azhong wrote:(A writing practice basically, but I also try to say something meaningful.)
I think I would say "basically a writing practice exercise but I also mean to ask a question" (if I understood you correctly).
How do people in the country where you were born or you are living now see the senior citizens? And how about you yourself? Do you consider it comfortable for an aged person to stay in your country for the rest of their life?
I would say "see senior citizens" without the "the."
Americans often discriminate against senior citizens. These days, many younger Americans blame climate change on previous generations. It seems far more common for children to send their parents to homes for old people than to take care of them themselves.
Indians are exactly the opposite. In traditional Indian societies, older people usually have a lot of authority over younger people as long as they are alive. Some Hindu legends even say we are supposed to worship our parents like gods. Child abuse is common and usually ignored, but treating anyone older than yourself badly seems almost unforgivable. Children are expected to take care of their parents when they get old. Parents think that children who don't do this are spoiled, stupid, and ungrateful and don't love their parents. Many parents even want their children to live with them for the rest of their lives.
I intend to take care of my parents myself once they get too old to take care of themselves because I don't think they would trust a stranger to take care of them and I can't assume my brother will do everything necessary to take care of them by himself. I want to make sure I live close enough to them that I can at least visit fairly often and make sure they're okay. Otherwise, I will end up in the situation my father was in. My grandmother lived in India and was a hypochondriac, but he lived here in the US. Whenever she said she was very sick or going to die, it was difficult for him to tell from so far away to what extent this was true.
It's Sep 9 today in the Chinese calendar, a customary festival for the elderly, though it was never an official day off AFAIK.
September is the ninth month, and "nine" in Chinese, 九, is homophonous with "long", 久. The only double-nine day then turns into a day wishing the elders long lives, also to remind young people of respecting, helping and cherishing the aged. After all, everyone would get old eventually.
I would say "...'nine' in Chinese, 九, is homophonous with 'long', 久, so the double-nine day turns into a day wishing elders/older people long lives as well as to remind young people to respect, help, and cherish the elderly. After all, everyone will get..."
In the recent years the birth rate here in Taiwan has been decreasing, and thus the rate of elderly people is rising and is a potential outcome burden, though not yet as serious as in Japan.
What do you mean by an "outcome burden"?
Apart from that, I would say, "In recent years, the birth...the number of elderly people is rising..."
I am living in a small town with few good job chances, and most young adults born here choose to stay in bigger cities for better development. Some of them come back to visit parents only occasionally on important festivals. I see some of the elders live alone, some live with a foreign worker who pushes their wheelchairs and cooks for them, and another some live involuntarily in nursing houses.
I would say "some...others...and still others..."
About five years ago a plan of day-caring centers was widely practiced. The elders, especially those who lived alone but could still walk on their own, were encouraged to join a center near them as if students go to school. They would have some activities there in several mornings and then ended with having a lunch together, so as to have some social interactions. It's halted, however, due to the epidemic. This plan is a good start, but I think Taiwan still has its way to go in taking better care of senior citizens, both physically and mentally.
I'm not quite sure whether I understood this part correctly, but if I did, I would say, "About five years ago, many people put older people in daycare centers. Older people...near them like students going to school/like they were students going to school. They would have some activities for them to do in the morning several days a week, which would end with them having lunch together so they could have some social interaction. However, this has stopped because of the pandemic. The plan is a good start, but...has a way to go..."