The Lesson of Respect from a Wooden Keg

A lesson of RESPECT this mother learned, from taking her daughter’s wooden keg to use without permission from her own daughter, translated…

“The availabilities of water for five days, and the other two are unavailable” was on the verge of being implemented, but, I have no idea how much water we use per day at home.  But to not run out, I’d started, emptying out all the containers, pots and wok, to use as the water storage containers, the plastic cases used originally to store our winter clothes, the bucket I use to water the plants, the ironclad pot for the soup……………the volume of the things I could have, are getting smaller and smaller, and I can’t think of anything else to use.

At this time, I saw that wooden keg my daughter bought with a lot of money, to soak her legs with, I’ll just, use that then!  As my daughter came home from work, she saw the water filling up the keg, she’d looked at me upset, told me, “This is now how you use the wooden basin, soaking it up in water, the wood will rot eventually.”

The soaking basin is afraid of water?  It doesn’t fit my logic at all.  My daughter pulled out the evidence from my past—I’d once not used the hinoki keg that’s used for bathing, causing it to stay humid, and eventually, rotting out, and finally, I had to, throw it out.  Yeah, I admit, I am, too careless at times.  And so, I can only, muffle up, and, start, pouring the water into the bottles and jars all around.

And, the next time the water supply was limited, this time, I’d, covered the keg with a huge patch of plastic first, and continued to save up the water for washing up, for flushing the toilets.  But my daughter still, grilled me, “I’d told you, that the wooden keg can’t be immersed in water!”

And I felt furious, of how she’d, used the same reason to grill me, didn’t I wrap the keg in a film of plastic already?  I’d entered into the bathrooms, looked—ahhhhh—I’d, found a bag that’s, with holes in it.  After I’d, gotten the water split into separate containers, by then, my anger was already, overflowing me.

I’d found two plastic bags with the “no-leak” guarantees, wrapped it into the wooden keg, continued to prepare for this third-round of not having water.

“Why don’t you respect me?  It’s MY wooden keg!”, my daughter started crying, and accused me.

how this…taught the woman about respect…

photo from online

I’d felt upset too, I’d saved up the water in the keg for everybody in the house, I’d already, wrapped it up in a plastic bag that won’t leak, how was that not respecting my daughter’s belongings?  I’d started, getting upset as she too, I’d, given so much to this family already, and my daughter was, even more angered, and more upset, and started, nagging at me, and it seemed, that a war was about to blow between us, mother and daughter, because of a wooden keg.

But, how is a wooden keg, and respect related?  I’d tossed and turned that night, thought, for a long, long, long time, then suddenly, EUREKA!  I’d understood why my daughter was, angered.

In my teens, because my mother rummaged through my room, and read my diaries—even though, I’d not written anything secretive in it, but that sense of not being respected, I just felt, hard-to-swallow—and so, I’d, torn those pages out of my diary, and burned them all, before my mother!  Harsh enough, and now, as that stubborn young lady I was, became a mother, it’d become, my daughter’s turn, to blame ME for not respecting her things.

Being in charge of the household happenings too long, you’d, mistakenly believe, that EVERYTHING in the house was under your jurisdiction.  And yet, every member of the family, all had their own, private things that they kept, and even though they’re, placed at home all around, they’d not, belonged to me, who’s, keeping the household tidy.

So, the keg was bought by my daughter, and, as the weather got cold, I can, enjoy the soaks, but, it didn’t mean, that I can, use it at my will.  Although, my goal in storing the water with it, was to benefit the whole family, but, I’d not, gotten consent from my daughter, the owner of the wooden keg, which caused me to get nagged by her, for not respecting her things

I understood it now!  Thanks to this wooden keg’s reminding me, that no matter how long we live under the same roof together, how close we all are to each other, “Respect” is an absolute, necessity!

And so, this mother learned, this important lesson, just because the keg was there, available, that does NOT mean that she could, use it, she didn’t ask permission from her daughter, because her daughter bought it, and so, naturally, as the daughter saw the mother used the wooden keg to store water, she got angered, and besides, the material of the wood can rot away easily, because of the moistures, and the mother finally, learned, the lesson of RESPECTING her own, daughter’s, belongings, and learned, that even though, they shared the same space of living, it doesn’t mean, that she can have access over everything she found lying around her house, especially those things that aren’t owned by her.

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 Last Piece of the Puzzle of Prevention Against Sexual Violence: the Stalking-Harassment Laws

Written by the crime prevention majors of Zhongzhen University, call this, an “afterthought” to the events of murders from stalkers that can’t have those whom they were stalking, and resorted to, murder, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The draft of the “stalking-harassment prevention legislation” finally started in the reviewing process in the legislature office here, of the kept written codes, the debate of whether harassment and stalking should be specific to the variations of genders is still, debated upon.  And my views are based off of societal expectation, and the experiences of the Japanese laws.

The stalking-harassment is defined by repeatedly making someone particular uncomfortable, it isn’t, randomly selected, and there are many reasons for why, maybe for money, like in the loan sharks trying to get the debts collected; or maybe, it’s the fame, like the paparazzi tagging along; maybe due to political views differences, for instance, the trolls from online taking over the message boards online; it can be the neighbors, getting at each other’s throats for not having the shared values of how the building’s operations worked.  Of these, the stalking-harassment types from failure to pursue someone, the individual usually is too stubborn to let go, to the point of “if I can’t have you, I shall, destroy you”, and can cause bodily harm, and this is, just like, other forms of crime, plus, the people in this country lacked the knowledge, the awareness of this sort of harassment, stalking, not understood how over-pursuing of someone can cause harassments, and there’s the wayward beliefs of “If I try harder, then, the other person will, love me”, which added to the risks that aren’t on the surfaces to increase greatly.

From the singer, Jam Hsiao’s being harassed by he female fame, the female college student from World Journalism University getting murdered by a man who had a crush on her, to the female store clerk getting abducted and murdered in Pingdong, the common of all of these is how the person fixated wanted to have the individual for her/himself, and, the emotions, the measure these individuals took, with the time that passes, got overboard, and, these individuals lacked the respect for others’ sense of self, gender equality.  These stories surfaces on the newspapers quite a lot, and, the legislation for it was the legislators’ and the groups locally aimed at, and, the behavior is defined as “relating to the genders”, should be more fitting to the expectations of the general public, as for other reasons for stalking (i.e. debt collecting, paparazzi, etc., etc., etc.), these should be based on the severity, and apply the penal codes, or the civil claims.

found online

Japan had set up the laws, using the designs of focal points, and the legislators in Japan would discuss regularly, if there needed to be added rules, we can take from that.  The background for the laws against stalking getting written and signed was because a female college student getting murdered by her boyfriend, the “Takigawa Jiken” (in this country, there was the geek king, Chang’s murdering his ex, and thus, the 63-1 of domestic violence prevention was added on, the “horrid lover rule”, as it was known as), and, set the details up as “to fulfill the desires of loving someone, the hatred that came when these feelings are, reciprocated”, hoping, that these things can have the minimal effect to the citizens in this country, to prevent the labor union marches, the civic marches, the media press getting the stories, from being restricted.  Our country’s rule of “relating to gender” design, this included the revenging behaviors, or sextortion, and, it’s wider in protection rules compare to the Japanese rules, and, there can be the added lengthening of the period of time (Japanese set it as five-years).

As the legislators worked hard over the years, the anti-stalking law finally started, taking shape, this was, nothing easy; and, this signing the drafts into legislation should help the public understand more about stalking, harassment, and the crimes of violence like these, to show that the government is serious, on ending these acts of violence for good.

And so, this is still, in the wordings of things, you need to specify the rules, every word, that’s to be followed needed to be, written down, and, normally, until someone DIES from an attack by someone who’s fixated on the victims, these sorts of laws just, won’t come into place, and this is still, hindsight!

Not as Easy as We’d, Imagined

A D.I.Y. fail!  Should’ve called in, the experts that’s for sure!!!  Translated…

That year, the new wash basin that I’d just had installed not a few days ago, due to my mistake, got three cracks on it, but it’s still, usable, and so, I’d not planned to, change it out.  Many years afterwards, I saw my five and two-and-a-half year-old grandsons, tipped their toes, reaching up to the basin to clean their hands, then suddenly, the news of the wash basin exploding that was on the news came to mind, and I’d, suddenly, decided to, get a new one installed.

To make work easier, I’d first gone to the depot, selected a basin that’s similar to the one I had originally in shape, color, style, made of plastic, and, thought to myself, I’d installed the tiles on my own floors, redid my own lanai, how hard can installing a wash basin be?  After I had breakfast, I’d immediately, gotten to it, but, I’d, HIT a DEAD wall then; the screw that originally attached my wash basin to the walls was rusted, and I can’t twist it off, the two of us started, using all our strengths, to try to pry it open, and, after forty minutes, still not budged one bit; it seems, there’s only the way, to SMASH the old basin up.

should’ve just, called in, a professional to do it!

photo from online

After we’d, swept up the floor’s worth of, debris, we’d started, tackling that rusty screw, and yet, as we’d, asked all our pliers out to help us, none can make the single screw budge, and so, we’d, started, sawing it off.  My husband found the saw first, then, the two of us took turns, bending our backs over, sawed at it with all our mights, we’d even, taken two rests, then, we finally, unscrewed, these, two screws, loose.

The hole that remained from the screws that were loose, can’t be used anymore, we needed to, drill, other holes.  There’s no drill at home that we can use, my wife went out to buy one.  The hole got made yeah, but I can’t, tighten the screws in completely, turned out, the whole on the right was drilled too deep, and so, we’d, made another new hole next to it, decided, to install that basin in.  And yet, as the screws are about to be placed in, we were shocked, to realizing, that the sizes and types that we bought wasn’t, unified, and so, my wife can only, run out, to get the right screw.

And finally, as all is about to get done, the basin was, too far from the wall, because of how that hole on the left was, deep enough, and we’d had to, pull out the plastic plugs again, then, drilled, deeper in.  But, no matter how my wife pulled at it, the plug simply, wouldn’t, budge, I’d gone closer to look, “You need to whack it, hitting around it a bit, and, it should, loosen up?”, and surely enough, as I’d, whacked at it a couple of times, the plastic plug came out, but, it’s, broken, and so, my wife went out again.

And finally, everything’s set, now, the step by step clean up.  The pipe’s ruptured, I’d needed to, replace the new one, but, I’d, fumbled through FIVE tool boxes that I owned, not a single one that can be used.  Waited until my wife bought the replacement parts, the two of us, with glee, started on, the final step: reattaching the pipe back on, and yet, at this time, I’d found, that there were FOUR holes on the pipe, totally needed to be, replaced, so, my wife went out, again, and bought back a set of shiny brass, P-pipe.

And, as all of this is done, I’d looked at the clock, five o’clock, sharp.  Can’t believe, that this, “simple” changing a wash basin took the two of us, an entire, day!

A lot of things in life, are way HARDER, than you can, ever imagined, like this gig that these two people got into, they should’ve just, called in the professional plumbers, but they didn’t want to waste all that cash, and so, they did it themselves, and, they got it done finally all right, but it took them, a WHOLE, workday, and to think, that had they called in the professionals, it may have been done, in, no more than, thirty minutes, but they wanted to save the money, and they ended up, squandering away the time!

So totally, NOT worth it, is what I say!

A Brighter, Ordinary, Day, a Poem

What’s, left, behind, translated…

The Wavelength that Passed Through the Collar of the Asteroid Belt of the Aging Dog of the Astronomer

The Blue Whale’s Lowered Whispers with the Trashed Submarine

Gave the Bay a Glow

I Lifted My Head up to the Darkness

Who Was it

That Forgot, to Turn the Lights within Our Bodies, Off

On the Shoulders of the General

That Invisible Kitty, Pounced on the Firing Squad from Before He Was, Still, Living

(The Songs of Sorrows from the Beginning

The Assets Immaterial in the Very End)

These Stanzas of the Poems, Shall Get Beyond What’s Been Destroyed Between You & Me, Sailing, All the Way, into, the, Skies

And so, this is on what’s left, after everything go, BOOM!  What remained, of the love, of the life that’s, gone, what is taken from the examples of these lives, lived………

Peeping, Through, the Ice Caves

Thoughts of the encounters the writer’s had in Antarctica, translated…

“Using a pipe to see the skies”, this ancient phrase is used to describe the shortsightedness of some, or the humbling of the speaker.

Using a tiny bamboo pipe, looking through the tiny hole of that pipe, seeing anything toward the other end, from the ratios of mathematics, it doesn’t, fit correctly.  The objects are way too huge, the hole, too tiny, how can you see the whole picture?  But, think on it using a different angle, the concept of “quality”, you can see the corner of that mountain so green, which is, enough, to lift our, spirits!

photo from UDN.com

taken by the writer…

Following the eyes of the photographers, the artists, from the hole in the ice caves, to see the views that the exploration ships saw from a hundred odd years ago, it surely was, moving, and, it’s, comparable to seeing the starry nights from million years ago from the lens of the telescope!

And so, this, is how we’re all, linked to our separate, and collective pasts, no matter how hard we tried to deny it, because, we’re, still all here, sharing this, common environment, and maybe, what you see is not, exactly what I see, because we have, different perspectives, different interpretations of things we encounter in the world, but that, is how the experiences are, common, and different, at the, same time.

The Girl Who Couldn’t Erect the Foot Stand

Do you think this supervisor of this young woman should, take away her chance of working to get the scooter going, or just, step in and do it FOR her, because she’s, already, running late?  Translated…

During the New Year’s holidays, Wei-Wei received a preowned scooter, it was a hand-me-down from her older brother.  She’d happily rode it to and from work, but found, that the scooter was, too heavy, being only 4’9, even as she’d used the weight of her entire body, to step down HARD on that middle foot pedal, the scooter still, won’t park steadily in place.

Although people say, that it has nothing to do with her size, that it’s a matter of, techniques, but, Wei-Wei seemed to have trouble getting the techniques right.  The friend told her, that then, she should, just park her scooter upright, that she shouldn’t, force herself to park it the way that most would, slanted.  But she’d felt it wasn’t right, for her to, take up, such a huge parking spot, in the city of Taipei, where, a tiny spot for parking, is, hard enough to get.

sketch done by the writer, off of UDN.com

As her superior passing by her, seeing how this young lady was, struggling hard, trying, to get the foot pedal to park on the ground steadily, seeing how she’s about to be late into the offices, the superior contemplated on, whether or not she should just, step in, and do it FOR her, or that she should, stay away, and NOT strip her of the right to learn how to do it own her own?

So, this, would be a sort of a dilemma this superior is faced with, should she just, step right in, and do it for this young woman, stripping her of the chance of figuring out how to do it herself, because she’s, about to be late to the office, or should she, let her figure it out on her own?  This is something that as parents, people face too, to whether or not just, STEP in to do it FOR our own young (not that I have one!), or to, let them do it on their own, figuring out how things worked, so they can, take that knowledge with them?

No Subtitles…

How the HELL we supposed to, understand the PLOT, what the story’s about, if there are, NO subtitles, huh?

No subtitles, so?  I still watch the films, I mean, I’m PRETTY sure, I can get the storyline by CONTEXT CLUE (hello, hello, hello, middle school level READING classes???).

No subtitles, how are we supposed to understand them, huh?  Well, let’s just, WALK out in the MIDST of this movie, I mean, I’m sure, it’s, NO good anyways!

on the shoot of a movie set here! Photo from online

And, think how much you’d missed out on, without the “assistance” of those, too important, subtitles.  No subtitles, so?  Are you, really, that STUPID that you can’t see by the interactions of the actors, and understand the plot?

Or, you can, use that translate instant app, to HELP you understand what they (the actors and actresses) are saying on screen…

There are WAYS that WE can HELP ourselves, UNDERSTAND WHAT they’re (those on-screen) are, talking about, or, you just might, get INSPIRED, to take up, a FOREIGN language, that, should be, the BEST result!

No SUBTITLES, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Imagine, how those watching those, movies without sounds feel…you have got to be shitting me here!!!

Forever Accompanying You

A developmentally delayed child that contributes to her family in her own way, translated…

My daughter in developmentally delayed, and a companion for the families, she’d accompanied the three generations.  The years changed, she will always be, a white sheet of paper, with the words of gratitude out of her lips, smiling.

Before the birth of my daughter, she’d been blessed upon by my grandmother.  My grandmother became a widow at twenty-eight, lonely her whole life, toward this baby great granddaughter, she’d felt that she was a grace from God, that she needed to love her very much.

After my daughter was born, we saw that she was limp in her limbs, with diminishing capacity, after a long road of treatment from the physicians, nothing worked.  During that age there’s no early intervention programs, and I had to work, can’t stay home to look after her, so I can only, move in with my own grandmother, and she’d, welcomed us with her arms wide open.

“Dear, come, a hug!”, grandma opened up her arms, my daughter ran toward her, like she was a pet that my grandmother kept, she’d slept with my grandmother too at night.  My daughter accompanied my grandmother for a whole of twelve years.

After grandmother passed, I’d placed her in an institution, on Monday I’d sent her into boarding, on Saturday, I’d taken her home.  This was a difficult period for her, as she came home happy on Saturdays, but when Monday came around, she’d started crying hard, throwing her tantrums, rolled on the ground, refused to get taken away, she was only fourteen then.

My mother moved in with me at her old age, I’d taken my daughter home so my mother could have company, during the daytime, my daughter went to daycare, and arrives home at four in the afternoon, and my mother looked after her with great care, they’d loved and cherished one another so, until my mother too had, passed away, my daughter had accompanied my mother for a whole of ten years.

After I retired, I’d taken her to a ton of group outings, to help socialize her into life of the community, my life, is her life too.  Companionship is the BEST gift of life, companionship doesn’t cost anything to hire someone from the outside, with the families there, keeping each other warm.  Although my daughter is not intelligent, but putting her in the right place, she’s still, a contributor.

And now, she’s, in her fifties, and as I got older, I’d found how wonderful she truly is, she’d had a ton of love from home, very spirited every day, it’s like the Holy Bible said, “everything works together, everyone benefitted.”

And so, this, is the “use” of this developmentally delayed child to the family, she’s great companionship for the elders, and now, her mother realized this finally, and now, the mother and daughter will live together, until the end.

The Department of Education Shall NOT Give Up on Any Child

The government’s not well-thought-out ideals of reforms in education here, off of the Front Page Sections, by a university professor, translated…

When I was in school, elementary years and middle schools are mandatory education, and this sort of making education available should be commended, because even for the kids from the poverty stricken backgrounds, they get the chance to get educated.  But what we can’t deny is, a lot of the children didn’t get educated enough.  Some had entered into the universities, and still can’t write out all twenty-six of the English alphabets.  Some had entered into high school, and still can’t do the addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division of fractions.  And there are those in high school who can’t understand the most basics of English words such as: not, at, in, with, there, who, when, etc., etc., etc.

For students who are on this level, staying in school getting an education, it’s, a waste of time.  For the country, it’s, a waste of money.  The kids don’t have the basic levels of education, and they’d, lost their competitive edge on the most fundamental levels, and it’s more than likely, that they will be on government assistance in the futures.  This is painful for the individuals, but even more a heavy burden for our country.

We need to track back to the systems of education in the elementary school years.  There’s no holding a child back in the elementary years, as the child falls behind in the first grade, and after that, the kid just sits and can’t understand what the instructors saying in the class, but all the way, they still, get higher in the grade years, and there’s nothing that teachers can do about this.

Don’t know when it was, that this country did away with holding the children back a grade, and, this is out of kindness, with the goal of helping the children keep their senses of dignity, and hoped, that children can somehow, be interested in learning.  A motto for the education reforms is “Happy & learning” it’s from the same beliefs.  But, this sort of not watching the gates, it’s actually, harming the students, because as they found, that they can’t understand anything, they can’t possibly have an interest in learning, and would lose faith, self-confidence over their own futures, and start giving up on themselves.  Some of the kids dropped out of middle school, all because they can’t make the grades.  And the government’s way, is giving up on the students.

We need to know, that only a tiny portion of kids hated studying.  I have the experiences myself, that so long as the instructors are compassionate, and patient, then, the child CAN, learn.

Maybe, we won’t go back to holding students back a grade, but we can’t, give up on the students either.  The first thing that needed to get tackled is, to set up a fundamental curriculum for the classes in the elementary school levels.  Meaning, that as the children is in the first grade, they should be mastering the skillset during that grade level, the government should set it up in black and white, same for all other courses too.  With this basics of curricula, all the teachers across the country should be more in tune with whether or not the students are matching up to the requirements of the governments.  Of course, children are smart in different ways, some kids may be slower to learn, and the elementary years definitely need to device separate education plans for the children.  Setting up of individualized education plans is a written rule in the legislation regarding education, but the sad part is, now, it’s no longer, used.

We don’t need to go back to the ways of keeping a child back a grade, but we need to set up the different materials to teach the students with varied learning styles.  The Department of Education should ensure that every normal child can learn the fundamentals well.   I hope that everybody can understand, that I’m NOT asking the government to guarantee that every child makes the good grades, I just believe, that the government should NOT give up on any child.

And so, this, is under the current system of education reform, because this country tries to follow the methods that hard worked for the western countries, without realizing, that hey, this is a country on its own, and what works elsewhere, may NOT work here, and so, the system of education is still, not fully developed, and that’s why the students are, not learning what they needed to succeed in their lives in the futures.