A sad story

A sad story…

The childless widow is very rich; her bungalow compound is so large – there is a lily pond, a swimming pool and fruit trees ….  In her bungalow she has two galleries filled with paintings and precious stone ornaments – so much luxury to enjoy and she and her late husband had enjoyed it for a long time.

Alas! In her dotage she let in a wolf in sheep’s clothing and she has become senile and is completely helpless now – doesn’t know her wealth is being squandered by the wolf.

Is there a moral to this sad story? What came to my mind was “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.”! Now for the moral – beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing?

Is he a wolf in sheep's clothing?
Is he a wolf in sheep’s clothing with a get- rich- fast idea?

Author: Jassmine Teo

I came to know about the SHC from eNN (Seng Kang). My interests are varied. I write on the forum regularly to improve my writing. In my autumn years, my priority is voluntary service. Hope to meet like-minded people and help initiate a programme/project for the disabled like the hearing impaired.

17 thoughts on “A sad story”

  1. About the post – no offence meant. Wanted to attach a picture of a female ‘predator’ but didn’t know how to upload it beside the first picture. The sad story has a few morals though which make the telling worthwhile I suppose.

  2. When I was started to fellow-up the incident of the rich old lady, I was angry and sad that why let the foreigner manipulate by our native? In my second thoughts this might due to the sociology and could be happen in many of old folks in any country.

    In tradition culture, most of families have believed that taking care of their old members is their duty. However, in the modern life in the culture had been changed and many families facing the trouble with looking after the old peoples due to busy in their daily life. In fact, most of the Y generation might find that old folks will be additional burden in their daily life and neglected them alone in the house or old folks home, day by day, old folks will feel loneliness and no one to talk to if they encounter any problem than once they have an opportunity to meet someone who care and concern of them will fully trust in all these peoples who covered with shees’s clothing and get into the trap.

    Most of the peoples when they get old the behavior might change like a child and need more attention and concern by others, family members need to adopt and understand in their need, show some caring and concern to share the joys and happiness with the old folks, be their listener in order to let them feel lost in their life… For peoples like us, need to make around with friends, share the knowledge and take some advice by the peoples around you to prevent the loneliness in our future life, don’t let any culprits get any chances to manipulate our life, also be the modern pioneer future and enjoy in our life in golden ages.

    Cheers

    Judy

  3. Jess – can share more abt “Vanity of Vanities, all r vanity”? Don’t really get it.
    Think she didn’t pack a lot of living in her past hence hv to pay for companionship at her later age, d sad thing to me is that her brain cells failed her much too soon…..

  4. When an old woman cleaner was cheated of her life savings of a few hundred dollars by a local guy, why was the reaction not as bitter? Why was the reporting media relatively silent? Why did so few people, if any, stand up to fight for that victim?

    Why? Because it was a negligible sum. Because it was by a local con-man.

    Personally, I think that local con-man deserves a harsher penalty, for the reason that money is but pieces of paper if you don’t need it for survival. However, our society and hence most people (via the mass media) are only concerned with the absolute amount and 40 million is a lot of money.

    As the Yang Yin case is before the court of law, we shall wait and see. It would be egocentric to pass judgement based on sensational media reports or sacrosanct principles.

    “Non-Singaporean cheats Singaporean’s money” – what better headline than this to make “patriots” dig into their pockets for a copy of the news? The newspapers sell like hotcakes while noble citizens scramble and shove to scale the moral high ground and throw stones at the condemned man (and his wife).

    My religion teaches me to be merciful and, if possible, forgiving.

    At the risk of being called another “sheep in wolf’s clothing”, I say the man should be given a chance to explain himself. I do not know him. Neither do I know the “rich and helpless” old woman. But we all know a huge amount of money is at stake. This world will be a better place if every sad story is as straight forward as it seems. And judges will have an easier job.

    If indeed the court finds the man guilty of deception, we have to relook the function of the LPA, the very instrument created to protect the old and vulnerable.

    Finally, instead of pointing fingers at wolves and vixens, which we know we cannot eradicate, we should try to protect the isolated hens and ducks, occasionally a peahen perhaps.

    DC

  5. Indeed there are numerous human wolves among each modern society. They will put on the sheep’s clothing when the circumstances arise.
    The disguise and deception will prevail when the would-be victims increase their
    vulnerabilities.
    In the case of madam Chung, she became increasingly more vulnerable after the death of her husband. The course of subsequent events made her a very lonely but rich woman. She started to explore possibilities outside her areas of familiarity and associate with Mr Yang who saw through the woman’s predicament and preyed on her as a predator. In effect she gave all her assets by signing the LPA which now hangs in the balance as it is not certain that it can be revoked.
    Is there a lesson to be learnt from this unfortunate episode.
    Generally, people want to keep to themselves and do not want to associate with
    others even with those whom they know. How many of them know their neighbours well and want to be closer?
    For instance, do they travel together? Probably Madam Chung travelled to China not with familiar people like friends and close relatives, which increased
    her vulnerability many folds.
    As Daniel has rightly asserted, wolves cannot be eradicated. But one can mitigate the magnitude of vulnerability.
    Robert

  6. I think the old lady must have had a good and fulfilling married life. She must have been well taken care of and doted on. That’s why her needs after her husband passed on. And probably this guy must have made her feel loved again. I had a wonderful married life and a doting husband. Holidays, fine dining, bowling, outdoor activities. I have done all that n much more. A very fulfilling life. Sad to say that some women lose their husbands to illness or to other women too soon. Where they are too young to be widowed or divorced or too old to find true love again.
    I am paying for companionship n I am not ashamed about it. I love music n I love to dance. Who can do it with me. The young n good dancers whom I pay to do with me. They make me look and feel good on the dance floor. I get my dose of exercise n enjoyment while it lasts and I am treated with care and respect. I go to bed a contented woman. And a good night’s sleep every time. I do not smoke or drink or gamble. What better way to spend my hard earned money? It’s worth every cent I am paying for my dancing.
    Carly

  7. I think the case of Madam Chung can teach us something. In fact, when I first read the story, I was wondering why I did not queue up to be her company. Mistake or too slow. One of us, or I should say, I should have queue up to be her friend. Invite her to be a member of SHC.

    I am sure she has her reasons for letting the young man be the LPA. She was obviously sane at that time when the LPA was signed. It is not fair to call him a wolf. She has definitely her reaons.

    Of course, this does not mean that the young man should go around claiming to be a director of an institution. If this is illegal, then, it’s another story, and the law can take care of that.

    If there is anyone out there with a $20m property, please send out a registration list, for people to queue. The world has many people waiting and wanting to be a LPA. It’s unfair to call that person a wolf with or without skin.

    Who does not want to inherit a $40m property? Unfortunately, I dont think there is any such opportunity during a lifetime.

    Terence Seah

  8. The fact that she willingly give him legal right to manage her finance when she was sane shows that this guy has won over her heart. He looks charismatic, so no problem for him to keep her happy.
    This also shows that when one is above basic needs, she or he is willing to part money to get their other needs met.

    Consider he had moved in since 2008 and you would wonder why no one taken action It was not till he had full authority to control her finance and her niece realized in 2012 the regular transfer of money from her stopped, that she started to take action.

    She said she travelled alot, so you can imagine she had been neglecting her.

    Had he been sincere and kind I am sure he may even succeed in getting all her fortune

    But a greedy wolf will alas revealed his tail And after she recovered from her dementia she realized she had been ill-treated by him

  9. Hi Freda
    The expression refers to the futility of life. We spend our younger days acquiring and accumulating for a good life, but in old age we suffer from mental and physical debility and become useless and totally dependent on caregivers. What happens to all our achievements? – all come to naught!. And when we die, our assets will be given to people who did not work for them. Viewed from this perspective, personal achievements do seem futile and life does appear meaningless.

    Life is full of little and big ironies! :( :)

  10. When I wrote my piece, I was apparently supporting YY. No I am not. As I have said, the case is now before the court of law. Let’s wait and see. It is the mass media that I want to talk about.

    We do not personally know any of those characters in the tussle. Any descriptions of them, good, bad or ugly, largely come from the media, mainly the gossip evening papers. They play to the gallery with alarming headlines because they want to sell their papers.

    My point is – the old woman cleaner who was cheated of a few hundred dollars probably went hungry for a few days and now struggling to survive. Why didn’t the newspaper reporters follow up and try to help? The rich millionaire woman, ”cheated” of 40 million sat in a posh Merz with her lawyers. Around her are many close relatives, helpful friends and kind-hearted strangers. Reporters flock in to get the best shots. This piece of news has dominated the front page of the Chinese evening dailies for weeks.

    Amusing, but that’s the reality in a modern society.

    DC

  11. This post attracted many perspective from SHC members.
    Some got misunderstood, some come in for a humourous angle, some even envy her (for her early good life and asset until this befall her). I am curious how she and her husband accumulate such amount of asset however.

    She is lucky that she got all the tangible Cs (Cash, car, club, Bungalow instead of Condo, …. ) and enjoy a good life. Truth is that all these Cs cannot be brought into the final C (coffin). She outlives her husband and thus feel the need for the 2 intangible C s (companionship and compassion). Thus the opportune tour guide came in to fill the gap.

    There is then skewed view that the LPA is at fault. The LPA need to be endorsed by a cetificate issuer which have to be a doctor or lawyer. The lawyer role is to show that she is sane when she make the LPA to the guide. Her clouded judgement is no fault of the instrument LPA. The 3 months processing period is also for any one objectional to the LPA to raise it.

    To raise an analogy. The freedom of the female to choose your own spouse as opposed to fixed marriage arranged by match maker in old Chinese custom has not seen happy long lasting marriage but increasing divorce. Thus is the freedom to choose own spouse at fault that we shall revert back to fixed marriage ??

    Anyway, many of us are still struggling to chase our Cs to have time to be distracted by suitors. Only upon achieving those tangible Cs and nearer to old age then we realize that those intangible Cs like living life with confidence, conviction, compassion and having companionship is more fulfilling.

  12. I know I may have ruffled some feathers with my comments. Just want to share why I do what I have done.
    A year or two ago when i did not know the correct way to dance, some SHC members did not really want to dance with me cos I was really hopeless on the dance floor. Heard through the grapevine that some of them think that jus because we are “single” at our age, we are desperate and would queue jus to have a date or a dance with them. The better dancers, single or married are all “choped” already. So they are riding on their high horses. No need to Q. Jus pay n u can get the best. I dun need to justify my actions but it irks me to hear such comments coming from fellow members.
    Carly

  13. Hi Carly
    Bordering on the side tracking from the main topic, but still I would like to voice a
    piece of my mind.
    I fully subscribe to your sentiment about the dancing “world” in SHC.
    When I joined the club I was also “ostracised” by those better dancers. Vividly I remember on one occasion when I approached a fairly sophisticated member at a SHC event, I was not given the grace to try out at least one dance. But what do I do? Yes I attended dance classes at cc to polish my skills. Although my steps are far from perfect I can move around in a dance hall doing elementary Disco Rock, Cha-cha, Rhumba, Waltz, Salsa etc.
    In your comments you have let out some glimpses of your life and showed how you manage your life-style by having the cake and eat it too.
    The last time I saw you at the Kovan CC, you were doing exactly what you have described, immersing in the joy of dancing.
    Be it as it may, let us continue to enjoy events put up by SHC for no man is an island.
    Robert

  14. Thank you Robert for your comments. Yes, I can fully understand how you felt and it is not something you or I would want to happen. But this is the real world. Good on you that you persevered n now you can groove to the music of different tempo. And yes, I am glad I went for dance lessons and now enjoying myself very much. And I am very supportive of activities organised by our SHC members unless they clash with my prior appointments.
    Carly

  15. The article in today’s paper (Sunday Times) where the writer calls for law to protect elderly from scams is really the way to go to protect the elderly and I hope it won’t be shot down by critics. We all grow old – it’s a matter of time – hence this law will also protect us from financial abuse.

    The writer says doctors, social workers, lawyers, bankers and clergy could be mandated to report suspected financial abuse. I hope people who do not agree to have this law, can be given the option of opting out – or vice versa: those who want the legal protection can opt in.

    I would up the ante and suggest that the ‘whistle blower’ that uncovers a financial abuse be commended publicly. :)

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