THE LAST MAN TO CARE FOR HIS PARENTS
As the photojournalist was hunting for the last remaining wild musk deer on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, a fierce storm rolled in and drove him to the home of a local nomad named Tsetar Bum, where he took shelter for the night.
A few days later he penned an article entitled “The Last Man to Care for His Parents,” which he published in the newspaper and online. In the article he wrote about how Tsetar Bum was an ordinary nomad of Tsezhung County who lived in a ten-yard-square mud hut that he called his “house,” which was located in a remote valley sixty miles from the county seat. He was about thirty years old, but he’d never actually been to this county seat. His father was bedridden, and Tsetar Bum had been helping him go to the toilet for over ten years. His mother had been blind for nine years. After his parents became like this, Tsetar Bum’s wife took the kids and left. Tsetar Bum had a younger sister and a younger brother, but his sister had long since left to get married and his brother had long since left to become a monk. Tsetar Bum relied on the meager income he received from renting out his land to take care of his invalid parents and to lead an ascetic life of chanting and religious practice, free from any ill will whatsoever.
Shortly thereafter reporters from across the land, extremely dubious of the story, gathered in Tsezhung County like clouds in the autumn. The County Party Committee not only arranged for the head of the Propaganda Department to personally escort the reporters to Tsetar Bum’s house, they also had him personally translate for them. The scene was just like a press conference organized for a major affair of state. The press pack jostled with one another and shot their hands in the air, and whoever was given permission by the head of the Propaganda Department directed their question to Tsetar Bum.
Reporter A: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, are you aware that, in the present era, you are probably the only person in the whole world who takes care of his parents?”
“The only person in the whole world? Three Jewels, that’s completely impossible.”
Reporter B: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, what is your reason for taking care of your parents?”
“Ah tsi, what are you talking about? I’ve never heard of needing a reason to take care of your parents.”
Reporter C: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, it is my understanding that you also have a sister and a brother. If that’s true, wouldn’t it be better for the three of you to at least take turns looking after your parents?”
“Take turns? I’ve never heard of such a thing. If you have the chance to take care of your parents, it’s your good fortune for accumulating merit. Besides, my sister left to get married ages ago, so she belongs to another family now. My brother’s taken his vows and wears the robes of a monk. How could I possibly expect him to wipe someone’s butt?”
Reporter D: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, in that case, do your sister and brother provide you with any support?”
“Of course they do. My sister makes me tsampa and brings me butter and cheese and yogurt and milk. And my brother buys me salt and tea.”
Reporter E: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, it is my understanding that your county seat has an old people’s home. Why don’t you send your parents there? That way you could get married, have kids, have a happy life.”
“These people’s questions are so strange. Why would a son send his parents to an old people’s home if he’s still alive? Heh, if I get married and have a kid, and he sends me to an old folks’ home when I get old, isn’t that just so he can have a happy life himself?”
Reporter F: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, I have a rather impolite question. Does your brain work normally? Have you ever been to see a doctor? My apologies.”
“Heh, if it’s true that I’m the only person in the whole world who takes care of his parents … heh, then I think my brain works more normally than anyone’s.”
Reporter G: “Mr. Tsetar Bum, it is my understanding that you haven’t been outside of this place once in twenty or thirty years, and that you’ve never even been to the county seat. There have been enormous changes in the outside world in the last thirty years; don’t you want to go and see what it’s like?”
“Heh, sounds like one of those changes is that I’ve become the only one who takes care of his parents. Three Jewels, I couldn’t stomach seeing changes like that.”
The reporters fell silent. In their minds this scruffy nomad had gradually transformed into some sort of dazzling international dignitary. For a moment they became overawed, and no one dared ask another question.
Plucking up his courage, the final reporter asked, “Are your actions the fruits of Tsezhung County’s long propaganda campaign to promote Spiritual Civilization?”
“I don’t understand this question,” Tsetar Bum said to the head of the Propaganda Department.
“He said, ‘That goes without saying,’ ” the head of the Propaganda Department translated for the reporters.
Following a vigorous publicity drive by the reporters and a concerted campaign of self-aggrandizement by the Propaganda Department, Tsezhung County was awarded the title of Nationwide Leading County in Spiritual Civilization.