On the streets of Los Angeles, USA, you can see a familiar figure every day. A 67-year-old aunt from Northeast China, pushing a picked up stroller, shuttled tirelessly through the city from 8: 00 a.m. to 8: 00 p.m.
Her goal was the bottle containers that were thrown away, things that could cost her about $5 a day.
Is this grandmother a street wanderer? why do you think America is good?
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Attractions for $5
This aunt is not homeless, let alone abandoned by her children. On the contrary, her two daughters have gained a firm foothold in the United States, one is a doctor and the other is an accountant.A good old age has already been paved for her. The monthly rent of the house she lives in is as high as $900, which is all borne by her daughters, and there is never a shortage of pocket money in her life.
And her 12 hours of hard work a day, $5 in the district, that money in Los Angeles may not even buy a decent lunch, what does it mean?
From the economic point of view, Aunt's "business" is an out-and-out loss business. After working six days a week, she earns only 30 dollars a day. This money is almost negligible in American prices, and it is far from even reaching the legal minimum hourly wage, let alone covering her monthly rent of 900 dollars.
Her actual financial source was the support provided by the daughters, the daughters applied for her medical allowance cards, solved the big problems of medical care, and also carried all of her living expenses, it can be said that her life in the United States was materially entirely dependent on the daughter.
What she experienced also reflects the structural difficulties faced by the new generation of elderly immigrants, both of whom are hanging in the air, and as new non-citizens, they find it difficult to immediately enjoy the perfect U.S. social benefits, such as $250 monthly food vouchers or low-cost rental subsidies, the threshold and process of applying are quite complicated.
On the other hand, they can't count on the guarantee of the country, taking the data of 2023, for example, the average pension of urban and rural residents in China is about 179 yuan per month, which money in China may still be hard to maintain, but in exchange for dollars, in the face of the cost of living in Los Angeles, is like a cup of watercoach salary.
So, this economic account counted to the end, and the result was a huge “deficit”, that $5 income, economically meaningless, and her behavior, obviously not for money.
Replacing a good job.
The answer may be to look for in health, this up to 12 hours of outdoor "work" a day, in fact, she prescribed for herself a dose of "good" to fight double physical and mental illness.
The physical benefits are obvious. grandmother herself suffers from high blood pressure, heart disease such as chronic diseases that require long-term management, long daily walking, bending and picking up movements, and plenty of sunshine, is itself a great physical treatment.
A friend who knew her in the square once said that she did this to exercise her body and bask in the sun, which was good for her health. It was much better than staying stuffed in the room all day and letting her body function decline.
And the spiritual healing, the value may be higher, after coming to the United States, her huge loneliness overwhelmed, her two daughters have a career, work busy, in the home used to communicate in English, which makes her feel like an outsider, during the day, the daughters go to work, leaving her alone in the face of an empty villa, that kind of inappropriate taste, only she knows.
Her husband died of illness during the epidemic, and the village in her hometown became empty with the loss of population. Her relatives and friends had already moved away, and she lost most of her roots emotionally. She herself admitted that she felt that life had no "spiritual pillar", that is, one day at a time.
And picking up the bottle tank this thing, gave her a clear daily goal and rhythm, eight o'clock in the morning out, eight o'clock in the evening home, there is something to do, someone can see, this regularity itself, is the effective weapon against the spiritual emptiness and boredom, she used physical consumption, in exchange for mental stability and a long-lasting feeling of fulfillment.
A square she frequently visits, an important social hub for her, where she can meet Chinese-speaking people and speak a few common words, these feelings of belonging and emotional comforts that cannot be obtained within the family, are more precious to her than anything material.
Therefore, this health account is profitable. She exchanged her seemingly hard labor for the maintenance of physical functions, the peace of the spiritual world and precious social connections.
Recovering lost dominance.
Finally, it’s about the dignity of the elderly, an elderly man who, in a completely passive and dependent life, tries to regain a sense of dominance and self-worth.
Looking back at her life track: It was her daughter's arrangement to come to the United States through a family reunion visa, to live in a shared house, to have a medical white card, and to have her daughter's arrangement. Her later life was properly planned, but all this was not her own choice, and she became a person who was taken care of and arranged without the right to choose.
However, picking up the bottle, it was entirely her own decision, this was the "business" she found for herself, she had a picked up baby car as a "sitter", had a fixed "working time", and also her own route, she made the matter very ceremonial, endowed herself with the identity of a "worker", in order to counter the negative state of nothing.
The most powerful proof was that she firmly rejected a proposal from her daughter. The daughters had proposed to give her enough dollars directly as long as she stopped going out and picking up, but she refused, which clearly indicated that what she wanted was not money, but the right to do the thing.
This is a small private plot she has set aside for herself in her arranged life. Here, she has the final say. This subtle psychology is also reflected in her reaction when facing the camera. When asked where China and the United States are better, she seems a little unnatural, saying "America is good" without giving any reason.
This may be a complicated psychology. On the one hand, she doesn't want to embarrass her daughters and maintain family harmony. On the other hand, many elderly immigrants will convince themselves that their present life is "good", so as to rationalize their original choices and present situation and maintain their inner balance and dignity.
When the elderly cross the ocean and come to a new environment with language barrier and unfamiliar culture, how should they deal with themselves? Material abundance can't automatically fill the spiritual emptiness and loss of value, but she finds her own happy channel in her own way.
In addition to providing material support, we should also pay more attention to the spiritual needs, social inclusion and the realization of personal values of elderly immigrants when concerned about the issue of transnational pensions, because the real "good life" is never more than an economic account, more is love.
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