The Senior in Taiwan Composed by Melody Wang Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 3/20/2007

Meet Mrs. Lai Hello! My name is Fu-mei Lai Chen. I’m 76 years old. My husband Ming-de and I have a lovely family and we live happily by ourselves. My husband had retired from work and now our children provide us the living expense. Our 4 sons all work and live in other cities. They come to visit us once a while.

In the daily life, my husband and I love to do tai chi in the nearby park with our friends together. The most exciting thing for us is to see our growing and adorable grandchildren when they come to visit us.

Five years later Mrs. Lai suddenly lost her beloved husband who died from the heart attack. Oh, God! Why?

Mrs. Lai stopped going out and stayed at home for most of the time. She missed her husband so much that sometimes she thought her husband was still alive. Mrs. Lai’s health had been going downhill since then. Ming-de, where are you?

Mrs. Lai was in the very poor health condition and her children sent her to a nursing home. Her life totally relied on others’ caring. Her children took turn visiting and taking care of her.

From every one-week visit to every one- year visit, the frequency of children’s visit was less and less, but they still regularly paid for Mrs. living expense. Mrs. Lai seemed to be forgotten and deserted in the nursing home.

Questions 1.What made Mrs. Lai’s health become worse and worse? 2.Did Mrs. Lai suffer from mental illness or physical illness or both? 3.Can Mrs. Lai’s children’s behavior be called as filial piety? 4.What was the thing Mrs. Lai need most?