(181) News

My grand ma had a saying in Cantonese: even at a hundred years old, one still hears of something new.

Recently, I heard through the grapevine that a rather indulgent mother claimed that she was beaten by her eldest daughter. Since I do not personally know this woman nor her daughter, I cannot speculate further.

But I do know of another case. One rich lady adopted a female baby in the former's late forties. To the former's credit, she did bring up three lawyers and two accountants. Sad to say, she did not bring up this adopted child in a wise way. Instead, she indulged in the latter's every whim. For every sensible parent, we know what instant gratification leads to: the making of one big ego and an ongoing list of wishes.

Twenty years later, the adoptive mom was in her sixties. By then she was suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes. This sickly woman is the attention seeking type. She thought nothing of calling her working children with all types of pretext to get them to visit her during working hours. After a while, none of her children would answer her phone calls at work. Thus was her own downfall: one morning she was not feeling well but no help was in sight. When someone finally came after work, she sustained some brain damage because of a mild heart attack.

Soon after, more phone calls and sms deluge her children, this time claiming that the adopted daughter beat her and drew blood. Her children were at wit's end with this new tactic until they spent much money in installing CCTV in every room. Once images of the living area are on line, the SOS call stopped.

I cannot help but wonder if this similar technological solution would help in the first case. Would mother and daughter push and whack each other if they know fully well that full video would be recorded and other members of the family could access it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?