"It is all because of my mother that I am able to stand up again today with a new life and a job," said Wang Cheng-yang, a victim of poliomyelitis. "I am very grateful to her. She tried all sorts of methods to cure me. I can never repay her indescribable love for me."

Everyone at the Taipei Physically Disabled Rehabilitation Association knows Wang Cheng-yang. He is devoted to the organization's activities and project planning. Everyone is curious about how, despite his polio, he can keep up his optimism and cheerfully help other people.

"It is all because of my mother that I am able to stand up again today with a new life and a job," said Cheng-yang. "I am very grateful to her. She tried all sorts of methods to cure me. I can never repay her indescribable love for me." While growing up, his mother's shoulders were like crutches that helped him over countless pitfalls, so that he can now face the future bravely.

In May this year, the Tzu Kuang Association held its second annual "Great Love" award ceremony to recognize the parents of the ten most outstanding handicapped people. Mrs. Wang Ching-yin, a Tzu Chi commissioner, was one of them.

A mother's love

Polio was in full force in Taiwan from 1956 to 1966. Worried parents with feverish infants were often seen in the hospitals. Mrs. Wang was there too. She anxiously asked a doctor, "Why does my child have polio?"

During that time, polio vaccinations were not common. Those who were lucky might have only one leg or one arm paralyzed. Less fortunate victims would have to lie in bed forever. At that time, Cheng-yang was less than one year old. Although both of his legs were paralyzed, he was fortunate that he could still move the upper part of his body.

Mrs. Wang went to every hospital to find a cure for her son. She would pay any price for any alternative treatment to cure him. She also often kowtowed to the deities in smoke-filled temples, praying that her son's condition could improve even a tiny bit.

At that time, the deposit fee for admission to a hospital was NT$1,800 (US$45), and it cost NT$200 (US$5) each time to see a doctor. This was quite a heavy burden for Cheng-yang's father, a civil servant who made only NT$700 (US$17.50) a month. However, Mrs. Wang never once complained that her husband's salary at the electric power company was never enough. Going between the hospital and their home, she did odd jobs here and there to supplement their income.

She also went to a distant wholesale market to shop for food, so that she could save a little money to buy all sorts of medicines. Cheng-yang was too young to know the value of these medicines, but he remembers that his mother always reminded him to carefully take them all.

What he still remembers the most is that every morning and evening his mother, carrying his new-born sister on her back, would put him in a large bucket to soak in herbal liquid for some time to reinvigorate his immobilized legs. After constant exercises, six-year-old Cheng-yang was finally able to walk to school with a pair of crutches.

A mother's burden

It rains a lot in Tanshui, a suburb north of Taipei. When Cheng-yang was first admitted to Tamkang University in Tanshui, it was hard for him to get used to the rain.

One night, he kept tossing and turning in his rented room. All night long, he seemed to hear the sound of a helicopter flying inside the room. He was so afraid that he could not close his eyes until dawn. The next day his uncle came to see him and told him to go home immediately because his father had just died in Honduras.

His father had been transferred to Honduras by the power company two months before his death. Before he left for his overseas post, he went with Cheng-yang to look for an apartment. When he was satisfied that Cheng-yang had everything he needed, he left. That was the last time they saw each other.

Cheng-yang's impression is that his father was always rather serious, but he knew his father loved him very much. For years, he would take him on his motorcycle to the bus stop, rain or shine. Cheng-yang always thought his father would leave when they had arrived at the bus stop, but one rainy morning after he had gotten on the bus, he was surprised to see his father still waiting there, without any raincoat, to see him off.

While going through his father's effects, Cheng-yang and his mother discovered that his father had opened a savings account in his name. There was not much money in the account, but it was quite evident that his father had planned to help him out this way.

After his father passed away, his mother went to work for the power company as a low-level employee. She knew that it would not be easy for her to support a family of three children on her meager salary. As their lives became more difficult, she refused to seek help from anyone else. "Stay in school as long as you can," she told her children. "Don't worry about how difficult it might be for me." She always wanted to be optimistic before her children. She felt that they should not have to shoulder her burden. She preferred to shed her tears behind them.

A mother's words

Mrs. Wang took Cheng-yang to the Taipei Physically Disabled Rehabilitation Association when he was very young. She wanted him to know that there were other people like him and that they were all trying to live a good life.

Mrs. Wang first learned about Tzu Chi several years ago. Every time she returned home from her volunteer work at Tzu Chi Hospital, she would share with her children what she had seen. She wanted them to learn from these true stories. "You only need to make enough money for enough food to eat and enough clothes to keep you warm," she said. "We should keep on helping other people."

Cheng Yang's studies went smoothly and he graduated from university. He then had interviews at twenty or so companies, but they simply told him to wait to hear from them. He felt very sorry for himself, but his mother thought differently. "The most important thing is never to give up on yourself," she said to him. "Even if nobody else wants you, you still have Mom to lean on!" She also encouraged him to keep on studying. After he received his master's degree, he finally got a job with the power company.

When Cheng-yang was thirty-seven years old, he married his wife, Ping-ju, also a victim of polio. He had been a bit apprehensive about the marriage, but his mother encouraged him, saying that since both of them were handicapped, they should try to overlook their defects and love each other more.

They have been married for four years and have two healthy, adorable children. Although Cheng-yang can only watch them play or hug them when he is sitting down, he still said to me happily, "With my daughter and my son, my life is perfect as it is!"

Cheng-yang's brother, Cheng-fu, works at the Information Industry Institute. After work each day, he goes to Cheng-yang's house to play with his nephew and niece and to see if his brother needs anything. He regularly does all the shopping for the family.

Cheng-fu does not feel that this is anything remarkable. "I never feel my brother is any different from anyone else. He also helps us in any way he can."

When Ping-ju talked about the love and care between her husband and his brother, tears filled her eyes. Her husband cared for her very much, and when she was pregnant her life was made more enjoyable with the help of his mother and brother, who lived in the next building.

After their children were born, Mrs. Wang would encourage Cheng-fu to take Cheng-yang and his family for a drive in the country. Sometimes Cheng-yang and Ping-ju would ask his mother to take the children out to play, but Mrs. Wang insisted the couple should always be with their children. Her parenting philosophy is that children need their parents the most, and that parents should not let their children regret that their parents never play with them. Parents should take time out to be with their children no matter how busy they are.

Mrs. Wang always carried Cheng-yang on her back when he was small, twenty or thirty years ago. Cheng-yang now sees his mother's strong back supporting the whole family.

Mrs. Wang quit her job a few years ago so that she could devote herself completely to her volunteer work in Tzu Chi. Cheng-yang was happy about that because he had been afraid that after his father died, his mother would lose all sense of purpose in life. He also donates ten percent of his salary to Tzu Chi every month.

On receiving the "Great Love" award, Mrs. Wang commented, "There are lots of people here who quietly give of themselves for others." She was happy that everyone in her family showed up at the ceremony. She said, "I want to thank my sons and my daughter-in-law, because they support my volunteering at Tzu Chi, and they always drive me to work very early in the morning."

Like other Tzu Chi volunteers, Mrs. Wang's daily schedule is fully booked, from praying for the dead to visiting the poor and elderly. When she finally sits down to talk to her children and grandchildren, they all know she will share more touching stories from Tzu Chi.