Purchasing Our Own House

    In May I heard on occasion that there were economical and applicable houses  on sale priced at 2,650 yuan per square meter at Tiantong Garden. I went with Lili to have a look at the sales agency on Sunday. We had a careful discussion when we came home and thought it was feasible, since the economical and applicable houses are possible for us to afford and the most important advantage was its proximity to the Line 5 Subway. To buy an automobile in the days to come was out of question for us due to our inability to drive. So we had to rely on the public transportation service to go around. I was accustomed to having things done quickly once it was decided. So I went to line up in the queue on the next day and paid 10,000 yuan to get a number. A few days later  I selected a suite with three rooms and total space of 114 square meters. We paid the first payment and prepared to get a loan by the housing accumulation fund. The Massage Hospital had already paid the housing accumulation fund for their workers long ago. But I had heard of the refusal of loan granting to blind people. So I had to make an inquiry at the Bank of Constructions until I made sure the loan granting. Then I asked for a leave to invite a volunteer to fill in the pile of applications as thick as two book volumes. After all these tedious works had been done, we were asked to apply house insurance at the Pacific Insurance Company when the forms were hand in. Troubles were encountered at the Pacific Insurance Company as our application was refused when we were found to be blind people. Their excuse was that the handicapped persons were beyond the levels of indemnity. I explained we were born with blindness while they said they had their regulations. I had heard of all insurance companies in China had been refusing grants to insurance for handicapped people. Many handicapped people had been grumbling over this kind of discrimination against us. I did not think of such unfairness could fall upon us so soon. Without the house insurance, we could not get the credit of the housing accumulation fund. In spite of all my explanations made, they just refused to grant insurance. I got to know this refusal was in accordance to law that I could not go against. On account of the time limit of one month required for payment a loan must be obtained otherwise the contract would be broken.  So I tried to apply for a commercial loan rapidly and the loan was granted after one week. As far as I had known, those handicapped people would not be given such treatment abroad. Yet in our great and proud country, the handicapped people had been meeting such injustice. The handicapped people had been suffering under the difficulties of surviving. This incomplete in legal regulations compelled us to spend an extra 28,000 yuan in house buying. In my impression this refusal in insurance granting is a social discrimination against the handicapped people. Sometimes I really felt handicapped people might not be looked upon as human beings but just demons by the masses. We're looked upon as merely creatures without affection, life, joy, sadness, needs, family members or relatives, social intercourse or anything possessed by human beings.

    I have made an investigation on how people looked upon blind people among the people for over 2,600 person-times through my free piano hotline. The final conclusion I arrived at was that the image of blind persons obtained by a lot of   people was that 'the blind wore rugged clothing, holding a stick in hand, walking by groping along. Some of them did not even had eyes but ugly faces. They depended on begging or performing for living on roads or streets.' I felt very sad to have such a result of investigation. I wondered, 'Was that an image of mine? Absolutely no!' Let me tell all those who had known about my life passage. Blind People also hoped to win a fruitful life through exerting their own efforts. Blind people had their own aesthetic conceptions. They also hope to put on beautiful clothing. However, their utmost hope is on the avoidance of being looked upon through distorted views. In reality blind people were the same as healthy people, except they could not have any chance of seeing how beautiful the world is. But the audio and the tactile sense replaced their sense of seeing. Blind people are just like this way I had been.

Better All Accidents Be Mine

    When summer came, I had come to think of the blue sea again. We invited good friends Zhao Xiaoxing and Liu Ying to visit Golden Coast together. That place had left me with beautiful memories. But I did not know this time the memory embedded in my mind was frightful.

    We went swimming in the sea in the afternoon of arrival. The waves were high at that time. I could swim. But we all rented life buoys and were having a good time. But for reasons I did not know, Lili suddenly went swimming off shore with his life buoy. I knew he usually forbade me to swim towards deep water. But what had happened on that day? I yelled at him twice without getting any answer. Zhao and Liu also yelled to stop his swimming off shore. I saw him still swimming towards off shore. So I tried to catch up with him. Usually I could swim much faster than he could. But at that time I could not catch up with him. When I was getting nearer and nearer and getting less than ten meters from him, a frightful scene appeared. A motor boat appeared in the distance and came speeding to approach the region for swimming. The region for swimming was separated with ropes and black buoys from the motor boat region on our left side. The boat had came to halt near Lili but a big wave suddenly swept over and all of the boat hit Lili. I was swept into the water. I surfaced first without seeing Lili. My mind was suddenly swept empty. Soon Lili also surfaced but could not answer me no matter how I called him. I tried my best to get quickly to his side and held him. Then I saw he was bleeding on his head. At the time a motor boat stopped floating near us. The man on the launch said he rented the boat. At seeing the accident, he advised us to rush to the infirmary for urgent help. I forgot how I got Lili lifted to the shore. The doctor at the infirmary said it was not known whether there were bleeding inside Lili's skull or not. So it was necessary for us to send Lili to the hospital for a CT examination in Changli County.

    While we were waiting for the infirmary to call an ambulance, I went back to the hotel we lodged in to invite Manager Huang. We had became friends with the manager since we would visit there every year. I held Lili in my arms to get on the ambulance that was speeding like an arrow with horns blowing. There Zhao and Liu could spoke only one sentence "How could it happen?" I did not cry. I could not know how serious Lili's injury could be. I could not imagine the danger of being struck by the large object of a boat on his head. I dare not think any more. Seeing the injury on his head kept on bleeding, my heart was under utmost tension. Why had the accident inflicted been on him but not me? Lili had been living a difficult life ever since his childhood. I could certainly appreciate the seriousness of the injury on his skull. After arriving at the hospital, a series of diagnostic examinations were made. When the electroencephalogram was being taken, I nearly fainted while hearing the queer sounds of the instrument. But I kept reminding myself to hold on because I knew Lili was in need of me. Our two friends standing there repeated  the same sentence "How could it happen?" The results of the examinations showed a minor cerebral concussion. If nothing serious took place before the evening, then worries would be over. I felt relaxed after hearing the result. The trouble maker was a young man with short sight. He said he was trying to find his return route and took Lili's head as the black buoy. At night I had Lili to sleep while I kept watch him patiently fearing the appearance of something unexpected. When I saw Lili at sound asleep I was afraid of losing him. I had promised to bring him happiness. I really hoped for living a life in his company and continue to give him happiness in my whole life. Since Lili was my dearest one in the world.