Caring for the Elderly Who Live Alone, Mei Had Been Delivering the Meals for Five Years to Date

Here’s some, good news, to lighten everything UP, in spite, of how everything ELSE had gone to H-E-L-L here!  The kindness, the heart of this woman who’d delivered the meals as she hoped to bring some light into others’ lives, truly amazing!  Off of the Newspapers, translated…

Mei who retired from the office of UBus heard that the Chiayi Christian Hospital is recruiting crewmembers to make the meal deliveries, and she’d entered in; in five years she’d been making the meal deliveries, she’d also, recruited her loved ones to join in too.  She told, the meals we deliver not just gives the elderly persons a meal, but also, the warmth of our greetings to them.

At age sixty-five, Mei told, that as she’d gone to make the deliveries of the meals to the elderly who were in their homes, and some were bedridden, and with the hardships in their household economics, that’s what drove her to want help.

At first, she’d only made the supper deliveries on Wednesday evenings with a senior volunteer with her, then, she took on the entire chain, the lunches and suppers from Monday through Saturday, fifteen packed lunches, and eighteen suppers.  Mei told, some of the elders lives alone, with no children around them, and they don’t live in an environment that’s convenient enough, they truly needed the assistance from the outside world.

the woman, delivering the meal to an elderly woman, photo courtesy of UDN.com

Mei also pulled her friends onboard the volunteer meal deliver crews, to date, she’d gotten five more partners onboard.

she said, a lot of the elders don’t go out, they don’t have many friends either, and they’d looked forward to seeing the volunteers, because the volunteers not just made the meal deliveries, the volunteers would greet them, to chit chat.  And there are the elders who are guarded toward outsiders.  She’d used her time, her patience, her kindness, to deliver the meals to them, and now, they’re all friends.  She said, even though, she’s a nobody, she still hoped to bring some warmth, using her means, giving the world some positive, energies.

And, this is how powerful ONE is!  This is only a woman, who’d started in the meal delivery crews, and in her delivering the meals, she’d noted the needs of the elderly who required this service, and she’d reached out to them, pulled her families, friends, relatives onboard the program, spreading the kindness to others in her life, touching not just those whom she’d delivered the meals to, but also, helped those who volunteered alongside her, to know the importance, of giving to others as well.

Seeing the Hope in the Life that’s, Not Going, Well…the Bus Driver Who’d Greeted the Student Every Morning with a Smile, the Student: He Saved My Life

Sometimes, all it takes, is those words, “hello”, “how are you today?”, to save a life…the act of kindness from the bus driver, something positive, off of the Newspapers, translated…

The bus driver, Kang in Taichung had been working as a bus driver for six years, and this is the fourth time he’d been awarded the Golden Transport Award”, and the words he’d most frequently said to his passengers are, “careful, hold on, the bus is about to start”, there was a student who wrote, told that he had been overwhelmed with the academic that he felt upset, but the driver had greeted the student with smiles in the morn when he got on, and it’d, lifted up his moods, and changed his, life, “he saved my life!”  Kang told, treating my passengers as my friends, I drive the “Happiness Bus” every day for work.

There are a total of eighteen bus companies in Taichung, about 1,500 drivers hired, there were 8,500 rounds; the head of traffic department of the city of Taichung, Yeh told, that recently, there’d been the major accidents and the bad services, but, most of the drivers are all very, hard working, as they go out.

the driver, passing along something positive to his passengers, photo courtesy of UDN.com

The driver from Tong-Lien Bus Company, Kang believed, that caring is in everyday life.  He’d made the example of how as a handicapped passenger was riding on his bus, he’d taken three minutes to help the individuals buckle their wheelchairs in, to keep them safe and secure, and it’d decreased the time for them to get onto the bus, and normally, the other passengers would not rush him to drive off, instead, they’d tell him, “no worries, take your time”, showing him the kindness too.

Kang started driving the buses six years ago, and there was a commuting student who’d written him, told him that he’d been overwhelmed with the pressures of school, but as he saw him greeting him with smiles, that gave him some hope in his life; in his letter, the student wrote, “Since I met you, I’d been trying to change myself, in the future, I will, strive for being the worker with the best attitude”, “You had not only changed my attitude toward life, you’d, saved my life too on that day.  After so much time has passed, I still can’t forget how warmly you’d, greeted me that morning.”

Kang said, that he’d driven his bus, with the mindset of “I’m operating the Happiness Bus”, and didn’t expect the cycle of kindness that’s started from him.  He’d told, as he’d begun working as a bus driver, his families worried that he may be tiring himself out, but he believed, that he’s paid, just as well as the regular nine-to-five office workers, and enjoyed the interactions with his customers, and, as he was awarded the “Golden Transport” by the Department of Transportation, he saw how proud his father was of him, he was really happy, that “I didn’t let my father down”.

And so, this, is how this driver spread the positive energies he felt in his work, to others around him, and because he carried such a positive attitude around him, those around him, those whom he came to interact with daily, are all going to be, affected by his positive attitude that he carried toward his own, work, and he’d, spread the cycle of kindness out to others.

The New Year’s Resolution of the Ordinary People: the Ending of MERS-CoV, War, & Inflation

The lights in the darkness, as we’re, still, not yet, out of, the darkness, but there’s that dawn that’s, coming on, in the, distance, if only we can all, look closely, and treat those whom we encounter with, kindness, as this world, slowly, heals back up…off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Going to the super convenience shops, the cashier whom I knew well told me, that the elderly woman’s son is dead.  The elderly woman is a frequent customer, she’d often shopped there, and sat for an entire afternoon, and she had only her son with him, her life is, lonely.  The younger generations of cashiers and workers all loved the kind elderly woman, and when they’re not working, they would carry in conversation with the elderly woman.

The elderly woman had often come to pay for her own son’s traffic fines, and she’d started, ranting, “Told him to drive slow, he didn’t listen, always sped, and gets caught, and disregarded the fine notices, I can’t stand it, so I’d, paid for the fines for him…”, the clerk told her to get hard on her son, to NOT pay for his fines again.  And yet, the next time, the elderly woman still came, to pay, and still kept, telling how bad her son is.

Not long ago, the elderly woman came into the shop to print something, she’d looked sad, and, I’d asked her what happened?  She’d told me sorrowfully, that her son is, gone, he’d contracted MERS-CoV, and was, getting better too, but, with a progressive conditions, he’d still, died.  And so, all of us, tried our best, to offer her console best as we can, as the New Year’s arriving soon, her being alone, it’d, impacted us so very, much.

An elder told me, that she’d seen the news of the pandemic growing worse again in China, and the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict that’s, caused the people to be without their homes, and all those footages she saw on T.V., made her heart break, and so, she’d, stopped, watching the news.  But she’d still, carried on in the means of giving to the community on her own just the same, she’d told, that she hoped that 2022 can soon be over, that the pandemic had taken many lives now, plus the impacts of the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict, causing the hikes in everything we need, a lot of families are, torn apart, so many became, unemployed; there’s no way to make ends meet, in her own means, within her own capabilities, she’d, often donated to the charitable foundations that helped out the lesser in the communities. 

In the unsettlement of the times, there are still, many who are, kind and warm in the world, in the waves of the cold fronts coming on, these individuals offered hope, and warmth to the world.  A single mother posted on the Group of our local community, that her son in elementary school is saving up the pints of the super convenience stores, he’d wanted the items from the cartoon, but she’s a low-income household, and she also has cancer, she couldn’t, afford to spend so much money, to buy enough to get the stickers for the points she’d begged the neighbors, to donate some points.  As soon as the posting came up, everybody started responding, and fulfilled the young child’s wish, and, it’d, helped shown the mother the compassions.

China is currently being HIT by the waves of the pandemic, there’s the cold meds shortages, my older sister who lives in China couldn’t get the meds, and asked if I could mail a couple of packs of cold meds, or the Chinese herbal cure remedies for MERS-CoV.  I bought a few boxes of Theraflu, and, there was only, a box of the Chinese herbal cure remedy left, I’d bought it, and thought, I should probably, mail one more does, and as I passed through the traditional Chinese medicinal shop, I’d gone in to inquire if there are the ingredients, and as the owner heard I was mailing them to across the strait, he’d pulled out two bottles from the back, told me that there are only, two bottles remaining, that he won’t sell them, only give them to those who are in need; and told me, this was made from the same ingredients of the Chinese herbal remedies to treat MERS-CoV, that from before when the pandemic was hitting us hard, he’d given away so many bottles, not asking for money for them.  I am so appreciative for the shop owner’s compassion, and grateful that he’d held no discrimination toward China, and was willing to help me help my own sister.

In the past year, although, the nine-in-one election had shaken up the communities here, I’m still more than grateful for all the loves, all the wonderful things I’d encountered, I hope, that the new dawn of the new year will light the path of our future, I hope, that the pandemic, wars, and inflations, will all be over, soon.

And so, despite how the world is really bad, overall, there are still, those tiny moments of hope that sparked, that lights people’s heart up, like this woman’s encounter, and that just showed, how kindness still starts small, from individuals, and then, it will hopefully, spread out, and, if we interact, relate to one another in this mean, I’m sure that this will speed the healing process of the planet up too.

The Gift of Kindness, of Compassion, from a Mask

A random act of kindness, from a stranger, who saw the needs of an individual…translated…

As I got my cataract surgery done, with my eyepatch on, I’d gone to the counter to retrieve my eyedrop medication, the nurse learned that I’d come to get the procedure done alone by bus, she’d asked if I needed help, getting a cab?  It was still light then, I’d thought, it would be no problem for me to ride the bus, I’d told her it wasn’t needed.

As I waited for the bus, I’d dialed the phones to tell my families that my surgery went well, then, the straps on one side of my mask went, “SNAP!”, broke.  I’d felt bad, but I’d still, rummaged my purse for the spare.  At this time, I’d recalled, that to help me swiftly go through the medical visits, I’d, switched my backpack to a purse, and I’d left my spare mask in it, forgot to take it out.  Seeing how the bus is coming, I can only use my hand to pull the mask into place, gotten on the bus.

a gift that’s so small, but it means, a whole, lot! Photo from online

As I’d selected my seat,, the bus started rolling, and, someone from behind me patted me on my shoulders, handed me an unopened mask.  I’d told him thanks, the man told me, that it was from someone who’s behind him, passed the mask forward to me.  I’d looked over, and, the man pointed back, it was a young woman sitting behind him.  At this time, as the bus stopped at the light, I’d, stood up, and turned, and thanked the young woman.  She’d smiled through her eyes, with her mask on in response.

A mask that got passed from three unknown strangers to me, saved me from my troubles, and suddenly, it’d, soothed the sense of helplessness I’d felt for an entire, afternoon.  From that day forward, the masks are no longer, just an item that keeps the virus away, without the temperatures.

And so, this unknown stranger saw the writer’s need, and, handed her a spare mask the she had, and it may be something tiny for the woman, but, to the recipient, it meant, a hell of a lot, and that still just showed, how there are still, moments of kindness that might go unnoticed, in times of outbreak, when everybody tried to distance her/himself from one another.

Yang’s Using the Innovative Teaching Methods in Physical Education, Using the Experience Education to Help the Student Acquire the Right Values of Life

Getting the entire class involved in designing the activities for all, she’d helped the students gain empathy, and made sure that those students with special needs are also, involved in the physical education courses too, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Hsinbei City Banciao High School instructor, Yang worked hard to innovate the kinesiology courses, set up the specialty instructors’ group with other physical education teachers in the country, to develop the creative, innovative teaching materials.  Through the teamwork, the project-based learning methods, the modules of physical education, incorporating the technologies, helped the students find their passions for the exercises, the sports, and regained their self-confidence, she’d competed in the creative kinesiology lesson plans competitions and won many awards, she had won the Teacher of the Year Award this year for the innovations in teaching physical education. 

the coach, with the students in basketball practice!

photo from online

Other than a homeroom instructor, she’s also, the boys’ basketball coach, the P.E. teacher, also the Kinesiology Science Center’s Seed teacher, gotten involved in the NPDL, the Department of Education’s QPE plans, toured as a guest lecturer, shared her experience, showed her passions in all areas of education.

One of her student, Yen, with cerebral palsy, who’d often, “drove” her electrical wheelchair around the school.  Yang-Yang, the visually impaired student who can see no more than six inches before his face, is quite agile, can always dodge the obstacles right before he’d, bumped into them.  At a substitute for the special needs instructor, she’d gotten the opportunity to work with these students, and, promised to give them, “a P.E. class for you like everybody else!”

First, Yang used the health and leisure activities to help increase the depth of her courses, to give the students who has her for electives a first hand experience of how the handicapped had experienced things differently, and had the students’ input, in coming up with the fitting physical activities for the whole class to get involved with, through the test trials, the amending the procedural, through the team games, to help the students gain empathy, to having the students sit in the wheelchairs, with the patches covering their eyes, to have the students imagine, the challenges the special needs students may face, and how they’re to, get pass the challenges.

Yang told, that the belief of education she wanted to pass to her students is turning the limits to opportunities, through the creativity of the classes, she’d, set up the what seemed to be, impossible P.E. course.

with the assortments of materials she uses, to design the P.E. activities…photo from online

And so, this instructor not only, taught her kids that exercise is important, in staying health, through getting the class involved in designing the activities that the special needs students can also get involved in, she’d taught them about empathy as well, amazing, this woman, in having her students get involved in the hands-on, to teach them about accepting those who are, different than they are, and that is something, that her class will find useful, even outside of the school setting.

The Juliet Who Walked into, That, River

The memories, of how you’d, saved a student from committing suicide, of how she’d, thanked you, by sending you that, package to let you know, that she is now, okay…translated…

On the eve of Confucius’s birthday, I’d recalled something that’s, happened from the past.

I’m a psychiatrist in practice, and worked with the Department of Education, the school instructors, made the lectures of suicide preventing to the instructors in the elementary and middle school levels.  One evening a little more than a decade ago, I’d gone to a middle school by the river in the south of the city to visit.  Recalled that that evening, the seminar held in the evenings was very, welcoming, in the time, I’d had the seventy to eighty instructors in the audience to split themselves into groups of three, sharing within the groups, their encounters of their students’ having mutilated themselves, or suicide attempts, or having lost a student to suicide.

During the break, an experienced female instructor came and told me a story.  This almost retired Chinese instructor told me, that she had taught a girl.  To help her students feel motivated in learning, she’d assigned the play of “Romeo & Juliet” in her Chinese language courses, for the students to fight for the roles that they wanted to play.  As it came time to select the Juliet, normally, it would be the prettiest girl in the class who raised up her hand, but it wasn’t.

Although, she was, hesitant, she’d still, let the girl play the role, as that female student had, wished to play the role of, Juliet.

As the play successfully got finished, this event, got lost, in the busyness of the semester, didn’t leave a single, ripple, it seemed.  What caused the waves, was that winter, on a day too cold.  One day after class, this girl whom nobody noticed, walked out of the school.  Nobody paid any attention, that she’d, walked over the embankment, and, into, the, river.

And maybe, it was, how cold it was on the day.  Or maybe, it’s the person who’d wanted to commit suicide being, hesitant (The to be or not to be), this adolescent finally, made her way, back up the shores, entered back into the school, and, the school officials found her completely wet (maybe, frozen too!).  The thrilled instructors ushered her to the principal’s office, not known what they should, say to her.

illustration from UDN.com

This Chinese instructor recalled, as she was called to the principal’s office, she’d, learned that this young girl had, attempted suicide.  “I wasn’t her homeroom instructor, had no idea of her background, and her situation.  But this kid told the principal, that she wanted, to, see me.”  And yet, being young, the instructor felt anxious then, not known how to counsel a student who’d, just, almost entered into the gates of, hell.

The moment the instructor was forced to walk into the principal’s office, she’d had a thought, pretended that she’d not know what had just happened, as she saw the child, with the fallen leaves stuck on her waist and areas below, she’d, rushed up to her, exclaimed, “My Juliet!  What happened to you?”, and hugged the girl, really tight.

Time flew quickly, as the graduating class graduated, life fast-forwarded close to a full decade’s time.  She’d also, forgotten about this, particular, student, until one day, in school, she’d received a package from that young woman.

Inside it, what would, she find?

She was surprised, and, uneasy, slowly, opening up the package.  There were, the copies of pages of paper.  It was from the girl’s middle school, technical high school, community college, the certifications she’d earned, the awards certificates, and the diplomas.

That evening, in the middle school south of down, that instructor slowly told of the story of then, and hoped, that in the future, in my suicide prevention seminars, she could, share the story she’d, told me.  The instructor looked very, peaceful, but I was, really moved inside.

Actually, in the hundreds of seminars for the past decade or so, I’d not mentioned this story often.  Or maybe, I have, yet to get over the shock it’d, left me, as I’d told this story to the audience, everything stopped whispering, and there was NO sound, and I saw some instructors, secretly, wiping away their, tears.

Confucius birthday comes every year, but I keep on thinking, what, better gift there was, than this, package, on this, day, to celebrate, the teachers?

And so, this is, the huge difference that, a school teacher’s care toward a student can have on the student’s life, this instructor’s hug of the student, helped her turn her own life around, and it’d helped her gain the strengths to keep on going in her life, and the student gave the best present back to the instructor who’d helped her, by sending the package of all of her, important milestone markers, to let the instructor know, that she’s, okay now.

Lending a Helping Hand, the Students Had the Chances of Turning Their Lives, Around

On offering help to the students from lesser backgrounds, so they can, have a chance to shine, in their fields of expertise, from an educator, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

On Monday, the office manager of the school we were sponsoring sent a LINE cutoff, it was from the parent of a student; as I’d read it, my heart started aching.  It’d mentioned, that the mother had sent her son to the Saturday talent courses we’d helped sponsored, and, she’d sent her son who’d not performed well in school to the classes, so he can have a goal to motivate himself to learn, so he wouldn’t have too much leisure time on the weekends.  And, a year after taking the courses, her son entered into the WRO competitions, and earned the first place nationally, “I never knew that my son was, so outstanding”, the mother told, that the award had made both her and her husband, ecstatic.

But before Mid-Autumn, the school contacted them, said that their son can represent the country to fly to Germany for competition, but the traveling cost is around $100,000N.T.s.  And they were trapped in the trials, being poor, it was hard enough, keeping enough food on the tables for their children, how can they possibly get the needed amount for their son’s trip?  The father of the child texted, “as we got home, my wife cried through the night.”  Ultimately, they’d decided, to not sent their son to Germany to compete, reading the words, I’d felt the mother’s pains, that sense of helplessness, of knowing that there’s a chance for your young, but you can’t make it, it may be the harshest sort of trial, it’s a wonder, she’d, cried the whole night.

The school department head told them to keep their hopes alive, that the school can help getting enough funding; I’d immediately told this to the board, and the C.E.O. was glad, that our program could help the children become excellent at something; and on the other hand, he’d felt bad for the child, and, didn’t want to see the young lad give up his chance to go abroad to compete, so he’d decided, to sponsor the young lad fully.

To this point, this student, along with another student who also isn’t from a well-to-do home, are both heading off abroad to compete internationally in November.  Actually, there are many cases like these, with the school working hard, to help the students, and the students worked hard, getting the accolades, but, with the joys and the achievements, were the worries of not making enough money to send these excellent students abroad to compete.

Thankfully, from my understanding, there’d been, many enterprises that had been willing to help the children achieve their, dreams, and there were the schools that helped the students, come up with the ways that they could “earn” the amount together, and all of these hard work, are the lights to the children’s, lives, enough to help them get out from the valleys of darkness of their, lives.

The children wrote the board to say thank you, the C.E.O. stated humbly, that it was, the least he could do, maybe, this was nothing for a huge enterprise, but for a child, this may be the chance of a lifetime, to help turn her/his life, around.  A light is, a hope, there are, the stars that shone the hope in this society of ours, looking up at them, they will help us find the motivations to keep on working hard, to give some hope to the children in need.

And so, this is the goodwill of the local charitable foundations, because they see that a child had an opportunity to become recognized, but the families didn’t have enough money, and so, these foundations stepped in, to sponsor them, hoping that this small help (to the foundations!), will help these younger generations find the motivations to keep on excelling in whatever it is that they’re working towards.

In This Time of Economic Downturn & Inflation, We are in Need to Help One Another Out More

Giving all she could, to others who are in more need than she and her family is, the kindness, still happening, despite how the economic is getting worse, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

A few days ago, when I got home, my mother who was selling the produces downstairs came up and asked me gleefully, guess how much we made from the vegetables these past two days?

From before, and my mother’s gloating means, I’d stated, “three, four thousand dollars?”, she’d smiled, and told me the “correct answer”: I made four hundred on Thursday, three hundred on Friday.  This was, the lowest on my mother’s record of sales; she’d made seven hundred in two days, meaning, that deducting the cost, she and my older sister only made three, four hundred, and they split that amongst themselves.

My mother said, that at least, she’d paid no rent on the vegetable stand, the stand with the salted fish opposite, was rented to him for over $800N.T.s, and for the entire morn, he’d only, sold one fish.  It’s a wonder, that my mother was, laughing about it, everybody is competing to see who’s worse off than whom!  She surely, found the bright side to what’s, too dark here.

Everybody’s not doing well, and, we’d accumulated the produces we sold.  But because we can’t get the customers, and we needed to make a living, and so, we’d, traded with other vendors, some of the fruits, because of health issues, some of the family members can’t enjoy, and, we’d had to, trade them all out to others.  My mother told me: just see it as doing the good deeds.  And so, we can, only, give those produces, fruits away, free of charge.

More than a decade ago, this tiny stand, helped my mother make her retirement pensions, and these past few years, she’d worked to sell the produces for the sake of her health, and, since the pandemic started three years ago, she’d sold from her stand, based off of her good will, giving back to the local communities.

To save up the cost of operations, the vendors wouldn’t even turn on the electric fans, because the renters would charge another fifty extra, and the stands from the left and right of my mother asked her to get the head of the fan to rotate, so they can get some cooled air too, to help everybody stay cool, we’d switched to an industrial fan.

That day, the older woman who sold the vegetarian sticky rice begged my mother, that she’d not asked my mother for a “favor”. That even though, she’d brought only half of what she normally sells, there are still, a ton left over, that it would be hard for her to bring the unsold amount back home again, asked my mother to buy from her.  So, my mother bought three kilograms, and the following day, she’d brought it heated up, to give it to the other owners of stands around her.

My mother said, that all the vendors can’t understand, how the business is so awful, it wasn’t the end of month, nor had the school started yet, how come there’s just, not enough, shoppers?  For my mother’s generations, they had no concepts of what inflation was, let alone, global warming, but the Ukrainian-Russian Conflicts they knew of, but, tying all of that with how the sales of food had gone down at the local markets, I’m afraid, it would take me, ages to help her understand, and so, I’d told her straight up: the oils we used, a sixty-dollar increase, and, a few days ago, it’d, gone up another twenty-dollars.

From before, there was the tiny price hikes, and these price hikes had to get pass the numerous evaluations, and now, the costs rise up as they pleased, not only in huge ratios, and in everything too.

My mother seemed to understand, why there are, not enough shoppers at the markets then!  I’d told her, “at least we don’t pay the rents for the stands, we have a roof over our heads, no debts, and we’re all, quite healthy…we are, blessed, although we don’t have a whole lot, but if we’re willing, we can still, help others who are, less, fortunate than us.

Last year on my mother’s birthday, I’d prepared a sum to get my mother on a trip, but I’d canceled due to the outbreaks, and I’d asked her if she wanted to donate the amount to charity, because a lot of people in this country aren’t, making it.  She’d stated, “donating this sum to those who are in need, it’s a good call!”

And so, this, is on giving back to the communities, even if this family isn’t rich, they’re, middle class, making it on their business of selling the produces at the local markets, and yet, the members of this family have good hearts, and, they’re, helping others who are in more need than they are, using what they have, to give back.

The Person Who Saved Me with Her “Gift” of an Umbrella

The kindness from an unknown stranger, took to heart!  Translated…

The thundershowers in the afternoons caught us all off-guard, and we’d, dodged the rains like wet rats.

My relative’s only daughter finally found the one, and decided to get married, and yet, MERS-CoV came, and everything got stalled, the two families got taxed, strained, from the wedding preparations, and the defending against the pandemic.  After the many rehearsals, the families decided to hold the wedding ceremonies outdoor, in the tents that can get, set up, inviting all of the families, relatives, friends too, to offer the newlyweds the blessings, to bring this celebratory mood to all, but not the banquets, and, the families hired the five-star chefs to make the takeout meals, for the guests to take them home to enjoy.  The newlywed written on the invitations, that everybody should greet each other, by nodding heads, and not shaking hands, and, to mask up, in the get-together.

I’d set up the meet up with my young cousin close to an intersection of the banquet hall, and yet, the afternoon showers came, too hard hitting, as I exited the MRT stations, the wind and the rain came at me really hard.  Normally, I would’ve, run, rammed off, and yet, I had my hair done, I was in a pencil skirt, high heels, there was NO way I was going to be able to run fast.

Seeing how the time is quickly approaching, I’d called up my cousin, I got her voice mail, the rain got worse, I became flustered, worried, completely stressed out.  As I was at my wit’s end, an older woman with gray hairs approached me, “forgotten to take an umbrella?  Take mine, I live close around the corner, I won’t get too wet, you are dressed up, and, it would be a total shame if you got completely wet!”, I’d kept thanking her, wanted to get her address, she’d waved goodbye and left.

The older woman helped me with my immediate problems, and, I’d made it to the wedding on time, and I couldn’t, thank her. And so, I’d, placed that umbrella into the compassion umbrella box set up at the MRT station after the wedding was over, so this kindness will continue to get pass on down.  At the same time, I’d taken a note of the kindness shown toward me by the unknown stranger, reminded myself, “no small deeds of kindness are overlooked!”

And so, this is how the help from a random stranger had, touched you, because the woman’s umbrella came right in time, when you needed it the most, and, you took her kindness to heart, and, as you were shown the kindness by this unknown stranger, that seed of care and concern for others got sown down, and you’d, passed along the kindness which was shown to you by this unknown woman, to someone else who may also be in need as well.

Passing the Kindness Along

Being kind to someone else in need, how one act of kindness, generates itself, turns into more acts of kindness that gets, passed around, translated…

At the start of summer, the early mornings in Taipei is still a bit cooled, I was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, waiting all on my own, at the bus stop.  It was about 6:30, almost no one else was on the streets, and, every now and then, the passing of the cars, broke the silence of the streets.

A homeless man, who looked very dirty, with the torn shirt sleeve shirt came to the bus stop, with a dirty linen bag on him, perhaps, it’d contained, everything he’d owned?  He got on the bus as I had, not long thereafter, the bus stopped at the light, the driver suddenly got out of his seat, walked toward the homeless man, told him, “your mask is dirty, you need a brand new one!”, then, handed the man two brand new masks, the homeless man was stunned, didn’t know how to respond, while I was, touched by the driver’s kindness, so, the driver pays attention to all who alighted his bus.

At this time when the pandemic is running high, as everybody was standing in line, trying to get the ration of the quick scan kits, there may be those who don’t even have enough masks to change out of, for most, these masks are use-and-toss, but for the homeless, it’s a precious resource.  And, my heart felt heavy up to here, what, can I do?

So I’d, opened up my pack, and, puled out all the spare masks from my bag, and before I got off the bus, I’d, handed all of it to that homeless man, he was thrilled, then, nodded toward me, and I’d, waved goodbye to him, and, silently prayed, that everything will be okay for him.

And so, this is how the bus driver’s kindness toward the homeless man, had generated the thought of kindness in this person, and, this person realized that s/he had more than enough of what s/he was in need of, and, gave it to the homeless man who is lacking in the supplies to protect himself against contracting MERS-CoV.