Commentary

China Watch

Forum Digests

Letters

Old and alone in quake zone

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-27 07:39

As orphans are taken care of by the society, heirless elderly people are also in need of help, says an article in China Youth Daily. The following is an excerpt:

"Never discard, never give up." This slogan has been rather popular after the earthquake took place in Sichuan. We hope the slogan will continue to be effective in the help provided to the survivors, orphans and the elderly in particular.

As in adopting surviving orphans, we hope people will lend their helping hands to those parents who lost their children in the quake. We put forward this proposal because we find that orphans have attracted much attention from the society, while the heirless old people are ignored.

It is understandable that the society cares more for the children than for the adults. First, children have poor psychological endurance and the sudden loss of their parents leaves them helpless. Secondly, everyone of us has grown up from childhood and clearly understands that children depend heavily on parents.

But we cannot discard and give up those heirless old victims. They are also weak and also in great need of help. In this massive disaster, plenty of people lost their children, too, when many children lost their parents. They have been experiencing the same grief as those children. Some of them even got injured while protecting their children in the quake. How can they live the rest of their lives?

We may not be able to feel the pain of old people, but we are sure to become old one day. As many of us are planning to adopt an orphaned child, we might as well adopt a heirless old quake victim.

Unlike with adopting a child, many old people are not willing to move away from their hometowns. So, the suggestion is that we may donate money to hire a local to take care of them. Besides giving them stipends, the donors should often call them on holidays and visit them in spare time.

(China Daily 05/27/2008 page8)