This past August, Asia, if not the world, was seized by the news of the Hong Kong tourists held hostage by a dishonorably discharged policeman in the Philippines. Now, we all know that it ended up as a tragedy, with eight Hong Kong citizens being killed. As I write this, we are still not sure whether they were killed by the gunman or by the rescuers, the Philippines police force having been shown to be disappointingly deficient in resolving a hostage crisis.
Well, all this is in the past, but there was one particular event I would like to mention here. Before the gunman lost control of himself, some hostages—seniors and children—were released.
About 90 minutes into the crisis, a woman called Tsang Yee-lai was told to leave the tour bus with her two children, ages 10 and 4. Tsang told the gunman that another boy on board the bus, 12-year-old Jason, was her relative; she asked to take Jason, too. The gunman agreed and so Jason was freed. Jason, of course, was not her relative.
The people of Hong Kong praised Tsang for her calmness and sharpness in saving a life. Her heroic deed saved Jason, but she lost her husband, and her children lost a father. Jason’s older sister, age 15, was saved, but both of their parents were killed. The incident has been emotionally draining for the people of Hong Kong.
Tsang is a geriatric community nurse working at the Kowloon Hospital in Hong Kong.
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
Showing posts with label Asian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asian. Show all posts
21 December 2010
07 December 2010
Seniors and fast food
As a Hong Kong Chinese, I did not associate seniors with fast food until about 10 years ago, when I moved into an apartment from which, if I needed to get to the train station fast, I had to take a short cut through a McDonald’s.
Every morning I made that trip, the scene never failed to amaze me—lots of seniors having breakfast at McDonald’s. Maybe it is a myth, after all, that Chinese people are particular about food. My—or our, if I can claim that I represent a certain segment of our society—belief used to be that Chinese seniors would not like fast food. They preferred congee to burgers, jasmine tea to coffee. But, obviously, I learnt something new when I moved into that apartment.
When I was taking a course for my doctoral program, my professor told me that she had been to Hong Kong and that both she and her husband were totally surprised to see that McDonald’s was such a favorite spot for children in an Asian city. She predicted that this generation of Hong Kong youngsters would have the same kind of cardiovascular problems as those in her country, the United States.
When I saw the large number of seniors having breakfast at McDonald’s, I remembered what she had said and thought, not only will we have a generation of young people with cardiovascular problems, we will also have a generation of seniors with those problems, as in Western countries.
I remarked about this to a friend, and she suggested it could be the free coffee refill that attracts seniors. This may be one of the reasons, but probably only one. To this day, although not so amazed as before, I am still puzzled. Maybe one day, I will do a survey on this, trying to find out seniors’ perceptions of fast food, and why they patronize these restaurants.
My speculation is that fast-food restaurants treat everybody the same. Our seniors enjoy the same kind of “freedom” as anyone else. They can sit for as long as they like, in spite of buying little, and not be driven away or given strange looks by waiters and waitresses. They don’t have to abide by the rules of a regular restaurant. This, then, is a good aspect of fast-food chain restaurants. They are a place for any age group; there is no age discrimination.
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
Every morning I made that trip, the scene never failed to amaze me—lots of seniors having breakfast at McDonald’s. Maybe it is a myth, after all, that Chinese people are particular about food. My—or our, if I can claim that I represent a certain segment of our society—belief used to be that Chinese seniors would not like fast food. They preferred congee to burgers, jasmine tea to coffee. But, obviously, I learnt something new when I moved into that apartment.
When I was taking a course for my doctoral program, my professor told me that she had been to Hong Kong and that both she and her husband were totally surprised to see that McDonald’s was such a favorite spot for children in an Asian city. She predicted that this generation of Hong Kong youngsters would have the same kind of cardiovascular problems as those in her country, the United States.
When I saw the large number of seniors having breakfast at McDonald’s, I remembered what she had said and thought, not only will we have a generation of young people with cardiovascular problems, we will also have a generation of seniors with those problems, as in Western countries.
I remarked about this to a friend, and she suggested it could be the free coffee refill that attracts seniors. This may be one of the reasons, but probably only one. To this day, although not so amazed as before, I am still puzzled. Maybe one day, I will do a survey on this, trying to find out seniors’ perceptions of fast food, and why they patronize these restaurants.
My speculation is that fast-food restaurants treat everybody the same. Our seniors enjoy the same kind of “freedom” as anyone else. They can sit for as long as they like, in spite of buying little, and not be driven away or given strange looks by waiters and waitresses. They don’t have to abide by the rules of a regular restaurant. This, then, is a good aspect of fast-food chain restaurants. They are a place for any age group; there is no age discrimination.
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
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