Lessons I Picked Up in My Grandfather’s Tailor Store

What you’d learned about work ethics in your childhood days, going to play at your grandfather’s, tailor shop, that stayed with you, for, life, translated…

While you were commuting via the MRT through the city, suddenly, you were reminded of your, grandfather’s shop at Fengyuan, it was when the seams were beautiful, the cutting, measuring were, perfect, a slivery large scissor, aglow, as the sunlight came in, the light landed on the rims of your grandfather’s glasses, and it’d, made his appeared, even more, concentrated and, focused.

At the time, you and him lived, together, you were about five, or six.  Most of the times, you were, rubbing your, sleepy, eyes, slowly, walked down the stairs, and saw that your grandfather at the first-floor shopfront, rolling open the steel doors, with the light, coming in, from the, outside, with his glasses on, sat before the sewing machine, and the machine clicked-clicked-clacked-clicked, away, sounded even like your, slow steps, climbing, down those, stairs, and that was the beginning of the days, that you and your grandfather, cut open, together.

illustration from UDN.com

Cutting it open, stepping it, open.  As your grandfather heard your footsteps, he’d stopped his hands, moved his glasses straight onto his nose ridge, asked, “woke so early?”, seeing how he’d cut opened the clothes, and every now and then, the customers came, left the orders, you had the candies in your mouth, climbed onto the chair next to him, through your teary eyes, you’d watched the scraps of clothes your grandfather just cut off, ironing them, seeing how he’d, measured the pieces, cutting them up, ironing them, sewing them together, step, by step, stitching the sides onto, the days, like the fishes that swam close to the reefs in the oceans, without any, dents or damages.

Later, as grandfather aged, the cost of making the suits by hand got too high, too many steps to making them, and people want everything new and fast, the manually stitched could not catch up to the machines of mass production, and as you’d, left for Taipei to work, leaving your hometown, the Fengyuan suit shop that your grandfather owned and operated, closed down.  Recalled the last night, as your grandfather turned the lights of the signs off, pulling down the doors, he’d first, wiped the clothes he still had down with a smaller rag, then, placed them one by one into the plastic bags.  He’d taken off the suit that was on the mannequins on display, like, disarming of an old, general, slow, and aging away, you’d helped him with the clothes one by one, but he’d, waved for you to go, and never said, a word.

measuring the suit for its, final, touches…photo from online

That evening, the two of you, cleared the shop, without any words of, exchange.

And now, the door of the MRT trains opened, the alarms sounded off a few times, pulling you back from your, memories, and now, you are in a suit, and the words of your grandfather, “after we ironed the suits, they wouldn’t wrinkle, the shirts are set up straight, and, it would look fitted on people, it would be, straightened up.”  Those days of old which weren’t easy, needed to get, ironed, flat, ironing down the wrinkly, old days, putting on the, suits that were, straightened up, you can walk, with your backs, straight.  So, the days needed to get, patted down, made to fit, life had, cut the lines, with the stitches on time on, with the rulers that bent, not an inch off, then finally, set, shape.  Still remembered, how you’d, helped cut the pieces by the measurements, every suit, as it was, getting the, final bow tied on, you’d always, made your, secret, wish, told them, this time, please, don’t, fall, apart.

And, this is, what your grandfather taught you, with his, work ethics, his means of measuring everything, carefully, and, you’d learned, that you needed to, be a man, who’s, straight like the suits he used to make, follow the right morale.

The Light at the Other End of the Tunnel: the Trauma Surgical Teams’ Guardianship Over Those Who’d Been Injured

The encounters of an emergency, how the doctors of a hospital dropped everything and gone to the location that needed them the most to assist, from the first line of defense, on the scene here, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

On the first day of the Memorial Day weekend holidays on April 2^nd in the morn, the skies are bright in Hualien, I was seeing my patients at the hospital.

“Dr. Wang, this is the triage station of the emergency room, we’d received the reports from the fire department earlier this morn, the Taiwanese Railroad trains derailed at the Chingshui Tunnels, we’re going to start up the ‘triage for the major injuries.’”  “Yes we should,” I’d replied, without a second thought.

I’d dropped my work at my treatment clinic then, contacted all the related medical staff members, had the on-duty trauma surgeon on standby at the E.R.; there needed at least three operating rooms for the emergency surgeries; clearing the space in the I.C.U., so we have the empty beds to take in the severely injured and numerous patients; in the end, I’d had the coworkers working at the desks to contact the senior trauma surgeon, and even as he wasn’t on duty today, I’d, requested that as he finished up with his workload, to report to the E.R. immediately to assist.

Being responsible for the trauma team, my thoughts are simple: the train flipped over close to Hualien in the tunnels, and naturally, there would be, a lot of the passengers who were injured, my responsibilities were to utilize all forms of resources, to save every life!

As I’d set the operations into order, and rushed to the E.R. to assist.  What impressed me was that before I’d arrived, everyone else was already there, ready to start, my coworkers of the anesthesiology department, the trauma surgeons, the residents, the nurses; everybody gathered up like we’d drilled regularly, into their, separate groups, everybody’s, ready!  The training we’d received daily is about to get put, to the test right now!

The director of the hospital took over the commanding of the operations, the head of E.R. acted as the head of the trauma team, as I’d reported for duty, I was assigned to the head of the severely injured department, everybody in her/his place now, we’d made sure we had our needed resources, as we’d realized, that the red-blood cells were in shortage at the hospital, my heart sank, this would be, a hard battle.

Before the first group of patients arrived, there’s that anxiousness, that nervousness that took over the air.

the medical profession

working around the clock to save lives…photo from online

From the scenes, there was a patient who needed to be amputated to get pulled outside!  This was, a huge challenge, the cramped up space, it’s different from the spacious room we normally, operated in.  Those who were assigned to answer the call had a brief discussion forum, discussed of the many situations they might face, and how to deal with each possible scenario, the highest rule is still, based off of the commands of the officer who’s at the scene, and we also needed to watch for our own, as well as, one another’s, safety too.  And, on top of that, we’d needed, five members of the medical staff members to set up the emergency treatment stations at the southern entrance of the tunnel too.

This, is what being in the same boat is, isn’t it?  Fearless, taking the calls, and, stay true, to the vows we took as surgeons, doctors!  As I watched my staff leave, I was, very proud of our team, how they’d, practiced medicine, not just in the hospitals, but also, at the scenes of the disasters too!

With the multiple levels of injured persons getting pulled out, the medical staff, the office workers, the social workers, the volunteers, as well as the Buddhist masters all worked their separate posts, after the hard work, the E.R. started, settling down, as everybody received what s/he needed.

At this time, the scene from the earthquake in Hualien came back to mind, today, we’d become, ever more, precise, calmer, more, orderly.  The care of those suffering from physical traumas is an accumulation of experiences and time, not only for one individual, but for, every member of the teams of medical experts too.  Including setting up a system, the assigning of resources to the different stations, and all of this, is accumulated through the day-to-day trainings, the experiences.

The trauma teams would never relax, just because there’s nothing going on in the world, because nobody knows, when disaster is going to, hit! 

The unfortunate disasters are bound to bring death, and injuries to us, but hopefully, those who died find peace, the sun will rise again tomorrow from the east, and we are, still going to be here, guarding our own, separate, posts!

And so, this, is to ALL the medical staffs in the hospital all around the world, thanks to their never-resting, always focused modes of working, that’s why they’re able to, reduce the number of deaths in a major disaster to minimum, and, awhile back, the members of the medical staff members were being discriminated because they exposed themselves around the dangerous environment, on the frontlines, as the first line of defense for us, and that’s just, WRONG!!!

Without these professionals, where would we be, huh?  We would NOT get the help in treatments that we need, WHEN we require it, so, start showing some respect to the members of your community who are, putting their lives out on the lines for you every single day.

The Thoughts of Kindness from the Undertaker

Translated…

My mother’s life had ended well, it’d given me the opportunity, to get in contact with the undertakers, Chang, he’s always in smiles, greeting his clients, dressed in a white shirt, with a pair of black slacks, because this work doesn’t have any breaks, the workers needed to be on call 24/7, and so, there was, the black rings around his eyes, symbolizing the hard work of his profession.

Several times he’d come over to help us fold the lotuses, we’d invited him to dine with us, and we’d all curiously inquired, “Chang, working in this industry, you must not be, afraid of ghosts then!”, he’d flashed his matter-of-fact smile, said with ease, “of course I’m afraid, but, I have that goodness of thought inside, and managed, to connect with others using the good natured ways.”

not my photo…

“As I’d just started working, in order to get my guts stronger, the company had assigned me to work in the mortuary of the hospitals, to offer the foods for the deceased.  Other than those who’d passed because of illnesses, there were also those, who’d died in accidents.  One day, they’d taken a young man who’d died in a car accident, he was very well-built.  In the midnight hours, as I’d felt that I was being shaken in my sleep, then, I’d dreamed about that young man who’d died, telling me that he’d torn up his clothes, and felt hungry all the time.  Back then, we’d been given a set amount of money to buy the foods to offer to the deceased, right at the moment after I woke, I’d offered the incense and told the young man, “I’d already told your younger sister, you will have new clothes soon, and, I’d bought more foods for you guys myself, but, it’s only for one day, please, don’t bug me at night!”, it was odd too, from that day on, I’d had no troubles sleeping at night.

As we’d heard Chang told the stories, we’d wanted more, and he’d, continued, “Before the burials, I’d put the makeup on the deceased, get the deceased to look good, and there was a general, because of the meds he was on before he’d died, his skin was, severely damaged, we couldn’t just, put the make up on him to make him look well.  I’d torn his face off completely, then, I’d, put the makeup on the face part, by part, his family saw and felt warm, but, all of his subordinates suspected that it wasn’t, their superior, kept asking me if I’d taken out the wrong body”.

not my photo still…

In the end, he’d told, that working in this industry, he’d not focused on the fames or the fortunes, only hoped he could help the families, to fill up this last passage of life with gratitude, and no regrets.  Chang’s words, I felt such a strong ring to, because my mother’s death, it’d taught me about loving more, and it’s made me, cherish everybody I have around me now too.

So, this, is the kind thoughts of the undertaker, and, it is not an easy job, because you work in a place, where there are only the deceased, and, there are many ways your clients may have died, and, it would be very difficult, to not get too into their life stories, when it’d become, a bit too difficult, to separate oneself from the job.

A Teacher Who’s Focused on Instructing is Happy Constantly

Written by a teacher, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

September 28^th, the office at school, on the calendar it had, “a makeup day for Autumn Festival, a day off”.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!  It’s Teacher’s Day, and we’re made to forget it, how many students would remember, showing respects to the instructors?

There are a lot of teachers who’d made excellent markings on their teaching reviews, whom, without the electronic copies of books, or the DVDs of the lessons provided by the publishing companies, they wouldn’t know how to teach anymore; they’d fought hard, to start preparing for the lessons ahead of times, but no longer took on the paper works during the semesters; wanting to arrive at school at eight to start teaching, and, as the afternoon bell rang, they’re quicker to get out than the students are.  In the classroom sessions, they’d gone over the textbooks, handed out the homework assignments, then, they’re off.  The students don’t pay attention in class, can’t do their assignments, seemingly, that it’s all caused by the level of the students, declining, or that the students weren’t paying enough attention in class, how can the teachers feel happy about it?

Of course, those who’d received the national teacher accommodations awards are all very dedicated, willing to give all they possibly can to the schools, treated their students as if they were their own offspring.  Seeing how much they have on their plates, and they’d still carried that smile on their faces, so full of confidence, so happy every single day, on Teacher’s Day, they were surrounded by the thankyou notes from the students, how can teachers not get motivated?

Some teachers became like parrots in teaching, others would transfer the information to their students the exact way they’d received the teaching materials; and some teachers became like compasses, guided the students toward the directions of their studies, like a light, showing the views that the students are going to have, like the aircrafts that carried the students to near and far.  They’re all teachers, but, they’d given to their work differently, and, therefore, the level of job satisfaction became differed.

Some teachers, on their days off, still thought about teaching and the students, there were other instructors, who were in class physically, but with their minds on their investment stock options too, only the teachers who are focused on teaching and giving will see the growth and the learning processes of their students taking place, and receive that inner satisfaction and happiness.  A hard-working and focused teacher is happy at all times, isn’t it?

So, this is all on the views of work, some teachers are only treating their teaching jobs as a paycheck, and some are actually trying and working hard to make a difference in the lives of their students, and, with these two different attitudes, which person’s students would achieve more?  The teacher who’s working hard, to make a difference in the lives of her/his students, of course, because the teacher is putting her/his heart and soul into doing what s/he does for a living, instead of viewing work as just a paycheck!

The Ninety-Six Year-Old Barber Opened Up Shop Nearly Sixty Years Ago, Said that He Would Continue to Give His Customers Their Shaves Until He Can No Longer See

Choosing to develop on the left side of the spectrum here, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

There was a barber shop with no sign on Dihua Street in the city of Taipei, it’s been opened, for almost sixty years now, the owner, Lin, who is currently ninety-six, worked all year long, 365 days, without a single day off, he said, he’d never thought about retirement, and will keep on operating his shop until he couldn’t see, until he could no longer hold the shaving knives steady.  “Lin, give me a brand new do”, a white-haired, elderly man walked into Lin’s barber shop, sat on the green barber’s chair that’s half a century in age.  Lin then took his shaving blade, skillfully, trimmed the customer’s hair.

Lin was originally from Fuzhou, China, as a teenager, he’d learned to trim the hair, his wife died of illness, at a young age, by 1949, he’d came here, with his shaving blade, and settled here, came to the liveliest street, Dihua Street, to make a living, took over a barber shop, and had worked for fifty years already.

Lin said, that some half a century ago, he’d only charged his clients $5N.T. per shave, and because he was the only hairstylist in his shop, there would be customers, lining up on the streets, for his service.  And now, he’d charged $200N.T. for shampoo and trim, and there are only, a handful of old clients whose hairs, he’d trimmed for a couple of decades.

There is no telephone in his shop, “my customers knew that I open shop every single day, that they could come in at any time.”  And, the shop only has male customers, and, other than trimming the hair, he’d also offer the service of cleaning his customers’ ears too, even though, he is, close to a hundred years old, as he’d picked up his shaving blades, the ear pick, Lin still has steady hands, and, he’d never dyed his own hair, which is still black like coal.

He’d taken out the Benz hair oil that was very fashionable back then, said, this, was the topnotch brand back then, but now, as hair gels went out of style, he still didn’t want to throw it away, instead, he’d used the bottle as a décor of his shop.  Lin said, that giving his customers their shaves, he also needed to follow the trends, from before, the customers only asked to get their hairs trimmed off, cut short, but now, the younger generations are shaving their sideburns high up, leaving just a handful of hair on top of their heads.

Being accompanied by his barber’s knife his whole life, although from time to time, he’d feel lonely, but, as he’d talked of how he was younger, and found a career that he’d stayed in, Lin’s eyes started glowing.

And so, this man is doing what he does, because of love, and because there’s a need for him to, as his customers had been coming to him long-term, because they trusted his skills in helping them look good, and this still just shows, how important it is, to have a viable skill in life.

The Expert Creator of Good Memories

Translated…

These couple of days, my son was bluer than blue.  He’d worked for ten years in the travel agency, and, based off of tradition, he should be getting a cold coin as an encouragement, but starting this year, the company had used the excuse of not making as much money as expected, hoping that the workers can understand why they’re cancelling this award.

I’d asked him, does he really care about that small gold coin?  My son answered, that it was like getting in line to wait for the tickets of a movie you wanted to see very much, but as it was his turn, he was told, that the show’s sold out, “feeling kinda let down.”

Ten years ago, my son who’s filled with hope, entered the traveling industries, in those earlier times, he’d followed the senior sales agents all over town, even IF he couldn’t make enough money, he didn’t care at all.  He’d once waken up bright and early in the cold winter’s morn, to drop a customer to the airport, the customer saw that he couldn’t stop sneezing, handed him a hot cup of coffee so he’d feel warmer, he was so moved that he almost cried.  Toward his customers, my son would never get tired.  He’d told me, that customers who don’t travel often, before they were to fly off, they’d all seemed very excited, and would ask him a TON of questions, his cell phone never stopped ringing; and, there would be set customers who cared too much about the temperature changes, and he’d report back to them multiple times a day on it.  Later, as my son’s people account grew larger, there would be those returning customers who NOT only asked for him as an agent, but would bring back souvenirs for him from their trips too, to thank him for planning such a wonderful trip for them.

“See!  I’m not only selling travel products, I’m also a creator of good memories.”, I’d recalled how when my son told me this, his lips were up, his face became animated too.  It’s just that it’s been ten years, and the passions wear off.  Recently, I felt, that he seemed a bit uninterested in work.

“I’m now off, I’ll give you a reply tomorrow.”  He now severs the time he worked with the time his off, “I’m really busy recently, is it okay if I recommend another colleague to you?”, he’d given UP his clients who had become his, and, this, is DEAD serious.

It’s not too late.  I said to him, “The benefits of your company is reduced, then, mom’ll get money from her private stash, and MAKE you that golden plate.”, my son rolled his eyes at me, “I really don’t care that much!”, but, he’d finally gotten somewhere for working real hard for ten years, and so, I’d worked hard, wrote “the heart at the beginning”, these five words, and stuck it on his case files, to remind him to NOT forget the passions he’d had as he’d started fresh in the business, to always recall that moving feeling at the bottom of his heart, to keep his heart in mind, and keep going.

Son, hopefully, you can understand your mother’s heart.

And so, that, is what working too long in a place can do to you, and, the son had great work ethics too, it’s just that he’d become burned out, and that happens, when you’d worked for as long as you had, in a SET field of work, so maybe, it’s time, for a change of scenery, and who knows, maybe, after this quick “detour”, you might return BACK to that job you’d left, or not…

“I Do Not Wait …

“I Do Not Wait Unitl I’m in the Mood to Work; if I Do, Then, NO Work Gets Done. I Must Let My Heart Know, When It Should Start Working“~~~Pearl S. Buck.

Because in the morn when you wake, you may NOT feel like going to work, because of whatever, and IF you just don’t go to work, then, you’d have a very LOW work ethics,