Helping the elders find that doorway to connect with the outside world that they'd lost contact with as they grew older, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
Six months before the ninety-three-year-old elderly woman, Li passed away, she'd hosted an art exhibition of her life's story and art at a certain café in Kaohsiung, there were 120 who'd shown up for the events that day, and everybody was someone important to her. Toward the end of the exhibitions, she'd gotten up and bowed to them, "thank you for looking after me my whole life.", she'd felt very blessed, that she'd had a very rich and fulfilled life.
Li was a child bride who'd lived through the harder times, she was a battered woman under her ex's abuse, an ordinary elderly woman who lived in a small house in the alleys, although she was brave and steady her whole life, she'd felt that there was nothing worth mentioning of her own life, to the point that she'd felt lonely as her body grew weaker as she got older.
Six months before the show, the New Life Art's C.E.O., Kang helped her looked back through her whole life using art.
In the process of reviewing over her life, Li told a ton of stories, many of which, her children didn't know about, and that was when her own children learned, that their mother who'd been illiterate when she was younger, to change her own life, ran from Zhongli to Kaohsiung, and she'd saved someone else's life, and quickly found a group of supporters who could help her survive, and that was when her children gained a brand new respect toward their, mother, "mom's amazing!"
Other than putting that new force of life into her own family, recalling the past also helped her connected with thing of her past. Li recalled those friends she had from long ago, whom she'd lost touch with, and she'd immediately called them up. Some of her friends are no longer alive, but she'd still, put them into her creations of her own memories.
Kang worked with Li for six months, she'd gained a new understanding of companionship—the powers of companionship doesn't necessarily come from the "physical person", but when you think about that certain someone, remembering the love, remembering the times you two had shared, whether or not s/he is around, you'll feel, no longer alone or lonely.
Kang told, that in her service, she'd responded back to the elder's loneliness by letting them tell the tales of their youths to her, she'd invited the elderly to tell her what had happened in the past? How did they feel? How did they respond to the situations? Then, they'd talked about how the elderly feels about the events right now? Through this process, the elderly were able to review over things in their lives, and also, created the new connections with others. A lot of the elders could use their artistry as a point of origin, to start up the conversations with their own, families.
And so, this person had found a way for the elderly to open up, through art, and, that is needed, because as we grow older, we will, lose the connection with the society, because we will have less and less in common with what's going on, as we're, old, and the rest of the outside world is, still, quite young, and this program helps the elders find that connection back, and it's important to feel that connection to the outside environment, to age gracefully.
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