Old and Lonely

A few days ago, my class went on a CIP (Community Involvement programme) trip to an old folk’s home in the eastern part of Singapore. We were supposed to visit the home to cheer the old folks up or help the home in any way we could such as cleaning. Although we should be enthusiastic, I did not really feel so. It is not that I do not like old folks or anything like that. When I entered the home, a strange sense of sadness overwhelmed me (I did not cry nor did anything of that sort). I was nervous. There were like maybe 20 old folks on the ground floor, staring at us. I many saw sad faces not because we came but rather just sad in general. They did not do much. They slept, ate, perhaps watch a bit of television but I sometimes doubt whether they could understand English. That quickly sums up everything they do.

Their ages ranged from 70+ to 110! It is pretty amazing that people in Singapore can live such a long life. I was shock when I heard one of them was 108 years old and believe she was not the oldest. I never thought people could live so long in a stressful society in Singapore. That was one quick lesson I learnt from about 10 minutes of conversation. Anyway, moving on.

We have prepared a line-up of events for the elderly. However, we did not prepare sufficiently the performance as the class was not cooperative. We had only one proper rehearsal on the day before the trip.The class kept postponing the rehearsal to the eleventh hour. The whole class was supposed to sing for the elderly. We had four Chinese songs, two from our school and the other two are famous Chinese songs. Our teacher was considerably angry at us for not practising for the performance. We had wasted the whole March Holidays and did not take the rehearsal seriously. However, it was too late. We had to sing with the lyrics in our hands and even with lyrics we sang two songs wrongly. It was amazing as one of the songs was from the school. My classmates thought they could memorize and sing that song perfectly. Unfortunately, things did not turn out what we had expected. We sang it wrongly as the lyrics were mixed up towards the end of the song. It sounded weird. I hoped they elderly did not notice it. The elderly were quite happy as they clapped as we sang. This just goes to show that nothing turns out what you expect it to be. This is why we have rehearsals. They make sure we actually practise the performance. Practice makes perfect.

The other performances were great like the magic show. It was the opening act. My friend could make blue cloth come out of a handkerchief and make it disappear again. They were wushu performance too. It was performed by two talented individuals in my class in the school wushu team. The performance was exciting as they flipped, kicked and showed off their wonderful mastery of a certain weapon like a sword. Musically talented classmates played the guitar and piano to entertain the old folks too.

Next, we were asked to converse with the elderly to keep them company. Earlier in the morning, the origami team comprising of a few members of the class including me had showed the class how to make a simple origami crane. We managed to fold like about 60-80 paper cranes. We gave the elderly these paper cranes as a gift. Some were very happy as they were beaming with smiles, some however rejected them. I gave one paper crane to an elderly woman. She was indeed very happy and excited. Perhaps she never really received a gift from anyone ever since she came to the home. She was 80 yet quite jovial. I manage to converse with her as she spoke a wee bit of English and some Chinese. She said she liked the crane allot. We asked her how she was doing and if she liked the place. She said she was fine and the place was fine too. I could tell she was very happy with our visit. Well, at least I accomplished making an elderly woman happy.

Subsequently, I tried to converse with the other people but to no avail. Many only could speak hokkein and Malay. Few could speak Chinese and fewer or none could speak a bit of English. I spoke in Chinese but they just stared blankly at me. I guess they did not understand me. There was a language barrier between the elderly and me. They could not understand me and I could not understand them. The elderly spoke dialects, we spoke in Chinese. I was in an awkward situation many times when they could not understand me but I could not just walk away. That was rude to say something and when you realize the person do not understand you walk off. Many times I find maybe another person that could converse in dialect to take my place. I am ashamed to say, my dialect is hokkein but I know little about it. The generation gap made it even harder to talk. We did not know what to talk about. After the few general questions, we were stuck. Feeling awkward, we try our best to keep up the conversation. It could last no longer than 3 minutes. The elderly just answer our questions, sometimes giving us monosyllabic answers. It was hard to talk to them but it made me happy to see that they enjoyed our company. If I could last 5 minutes talking with them, it will give me an immense sense of satisfaction.

Now, here is the sad part. I talked to one man. He was almost bald. When I talked to him he gave me one word and started to cry. I was shocked and afraid. I did not say anything that hurt him. I asked him “How are you" or” What do you like to do in your free time" in Chinese. Teardrops rolled down his face. I was so frightened. The nurse said he was very sensitive and emotionally. Perhaps, he was so happy that he cried as it had been very long since someone visited him and kept him company. The question popped up in my head “Where is his family" Of course I never ask any of the elderly that question. That would be a fatal question literally. I never understand why people sent their old parents to an old folk’s home. WHY? Even if they cannot take care of the parents, at least they can do is to visit them at least once a week. It would make them so happy. Why don't people do that? I never comprehend why some children would do that to their old parents. They are the ones who raise them and apparently these are the thanks they get, being sent to an old folk’s home! It is amazing some children would do that. I am positive that most of their children would be still alive as their old parents still are. I believe it is just that they feel that it is too troublesome taking care of their parents. They just leave their unwanted parents in the home and only pay the home to support them.

The sheer number of old folks in that single home show that many other home in Singapore are most probably filled with unwanted old folks. With Singapore's ageing population, it is normal to see more elderly walking along the streets but it is not alright to have more and more elderly being taken care in homes. This shows that more and more children do not want their old parents. I wonder what happened to Filial piety. What happen to that Chinese value that our school tried hard to inculcate in us? It apparently went down the drain.

This experience to the Old Folks Home taught me many things. For starters, there are many people worse off them you so do not complain about how life is bad or unfair to you. The elderly there have it worse. Secondly, I learnt that the distance between the elderly and younger generations are getting wider. Language barrier had limited our conversation with the elderly. Dialects are slowly disappearing as time passes on. It is already hard for a teenager like me to converse with an elderly. I few years time, I believe picking up conversation with the elderly will be more challenging than ever. Lastly and most importantly, I learnt that we must be filial to our parents. Ii is out parents that gives us our lives. It is our parents that brought us up. It was our parents that led us through difficult times in our lives. They help us, care for us love us. Do they deserve to be sent to an old folk’s home? Do you think it is alright to do this? I leave that question for you to answer.

Note:
Apparently, I have a similar blog post on this topic named "Old and Alone" last year. It was my first real blog post that was not a prompt from my teacher. It is in the January Section 2009. I was 13 years old then and may not have written very well.

Newspaper Report on Tom Robinson trial.

Tom Robinson Found Guilty for Rape

Yesterday at around 11pm, Tom Robinson who had been accused by Bob Ewell of raping his daughter, Mayella Ewell, 19, has been charged for rape. The court case took place at the Maycomb County Courthouse and huge crowd of people, both white and blacks, turned up to watch the trial. The prosecutor was Mr Gilmer and the defence laywer was Atticus Finch. The case was presided over by Judge Taylor and a hand-picked jury. The result of the trial ended in favour of the plantiff, the Ewell family.

The crime took place on the evening of November 21st last year, near the town garbage dump. Maycomb Ewells had lived behind the town garbage dump for years which were once a Negro Cabin. Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella Ewell, survived on relief cheques to make ends meet. Mayella Ewell had two or three years of education and was the oldest of all the children in the Ewell family. Her mother had passed away a long time ago and the children were in the care of their father, Bob Ewell

When the Sheriff, Mr Heck Take was called to the stand yesterday to give his statements, he was questioned about the physical injuries of Mayella Ewell. He said that she was beaten around the head and had bruises on her arms. Also, he said that she had a " black eye" on her right side and had" definite finger marks on her gullet" However, a professional such as a doctor was no called to care for her wounds as Mr Heck Take felt it was unnecessary. Mayella wounds and injuries were obvious.

Mr Bob Ewell was called to the court .He said he was in the woods when he heard Mayella screaming so he said that he run as fast as he could through the fence. He saw Tom Robinson have sexual intercourse with his daughter through the window. However, Tom ran away as Bob Ewell was distracted with Mayella to catch after him. Then, he ran for the sheriff, Mr Heck Tate. He told the sheriff who was the culprit and Mr Tate arrested Tom Robinson on Mr Ewell's account of the story.

Atticus had asked him in court to write his name. It was then found out that Bob Ewell is left handed.

According to Mayella Ewell statement, she was certain that Tom Robinson had raped her. On the evening of November 21, Mayella said she was standing on the front porch of her house. She told the audience that" there was this old chiffarobe in the yard Papa'd brought in to chop for kindlin'As she felt she was not strong enough, she sought for help from Tom Robinson who was happening to pass by. She said that it was her first time asking Tom Robinson to come through the fence t help her. Tom Robinson passed the Ewells house every day to go to work in Mr Link Deas' yard. Mayella offered a nickel in exchange for Tom helping her .Then, as she was getting a nickel to pay, when she turned around, Tom was “on her" and he "got her round the neck" She fought and hollered at him tooth and nail but was unable to get him off her. Then her father looked from the window and realised what happened. She then fainted while Tom Robinson was then said to have run away before Mr Ewell could get him. Mr Ewell then called the sheriff, Mr Heck Take.

Mayella was sure that Tom Robinson had taken advantage of her. As a defence to the accusation, Tom Robinson was asked to stand. It was shown to all that Tom Robinson left hand is 12 inches shorter than his right as his left arm was caught in a cotton gin since young. His left arm hung dead and could not be used. The accusation of Tom Robinson raping Mayella Ewell had came into serious question as it was implied by Atticus, the defendant, that it was unlikely for a person maim in his left able to hurt Mayella's right eye. There is the possibility of Bob Ewell hurting his own daughter instead of Tom Robinson as he is left-handed. When Mayella was questioned by the defence lawyer as to whether Tom or her father harmed her, there was no response from her.

The defendant, Tom Robinson, had a very different side of the story. He said he had known Mayella Ewell for a while as he had to pass by the Ewell’s house every day to go to work for Mr Link Deas in his yard. Based on his statements, he said that he had gone into the house to help Mayella do fix or help her out “lots of times". He did work like chopping and kindling for Mayella. She offered him a nickel but he declined. Apparently, Mayella asked him to fix the door hinges as she said it was loose. When Tom was at work, Mayella kissed and hugged him. The children usually in the house went to eat ice-cream bought by Mayella so were not present. This totally contradicts Mayella and her father's side of the story. Next, Mr Bob Ewell had seen this from the window, spouted vulgarities at Mayella, saying he would kill her.

However, after the jury had listened to both sides of the story, Tom Robinson was charged with the crime of raping Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson is now awaiting the death penalty in the Maycomb jail.

Intrapersonal Option 1 ( To Kill A Mockingbird)

For my blog assignment, I am required to answer to questions or accomplish 2 tasks by a certain deadline.

This is the question I have chosen:
1. Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain

Atticus Finch is certainly a person I would like to befriend in the book. He is the most morally upright person and exhibit moral courage which many people lack. He is a role model which everyone should aspire to be. His moral courage is demonstrated through his actions and words which would be elaborated later.

The book is set in the 1930s where discrimination against the blacks was not only the norm but the law. Many blacks were discriminated by not being given fair trial in court. Almost all the whites were prejudice against the African-Americans. Tom-Robinson was accused of raping a female who was white and Tom Robinson would face certain doom. Nobody would take up the job to defend Tom even though he was innocent, except one man.

That man is Atticus Finch. Even though the majority was against him, He never backed down. He believes that if he did not defend that innocent from being killed, he would not be angle to lift his head again. No matter how the community in Maycomb disapproves his actions, criticising him, never once did he regret taking up the case as he said it was the right thing to do. It takes courage to be able to stand against a crowd to stand up for your own beliefs. Atticus definition of courage is" you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" Not many people can do that. Atticus took up the job knowing he will lose the case and face resistance from the majority but he does not care. Many people are swayed in their decisions or actions by the majority. Someone who has the moral principles and courage to go against the majority is someone to befriend and admire. He will have a good influence to you and the people around you. Perhaps some of the moral principles will rub onto you which are a good thing.

Another good point about Atticus is that he never resorts to violence to resolve the problems. He said courage is not “a man with a gun in his hand" implying to be violent is not courage. When a mob wanted to lynch Tom Robinson, Atticus blocked the entrance to the jail. He did not carry weapon of any sort but only a book. He believes that reasoning is enough to solve problems. We can learn from him as he uses reasoning instead of violence to solve problems. Violence never solves problems but aggravate them. Atticus can teach me to put my fist down and hold my head high in the face of a problem. Many people jump into a fight without good reason and just worsen the problem. With such a role model as a friend like Atticus, he can teach me important life skills to tackle what life can throw at me.

Also, it is evident that Atticus is humble.He did not tell his children that he was the best shooter in Maycomb.Even when he was forced to show his ability , he politely asked the bystanders to keep quiet about this matter when the others praised his shooting skills. He did not like to flaunt his abilities, making himself very humble. A humble friend would be much easy to get along with as the friend would not boast and make you feel inferior. Being humble will avoid annoying others putting others off so everyone around would like him.You will like him too as he has a humble personality.

Though he is not really realistic at times because he is overly optimistic, his pros outweigh the cons significantly. I would befriend Atticus if I have the chance as he will not only be a good role model but a good friend too.