I HAVE A FRIEND ......

Winnie the Pooh - A Taiwan Issue

Today is a beautiful sunny day!

I have a friend ..... My friend’s first marriage ended up in divorce after having two children who she raised and sent off to higher learning. She decided to move to The Big City and so does not see her children often and after some time passed lost a lung to cancer.

Her new husband, also divorced and with three children, lost touch with his children after the divorce. After they were married his health began to deteriorate and he has had a few heart attacks and had a kidney transplant. She cared for him through his illnesses and his children didn’t keep in touch.

Some time has passed and his health has deteriorated again. My friend is doing a great job caring for him and working full–time to pay expenses, but his children remain distant, rarely call to see how he is and never visit.

I’m divorced as well, and it seems so is everyone else in this Country, but I'm fairly new to this world of divorce. However, it seems that divorced people don’t have close relationships with their children and neither do siblings who are victims of divorce. My children rarely call and never visit. Part of the reason for this is that my ex-husband has claimed them for himself and slandered me to no end. The lawyers are useless.

At this point my friend’s husband and I have no next of kin. I have taken every path fathomable to try to see my children and she tries hard to make his children understand that he is their responsibility as well. Apparently not. According to our Government Service Agents (Teachers, Social Workers, Doctors, Counselors, Lawyers and even some Clergy):

“Can’t make them if they don’t want to.”

Which leaves my friend and I to rely on dialing 911 in case of emergency and my relatives, who attend weekly church services, often remind me not to bother asking them for help if I find myself in distress.

“Can’t make them if they don’t want to.”

I’ve learned not to go to lawyers. It’s all a scam. The Doctors won’t give me a referral to a Psychiatrist to talk things through because, according to them, I’m not unstable and Counseling is of little use since they don’t have much clout and are very expensive and I don’t have coverage. This is enough to drive a mother to suicide.

This is the way my world turns as I enter the 21st Century.