim saw the ad on FB and was interested, and Chuang added the person on LINE and started chatting, and as the victim didn’t get the payoff promised, he’d called the police.

As the police interrogated him, Chuang said, that he saw it on the news that someone had used this same way to scam, he thought he should try it too, and, didn’t expect that someone actually, fell for it.  He told the police, that he didn’t even know a thing about the super sports cars, that he’d found the photos online at random, then, copied them onto his own website.

The police found, that this ring had managed to scam the public for over millions within one month of operations, and charged the suspects on fraud, laws against money laundering, and organized crimes.

This, is still, how E-A-S-Y people GET scammed, and it’s still all because of GREED because they think they can get something cheap, without realizing, that YOU get WHAT you P-A-I-D for, and, if something seems too good to be true, then, it probably IS, and yet, people just, overlook these simple ideas, at the face of TEMPTATION!!!

Only the Maternity Leave Bonuses? Helping Women to Enjoy Becoming Mothers

Why the whole environment doesn’t add to women’s wanting to have children, causing the aging population, the declines in birthrate to continue, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Legislative Branch upped the bonuses of women having children, and although all three of my children are all, over four years of age, I’m still very happy, toward the signing of this law. After all, this was, the most direct, most simple method. But, there are a lot of highly-educated, high income friends who’d still, refused to have children, and all these working moms told me, that it’s simply, too tiresome, to have to work, and look after their own young.

I was born in the eighties, and, a lot of my friends and families had their young after age thirty, they’d lacked that strength compared to the people in their twenties, and they’re at the stage of their lives they needed to, work hard to get ahead in their jobs, it would be, even more difficult, to look after their families. I’d consoled with them, to stop working, and enjoy being a full-time mother, but they’re not, taken with the idea.

Surely, the birthrate had been, dropping year after year, and the divorce rates, higher and higher, our generation has that sense of emergency toward marriage. I’d heard many who’d experienced it, telling me, that women need to be economically independent, not wanting to let go of their jobs, with marriages, untrustworthy, who has the mind, to have, and raise children? But, the duties of childrearing are mostly on the women’s shoulders in Taiwan, and this, won’t be resolved, with a couple of thousand dollars worth of bonuses given by the government.

One of the root causes of decline in birthrate is the economy, secondly, it’s the problems of the society. If the families are stabilized, if men are willing to chip in to help with raising the children too, then, women would surely, enjoy being mothers.

And so, this showed how it would be, unwise, for women to settle down to have children, and how this society doesn’t support the ideas of we women having children, after all, we are the ones, raising our own young, while you men just comes home after a long and hard days of work (NEWSFLASH, you MORONS, we women work our nine to fives outside the home, and we come home, to continue the job for 24/7!!!), and, this problem still won’t be resolved, by the extra bonuses that the government pays us women, for having more children, and what are we, NUTS? Why would we want to start our families, if we can excel in our jobs, after all, a job that pays well, gives us that sense of security, and, none of us would be happy, not contributing to this society here!

Learning to Let Go from Saying Goodbye, to Be a Man of High-Quality

On the last rites, the final rites of one’s passage, translated…

I’d gone to two funerals of my high school classmates in these past few months, and, at the funeral, the collages of their lives were played.

Those old scenes all came back to me, I’d thought about the laughter, the sorrows, the ups and downs of life we’d shared, our friendships which were kept, I couldn’t help but start crying hard! And, in the three, or five-minute short film, it’d, told of the stories of their over fifty years of life, and this was, saying goodbye to life.

We are all, staying afloat in this sea of mirage, and we’d felt, that cold chill! In this mirage of a life, we’d gone to the funerals, and we were often, impacted by the mixtures of emotions. Looking at others, then, thinking about ourselves, our whole life is a huge lesson in learning to say goodbye, and the hardest part of it all, is learning to say goodbye to ourselves, to say farewell to the youth that’s slowly going away, to wave goodbye at the beautiful faces that time had, sculpted, to say farewell, to those whom we loved and cared dearly, our families, to say farewell, to all our meaningless pursuits of fame and fortune…to bid farewell, to everything earthly. Life is learning to let go!

As I’m about to become Buddha! My funeral, I’d wanted to be like how the Buddhist Master, Shen-Yen’s making myself into a better person.

Before I go, I shall, have that slight smile, and with a heart of gratitude, for everything that’s happened in life to me; before I go, I hope that my loved ones, friends, families, and relatives can, use the Buddhist chants, to help my soul return to the West. As for the rituals, I’d wanted everything to be simplified, I shall become nothing but mud, to become the guardians of the flowers.

And so, this is, what life is reduced to, when we all die, we’d become, NOTHING, it’s what we did whilst we were still living, that will, hopefully, get remembered, it’s the lives we managed to touch when we were still on earth, that will keep on flowing, even after we’re gone, and, like this person, just keep everything simplified, because, there’s NO need, to have a flashy funeral, because you’re, already D-E-A-D, and you should NOT care who shows up at your funeral, besides, why would it matter to you? You’re, no longer “here” (on this PLANET???)………

The Time that’s, Stopped, on Those Walls…

The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, do you not see it, how the clock turned DEAD at a quarter ‘til???

The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, what does it signify? That time hadn’t moved on, but, we surely, had, ‘cuz, we are, no longer who we were, a minute ago, and, nothing’s, ever gonna be, the same again!

like this???  Old, and broken?  Photo from online…

The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, how can we, make them restart again? If only, it’s, simple as, changing those dead, used-up batteries! The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, and now, the minute, hour, and second hands, they all, started, us down, like those, bright and shiny eyes, in the darkened corners of the nights.

The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, it’d felt, too surreal, like, everything and nothing was, exactly, the same, and yet, it’s, somehow, different, you know? The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, we walked by that wall, with that DEAD clock, every day, as a reminder, of what? I can, no longer, recall now………

The time that’s, stopped, on those walls, they can’t, restart again, can they? It wouldn’t be, as simple as, changing the batteries on that clock, because, even IF the machine starts to work again, nothing will ever be, the same as it had been, or was, once!

Trump Stated that the School Teachers Should Start Carrying Guns, the Parents Were Angered by His Statements

The PRESIDENT of the U-N-I-T-E-D S-T-A-T-E-S, had BLURTED something OUT, without having the THOUGHT run through his HEAD again, I’m afraid!!! And he still couldn’t, make UP his mind of which side to STAND at!!! With MY opinions on the matter inputted, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

In the seventeen deaths middle school shooting in Florida on the fourteenth, President Trump saw about forty students, teachers and parents on the twenty-first, including the six survivors of the shooting. They’d begged Trump to “Do something about it”, to prevent similar cases from happening repeatedly in school, Trump promised to have the stricter background checks for gun purchases, and even brought up the thought, of having the school teachers armed, to have the teachers also carry guns in the classes, but last year, a parent of the student who’d died in the Florida middle school shooting rebutted, “How many students need to die under a gun?”

gettng questioned on the policies he set up for gun control, photo from online…

In this nearly one-hour long meeting, Trump was focused in listening to the demands of the students and parents saying how the security needs to be reinforced in the schools, how there needs to be more drills, and to up the age of buying the weapons too. But Trump replied as he had before, that he was for owning a gun, to protect the people themselves, to SHOOT the shooters first.

The student who’d died in the shooting, Pollack’s father, Drew told Trump, that his daughter got shot NINE times then died on the day, “That is why I’m here”, he’d asked Trump, “How many schools, how many students need to be under attack? This needs to stop now. If there’s no change, I won’t ever stop.”

Trump stressed, in the future, “We will do a very strict background check, and focus on the gun purchasers’ state of mind,” he’d also mentioned, that it’s needed, for some of the school teachers, to train to use a gun, to scare off the possible shooters.

Trump said, “If the school teachers have the licenses to carry the concealed weapons, then, they will be trained, especially, and there wouldn’t be a gun-free zone in the schools.” Trump believed, that banning all guns from the schools will only worsen the matter, he said, “the gun prohibited zones means, ‘let’s go in and shoot everybody inside’.”

here’s one, have a LAUGH, everybody, found online…

Trump said, take for instance, the Florida middle school shooting, “if there was a teacher trained to use gun, then, it’s easy, to disarm the shooter quickly.” But Trump also admitted, that it’s debatable, the thought, of having the school teachers bear arms.

And so, here, you can see, how this is all, the American President’s one-man-SHOW, he’d stated an idea, and, someone from the audience (a parent whose child had died) challenged his thought, Trump fended for his idea, and, then agreed, with the parents’ views on how it wouldn’t be SOUND, having the school instructors armed. And from this, we can see??? How easily businessmen change their minds, and, how AWFUL it’s gonna get, for the LAND of the FREE, to live under, “King TRUMP”!!!