Friday, April 22, 2016

The devil wears a business suit


About 100 years has passed since Dr. Alois Alzheimer discovered Alzheimer-type dementia. So we don’t have enough evidence to prove a relation between Alzheimer's disease and heredity. One hundred years is too short a period to prove it. However, I have many relatives who have Alzheimer's disease on my mother’s side. My dear friends, please treat me gently if I develop Alzheimer's disease in the future. For now, gentle treatment is the only remedy for this disease.

My grandmother’s sister, my grand aunt, had no children. Her husband had passed away, so she lived alone. When I found out she had Alzheimer's disease, I decided to take care of her. It took one and a half hours to travel from my house to the grand aunt’s house. I used to call her every morning, visit her every week and take her to the hospital every month. I did this for a few years until she passed away. I organized her funeral and was the chief mourner.

One day a strange thing happened when I visited her.

I usually wear worn-out casual clothes, but on that day I needed to visit my grand aunt’s house from my work place directly, so I was wearing a business suit. As usual, my grand aunt and I walked to the hospital together, but that day many neighbors said hello to my grand aunt.

“Madam, where are you going?”

“Madam, how are you doing?”

I was surprised because usually no one said hello to us. I felt these voices were nervous. Like my mother, my grand aunt had Alzheimer's disease but she could communicate. So I asked her:

“Why did the neighbors say hello to us today?”

She immediately answered.

“Because you’re wearing clothes like that!”

 I assumed I took care of her alone. Actually the neighbors realized she had dementia and kept an eye on her silently. Furthermore, it was well known that a relative who always wore worn-out clothes visited and took care of her every week. That meant me. I was famous, but that day the neighbors assumed that a stranger wearing a business suit was trying to take her somewhere for a bad purpose. It was an emergency! They thought they had to protect her by saying hello to her.

 At her funeral, I gave a speech about this incident, expressing my appreciation of the efforts of the neighbors. After the funeral, a participant came up and said to me.

“I am the one who said hello to her. Yes, as you said, I assumed you were a bad stranger. Sorry about that.”

 I doubt all bad people wear business suits these days? People who wear a business suit! What kind of bad things are you doing?


Picture: xiangtao

 

Picture: xiangtao

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