A Country Bumpkin Offering Sunshine

Picture resource: Da Ji Yuen

Last noon, I watched an interview of mouth and foot painting artist, Yang En-Dian on a program " Having Something to Say Tonight" of Chinese Channel 26. Her spirit and energy to live in such an unique way really is stunning. I have heard about her since I was very little. My first impression of her was from that old black and white television of my parents. A little baby without arms was hold by our former president Jiǎng Jīngguó (Chiang Kai-shek's son)in a picture. I don't quiet recall why the TV news was showing that famous picture at that particular moment. All I know was a lot of kids were deeply inspired by Yang En-Dian's story and follow through her unbelievable courage for life.

Yang's first name En-Dian means grace in English. Her adopted father, who is a Christian, named it because she was blessed even though she was born without two arms. She was born in 1974 and found at a traditional farmers' market in Kaohsiung county, Taiwan. Due to her disability, her had been through a lot until her adopted family decided to take care of her and turned her life into a legend. Not only has she achieved a lot in Chinese brush painting field by her foot, but also she has conquered the most critical parts in her life, marriage and motherhood.

I was speechless when I saw her hold her little girl with her foot. How can we not cherish what we have when a person in such painful inconvenience already has overcame this much? In her interview, she told the audience that her relationships ended because all of parents of her previous boyfriends rejected her. She challenged: "Why can't I have it?" "All I want is an ordinary relationship to love and be loved as a woman." Not long time later, a guy working at an auto company appeared, who is her husband Chen Xing-Yi now. That guy didn't give her up for his parents' objection and peacefully persuade his family to accept her by showing them how much he wanted to be with her and kept taking her home. Yang also tried her best to prove that she wouldn't be a burden to the family.

One day, while Yang and Chen were still dating, Yang was alone with Chen's parents. Chen's mother prepared a whole plate of lunch and brought to her at third floor. Chen's mom understood it was impossible for Yang to hold a plate of food and walk down by the stairs. Yang was very thankful but wondered she couldn't go on like this to rely on Chen's parents. She cleaned the plate very thoroughly and held the plate between her chin and chest, and then she walked down stair by stair for three hours. Imagine it. How dangerous could it be?! The plate blocked her vision to see the stairs and unbalance her body. On the top of it, the structure of stairs were steeper than the regular ones. Chen's parents accepted her at that moment they saw she had done that all by herself.

Unexpectedly, Yang donated her breast milk to those whom could not breast feed their babies after she delivered her daughter. She said she was blessed to have "too much" breast milk and didn't want to waste it. Her daughter is a health and caring 18-month-old. It was a big concern for Yang and Chen if their next generation could inherit her disability. Many doctors prescribed the chances should be negative. Yang shared her joy of having her daughter with a story. Yang talking on her cell phone with her husband. All of a sudden, the cell phone dropped. Her daughter reached the cell phone and handed near by Yang's ear. My baby girl was not even one year old yet and already knew how to take care of her mom, said Yang.

I should start doing something more constructive now. Otherwise, it is wasting time and life.

My husband and I are lucky. Our rented apartment is in downtown Oakland where the annual holiday parade is always hosted. We didn't have to go out but only sticked our heads out of the window. There was the parade. I shot and edited this clip while the parade was still happening. How convenient!!