The Wake-Up Call in China's 'Visit Your Parents' Law

Just a month ago, China passed a new law stating that all adult children must visit his or her parents frequently and offer them financial support. This act was intended to provide children with a "wake-up call" and to bring children to deal with things that they would not normally until much later.

The author writes about how this act could be a controversial one, causing children to hate their parents instead of appreciating them, as intended, because of the frequent visits, now required, that are being forced upon them. Personally, I don't believe that children should be forced to see their parents this way. There are many reasons that could be holding back children from going to visit their parents "frequently." Hostility between child and parent, country boundaries, and even the lack of money and time were all possible reasons that could have been holding back children from visiting their parents ever so frequently. Though I do sympathize with the author in that I would want my children to have a relationship with their grandparents, there are just many restrictions in this generation that don't support our desires to do so. The act can be seen as a "wake-up call" for many, but it is a little absurd, unnecessary, and inconvenient.

Because the elderly population in China is dramatically increasing and there is no money to help fund for them without a social security system, China is pushing children themselves to provide the financial support for their parents. It's strange that China is a country yet to establish a social security system despite being a communist government. They're going to need one very soon, especially with the increasing population.

Article: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/07/wake-call-chinas-visit-your-parents-law/6377/

An Extinction to Celebrate

The author writes of the time she was in South Sudan and she helped a nine-year-old girl Nakal through a painful experience. Nakal had drunk unfiltered water and now she was suffering from a guinea worm making its way out of her knee. Apparently there is neither cure nor treatment for those who are infected with guinea worm. However, the number of those infected has been severely decreasing ever since President Jimmy Carter in 1986 started a campaign to help destroy this worm.

Just by the title, I was expecting good news for the little girl all throughout the article. However, the story of the Nakal was merely a personal anecdote used to introduce the author's main topic of working towards the extinction of guinea worms. Even though there was only one picture of Nakal suffering from a worm piercing out of her skin, I still felt the pain through the article. It was upsetting to read that Nakal had only drank some water to keep herself cool on a hot day yet was infected with such a pain-giving parasite. Here, in America, many people, including myself, take clean water for granted. There are even some people who refuse to drink tap water because they don't like the "taste" of it. It's heartbreaking to read about people suffering from lack of clean water when here people are easily throwing water around everywhere.

However, it was relieving to read about the decreasing number of those infected. The worm has become extinct in many countries, leaving South Sudan alone still with a number of five hundred and twenty-one infected. The improvement is encouraging; hopefully South Sudan will also very soon be a country rid of such parasites. Their extinction will be, indeed, one to celebrate.

Article: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/an-extinction-to-celebrate.html