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Reader's Digest - December 2017
Reader's Digest - December 2017
DECEMBER 2017
M IRACLES
in Real Life
Four stories that will inspire
awe and touch your heart
PAGE ... 100
P. | 100
AMY KLEWITZ; M ODEL: KATH ERIN E SQUI RE. THI S PAGE: A MANDA F RIEDMAN
26 No More Regrets 56 Lower Your Risk for
2 | 122017
86 Creature Comforts
Readers’ real-life stories of pets
and wildlife that amuse, help,
heal and inspire.
P. | 52
DEPARTMENTS
16 Surviving Substandard
Sleep 5 Editor’s Note
18 News from the World 6 Quotable Quotes
of Medicine 7 Letters
20 Medical Mystery 8 See the World Differently
19 My Life
20 Good News
22 Finish This Sentence
24 As Kids See It
50 Laughter,
the Best Medicine
62 Points to Ponder
84 Life’s Like That
114 Brainteasers
116 Trivia
117 Word Power
P. | 72 120
119 All in a Day’s Work
Next Month
121 Last Laugh
122017 | 3|
I NTE RNATI O NAL
Editor-in-Chief
Raimo Moysa
Editors
Mary S. Aikins
Janie Allen
Alex Finer
Art Director
Marilee Lamarque
4 | 122017
Editor’s Note
Keeping It Real
WITH ALL THE CONTROVERSY swirling around “fake news” in the
media, it’s a good time to remind you, dear readers, that you won’t
find any of that in Reader’s Digest. Here’s why: We are committed to
publishing strong and accurate stories.
Millions of people around the world turn to this little magazine every
month because of the care with which we document our stories. We guard
readers’ trust by holding our editorial researchers, editors and writers to
high standards. For example, we require our writers to talk to people
with first-hand knowledge of their subject. Then we give their story to
fact-checkers, who confirm that sources were accurately quoted. We get
our facts straight.
What about the articles we reprint from other publica-
tions, you ask? Thanks to our global presence, we
have researchers and fact-checkers around the
world who check these stories for us.
For example, in this issue, “Making Yogurt, Heal-
ing Minds,” from the UK’s Observer magazine, was
vetted by our European Editorial Office. “I Was
Blind But Now I see,” from Toronto Life, was thor-
oughly checked out by our editorial office in
Montreal. Our drama, “41 Hours Alone in the
Snow,” from the Swiss SonntagsZeitung mag-
azine, was confirmed by our Swiss edition.
You can feel secure in knowing that
Reader’s Digest is in the real news business.
Always have been. Always will be.
No fake news here.
042017 | 5|
Quotable Quotes
JEALOUSY IS You know that old saying:
ALL THE FUN “You’re never too old
to play. You’re only too
YOU THINK old for low-rise jeans.”
THEY HAD. E LLE N D E G E N E R E S ,
ERICA JONG, wr it er television host
F ROM TOP: KEN M CKAY/I TV/SH UTTERSTOC K. SHUTTERSTOCK. DAN CALLISTE R/SHU TTE RSTOCK
WHAT LIES BEHIND US AND WHAT LIES BEFORE
US ARE TINY MATTERS COMPARED TO WHAT LIES
WITHIN US. H E N RY S TA N LE Y H A S K I N S , a u t h o r a n d s t o c k b r o k e r
6 | 122017
Letters
READERS COMMENT ON OUR RECENT ISSUES
122017 | 7
8
|
112017
P HOTOS: © JIM DEN EVAN /BARC ROFT USA /GETTY IMAGES
SEE
THE WORLD ...
112017 | 9
10 | 112017
... DIFFERENTLY
Even if this looks like the work of
extraterrestrials, these circular
shapes are purely human in origin.
After more than two years of plan-
ning and 15 days of hands-on work,
the American artist Jim Denevan
and three of his colleauges cre-
ated this spectacular piece of art
in the desert sands of Black Rock,
Nevada. A circumference of more
than 14 kilometers not only guar-
antees that this work is visible at
an altitude of 12,000 meters (this
page), but also makes it the largest
sand drawing in the world!
112017 | 11
HEALTH
Experts debunk
some common
misconceptions
about this potentially
life-saving vaccine
The Truth
About
Flu Shots
BY JENN SINRICH
12 | 112017
January or February, a flu shot is YOU’RE TOO OLD
still recommended. TO GET THE VACCINE
Vaccination is especially important
YOU ALREADY HAD THE for people 65 years and older because
FLU THIS YEAR, SO they are at high risk for complications
THE VACCINE IS USELESS from flu. In recent years, the CDC
Are you sure it was the flu and not notes, it’s estimated that between 71
some other virus? “Many other percent and 85 percent of deaths and
viruses can feel like the flu,” says Ali between 54 percent and 70 percent
Mileski, RNC, senior staff nurse at of hospitalizations related to the
a New York City hospital. Even if it disease have occurred among people
was, getting one strain of influenza in that age group.
doesn’t protect you from the others. Ask your doctor about two vaccines
designed for people 65 and older.
IT WILL GIVE YOU The “high dose vaccine” contains
A FULL-FLEDGED FLU four times the amount of antigen as
According to the Centers for Disease the regular flu shot and, in one clini-
Control (CDC), flu vaccines are cal trial, resulted in 24 percent fewer
made in two ways: with inactivated influenza infections as compared to
(and therefore noninfectious) the standard dose flu vaccine. The
viruses or with no virus at all. Some “adjuvanted flu vaccine” creates a
people have a low-grade fever and stronger immune response; an obser-
muscle aches following the shot, but vational study showed that it was 63
they last only a day or two and are percent more effective than regular-
considerably less severe than dose unadjuvanted flu shots.
the symptoms caused by the flu.
THE SHOT HURTS!
YOU WILL HAVE TO FORGO This is a surprisingly big concern,
YOUR WORKOUT THAT DAY even for grown-ups; a Target/Harris
Working out before or after you Interactive poll showed that 23
get jabbed may actually help your percent of adults don’t get their flu
body churn out more flu-fighting shot because of a fear of needles.
antibodies. In a very small Iowa But avoiding the misery of influenza
State University study, students who is worth a pinpirck, so do what you
jogged or biked for 90 minutes can to lessen the pain. “Tensing a
after they got the flu shot had nearly muscle makes it hurt more, so try to
double the number of antibodies relax the arm and focus on breath-
compared to students who ing,” says Amy Baxter, MD, founder
didn’t exercise. and CEO of MMJ Labs.
112017 | 13
HEALTH
Surviving
Substandard
Sleep
BY SAMANTHA RIDEOUT
After hours of tossing and turn- ing to feel some sleep inertia [other-
ing, surviving the day ahead feels like wise known as grogginess and
a tall order. Your first instinct might disorientation] for a while, but don’t
be to reach for a vat of coffee. This let that frame your day. Open the
may pick you up temporarily, but blinds and get some daylight so your
remember that caffeine could nega- body knows it’s time to be awake, or
tively affect your sleep quality up to step out for some fresh air.”
16 hours later. Feel free to grab a cup, If you’re struggling when the after-
but be reasonable in your consump- noon rolls around, a short snooze
tion so as not to set yourself up for a could help you over the hump. The
second rough night. ideal nap is 20 minutes—longer ones
ISTOCK PHOTO
“The best thing you can do is just put you at risk of entering, and then
hit the ground running,” says Neil interrupting, deep-stage sleep, caus-
Stanley, a member of the European ing you to feel even fuzzier than be-
Sleep Research Society. “You’re go- fore. Don’t be too concerned about
14 | 112017
whether or not you actually doze off: Before bed, unwind with a relaxing
in a study from the sleep research activity such as reading, meditation
center of Loughborough University or listening to quiet music. If you’re
in Britain, fatigued people who feeling worried, try putting those
had consumed 200 concerns aside by
milligrams of coffee writing them down
(equivalent to two and telling yourself
one
Sleeping poorly for
cups) and then rested they can always wait
without sleeping for until tomorrow. Above
15 minutes still reaped
benefits.
Physical activity—
month
or longer is considered
all, don’t stress about
the previous night,
which won’t cause any
even just taking a brisk chronic insomnia and long-term problems—
walk—could also give may require cognitive unless you let it propel
you an energy boost. behavioral therapy or you into a vicious
If you’re engaging in other treatments. cycle of sleeplessness
more active exercise, caused by anxiety over
however, do it at least sleeplessness. Instead,
three hours prior to bedtime so your lie down, close your eyes and allow
body has a chance to cool down your mind to wander. A night or two
before your next attempt at getting of superior slumber will have you
some shut-eye. back to normal in no time.
112017 | 15
NEWS FROM THE
World of Medicine
BY SAMANTHA RIDEOUT
16 | 112017
HEALTH
Medical
Mystery
BY SYDNE Y LONE Y
THE PATIENTS: Katie*, 26, and Ella*, and a half, Katie still hadn’t taken her
24, of Boston, United States first steps and only said a few words:
THE SYMPTOMS: Late-onset speech “Mama,” “Dada,” “dolly,” “bubbles.”
and motor-skill delay The family’s lives became a blur of
THE DOCTOR: Dr. David Sweetser, trips to various therapists. Laura had
PAPER ARTWORK BY KYLE BEAN; PHOTOGRAPHY BY MITCH PAYNE
112017 | 17
READER’S DIGEST
devote her time to caring for her system development. This glitch
daughters—and finding a definitive causes Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a
diagnosis. disorder discovered in 2007 that’s
At age six, Katie’s speech began to only been identified in about 350
deteriorate. She lost interest in play people worldwide.
and withdrew. Laura was terrified. At last, the family’s quest for an
To her relief, Katie’s condition answer was over. A Pitt-Hopkins
stabilized within a year. But over the diagnosis often comes as a relief,
next decade, developmental pediatri- says Sweetser, because it’s typically
cians and six geneticists a random genetic muta-
were consulted. Every tion that’s unique to
few months, the girls un- the child and not de-
derwent different exams. The clinic has tected in the parents.
Their blood and urine created a (Because Katie and
were analyzed; they had community for Ella share an identical
muscle and skin biopsies those who spent mutation, one parent
and were tested for a also carries the gene in
host of conditions. years seeking a small subset of egg or
The results were all answers. sperm cells.)
negative. The girls strug- The best news?
gled with constipation, Pitt-Hopkins isn’t
urinary tract infections and insomnia. progressive. Katie and Ella—now
Katie would periodically hyperventi- in their mid-20s—are doing well.
late, while Ella began having seizures Their cognitive age ranges from two
at age 13. Otherwise, their symptoms to five years, depending on the skill
were fairly identical. area. They love music and playing
In April 2011, when the sisters were in the sand on the beach. “They’re
in their early 20s, the family met happy, friendly young women,”
Dr. David Sweetser, the chief geneti- Sweetser says.
cist at the MassGeneral Hospital for After the diagnosis, MGH launched
Children, where the girls were being the world’s first Pitt-Hopkins clinic
treated. “It was daunting to look at to improve patient quality of life and
their medical sheets,” he says. “It was spearhead research that could lead to
a decades-long diagnostic odyssey.” targeted therapies. The clinic has cre-
Sweetser tried a new sequencing ated a community for families who
test that looks at every gene (all have spent years searching for an-
23,000) and discovered a mutation swers. “Just knowing what the defect
in a single one (TCF4) that plays is can lead to better treatment, and
a crucial role in brain and nervous hope for the future,” Sweetser says.
18 | 112017
MY LIFE
Blue-Beret Christmas
Peacekeeper
BY ANNE ROUMANOFF
112017 | 19
Good News
SOME OF THE POSITIVE STORIES COMING OUR WAY
BY TIM HULSE
20 | 122017
Star footballer’s charity move says, “As soon as I heard of Common
SPORT Professional footballers are Goal, I knew this was a chance for
known for their often huge wages, football to improve our world, and I
but not so much for their charitable wanted to be part of it.”
endeavors. But Manchester United’s
Spanish player, Juan Mata, is hoping Bringing books to refugees
to change all that. SOCIETY A minivan carrying a
He has committed to donating library of more than a thousand
1 per cent of his salary to a collective books now tours Athens thanks to a
fund called Common Goal, a group new initiative that aims to alleviate
of 120 charities in 80 countries run the boredom and creeping despair
Sources: Business, BBC News, 23.8.17. Sport, The Guardian, 17.8.17. Society, Good News Network, 21.8.17. Heroes, The Sun, 21.8.17
122017 | 21
FINISH THIS SENTENCE
… I still
hope to
find.
LIEVEN VERHASSEL
Belgium
about
with my husband. Spain
MARTA CALDAS
Portugal
last night.
BRUNO DENIS
Fra n c e
22 | 122017
… close by,
if you look at it
the right way. … my friend’s
TARJA KOSKI-VÄHÄLA
Fi n l a n d
heart.
He’s an idiot,
but his heart is golden.
WAN NUR ALIFAH ILYANA
Ma l a y s i a
… my
hometown,
where I had a happy
childhood.
REINHARD
G e r m a ny
… filled
with
tourists.
AHMAD HASSAN
… my bed Singapore
after a heavy
night shift.
HELMA VAN VUGT
t h e Ne t h e r l a n d s
… my grand-
daughter’s
imagination.
JEFF NORTHEY
Au s t ra l i a
122017 | 23
As Kids See It
granddaughter, Lilja. The other day store when I had my back turned for
she walked into the bathroom while about five seconds. I only became
I was sitting on the toilet, clapped aware when a lovely lady tapped me
her hands to her cheeks and excit- on my shoulder and whispered into
edly exclaimed, “Grandma, you my ear, “Excuse me, love, your child is
potty trained. I so proud!” dancing naked beside the potatoes.”
BARB KUNTSI cosmopolitan.com
24 | 122017
THE HMCS CALGARY had been if there were any hairs on it.
on deployment in the Red Sea for She replied, “Whoa! I am a mam-
several months when we made a mal. And Papa is REALLY a mammal!”
port stop in Dubai. The weapons buzzfeed.com
122017 | 25
Changing your thought process can free you
from feelings of guilt, shame and sorrow
No More
Regrets BY LISA FIELDS
26 | 122017
PHOTO: © SHUTTERSTOCK
G
READER’S DIGEST
28 | 122017
Stuttgart, Germany. “For a while, I was regrets across the adult life span. “Dis-
almost angry with myself, thinking if eases such as heart disease may more
only I had started earlier, I would now likely be observed. Not immediately,
be able to play more difficult pieces— but after 5, 10, 20 years.”
until I realized that, for me, that is not
what the cello is about. It´s about the Rising Above Regrets
enjoyment I get out of practicing.” Several strategies can help people dis-
entangle themselves from the power-
The Harm of Overthinking ful grips of their regrets.
What if regrets dominate your “One of the primary functions of re-
thoughts and you don’t (or can’t) take gret is to correct one’s mistakes,” says
action to resolve them within a rea- Marcel Zeelenberg, social psychology
sonable time frame? Unfortunately, professor at Tilburg University in the
these repetitive thoughts may nega- Netherlands, whose research focuses
tively impact your life. on the impact of regrets on decision-
“Regret can be a very destructive making. “Another function is to make
emotion,” Feeney says. “If you rumi- sure that we remember our mistakes
nate on countless possibilities that and learn from them. For both of
once were possible but are no longer these functions, it is important that
possible, that can be very damaging.” regret is painful. Otherwise, it would
Picture, for example, a retired not motivate.”
woman who wishes that
she’d had children instead
of just focusing on her ca-
reer. Such an outcome can’t
be changed; the regrets
may become unbearable.
Older adults who let re-
grets overpower them can
develop mental and physi-
cal ailments.
ALL PHOTOS © SHUTTERSTOCK
122017 | 29
READER’S DIGEST
30 | 122017
it around anymore,” Wrosch
says. “We have shown—with
respect to regret—if they can
disengage from undoing the
regret, they don’t experience
the consequences. Engage in
other meaningful activities in
life. That can work as an over-
ride mechanism.”
n Seek inner wisdom. By
the time you’re 60, you’ll have
tallied significantly more regrets
than you had at 20, but they
don’t all have the same impact.
“The regrets that really get to
people are unresolved regrets,
things they could never fix,” Bru-
ine de Bruin says. “If you feel like you what is happening,” Bjälkebring says.
should have gone to college or should “Over a week, older adults have less re-
go back, you can fix that when you’re gret and use strategies to handle them.
relatively young. That can be harder to They’re more functional.”
do when you’re older.” Other research shows that older peo-
Fortunately, many older adults are ple are less overwhelmed by regrets.
better equipped to handle their emo- “When you’re younger, you can get
tions. caught up, and the concrete details
“They have the wisdom that comes are shameful,” Gilovich says. “When
with life experience,” says Pär Bjälke- you get older, you think of it from a
bring, psychology senior lecturer broader perspective: ‘Overall, I’ve
at Gothenburg University in Swe- lived a good life, even though I’ve
den, who studies how regrets influ- made some mistakes.’”
ence decision-making as people age. n Appreciate your situation. Re-
“When they come to a situation when search shows that the most common
a younger person would regret it, they reason for regret is missed opportu-
can handle it.” nities. People tend to fantasize about
For his research, Bjälkebring asked benefits they believe they’ve missed
younger and older adults to record while ignoring disadvantages that
their regrets for a week. would have naturally arisen.
“The older participants look at re- “Missed opportunities are unreal-
grets in a different way, to try to accept ized better worlds,” Zeelenberg says.
122017 | 31
READER’S DIGEST
32 | 122017
may have fewer regrets if you act more “What a great feeling to view my
and avoid things less. farmland from high above,” Thode
“If you’re trying to decide should says. “It would have been a lot better if
you do this or not and all the reasons I had followed through with my dream
are: ‘What would other people think?,’ when I was in my mid-20s. What re-
you should do it,’” Gilovich says. ally counts, however, is the fact that it
Rudolf Thode, 62, of Offenbüttel, came true at all.”
Germany, dreamed of flying since he Regrets of inaction aren’t out of
was a boy. But instead of training to reach if you give yourself permission.
be a pilot, he became a busy farmer “You can forestall future regrets,”
with a wife who wasn’t supportive of Gilovich says. “It’s not uncommon for
his fantasy. Nevertheless, he found retired people to say, ‘You know what?
himself drawn to the nearby airfield I always wanted to learn a foreign lan-
in Rendsburg whenever he had free guage or play a musical instrument,
time. About 13 years ago, a flight in- but I can’t do it at this age.’ You’re not
structor approached Thode at the going to be Yo-Yo Ma, but there is
edge of the airfield, and the farmer some great satisfaction to taking com-
finally decided to take flying lessons. mand of a regret. Go for it.”
Dear Eddie, The other day I set off for work, leaving my husband
in the house watching the TV. I hadn’t gone more than
a mile when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt.
I walked back home, only to find my husband making love
to our neighbor. He was let go from his job six months ago, and he
says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless.
I love him very much, but I don’t know if I can trust him
anymore. What should I do? Sincerely, Frustrated
122017 | 33
DRAMA IN REAL LIFE
41 HOURS
ALONE
IN THE
SNOW BY DANIEL J. SCHÜZ
F R O M SONNTAGSZEITUNG
34 | 122017
122017 | 35
READER’S DIGEST
FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2016, had gotten izes that his board is long overdue
off to a good start, with beautiful for a good waxing—it keeps sticking,
spring sunshine and perfect, pow- and in the end he has to get off and
dery snow. The winter sports en- trudge through the deep snow while
thusiasts from Radolfzell Ski Club in the skiers glide across the slope with
Germany were making the most of ease.
the glorious weather at the Ander- But where are Dani and the oth-
36 | 122017
Hospental
1452 m
Gurschen
n
re
se Gemsstock
Ur 2961 m
Castelhorn
2973 m
Gu
sp
is
Shepherd’s
hut
expanse of white. He sees nothing but a shirt and a fleece jacket. There’s
snow, rocks and boulders—until sud- also a candle, a saucepan, a camp-
denly, the outline of something dark ing stove, three dirty plastic bottles,
and square catches his eye. a large packet of spaghetti, a jar of
He makes his way to it and discov- tomato sauce, some stock cubes and
ers a tiny shelter, more wooden shack a cigarette lighter, and a can of blue
than hunter’s cabin, a shepherd’s hut spray paint.
with a stable-style door. It’s locked, but Nicolas breathes a sigh of relief. I’m
after a few bashes with Nici’s snow- safe, for now; I can spend the night
board, the lock gives way. here. In the morning, I’ll climb up to
There’s a bunk bed against the wall. the cable car station on the summit. I
On top of the mattress lie a blanket, should be able to do it in seven hours
122017 | 37
READER’S DIGEST
if the conditions are OK. picks up the can of spray paint and
But he knows that snow is forecast turns it around in his hand. On its
from Saturday to Wednesday. side, he sees the words “Highly flam-
mable, do not spray towards naked
SNOW IN THE FORECAST flame.”
Dusk is starting to fall over the moun- This gives him an idea: Nicolas
tains as Markus Koch sets a course for holds the lighter to the wick of the
the base of the Swiss Air-Rescue ser- candle and repeatedly sparks it while
vice known as “Rega.” The helicopter simultaneously spraying blue paint at
pilot and his crew have just flown an it. It works—the wick catches fire. He
uses the candle to light the camping
stove.
While melts snow in a pot on
NICOLAS HOLDS THE the stove, Nicolas hears a muffled
LIGHTER TO THE WICK t h u m p - t h u m p - t h u m p ov e r t h e
OF THE CANDLE AND noise of the wind howling through
REPEATEDLY SPARKS the cracks in the hut. A helicopter!
IT WHILE SPRAYING They’re searching for me!
BLUE PAINT AT IT. He dashes outside. The chopper is
circling right above him, in exactly
the right place—but why is it flying
so high? And why is it veering away?
injured skier to the Spital Schwyz hos- Nici guesses that the pilot couldn’t
pital and are now looking forward to spot him in the storm.
an evening off.
Then the radio crackles. “Come in CHRISTIAN VON DACH is the Gems-
Rega 8.” “Rega 8 here, what have we stock cable car technician leading
got?” “We need you to search for a miss- the search. The Rega operations cen-
ing snowboarder on the Gemsstock, ter has called in Swiss Alpine Rescue
somewhere along the Guspis route.” (ARS), a non-profit foundation run by
The pilot alters his course to 195 de- Rega and the Schweizer Alpen-Club.
grees and climbs to 2,740 meters; he The race is on to save the young snow-
can’t fly any lower because the föhn boarder’s life.
wind is raging through the Urseren Von Dach has set off with 20 help-
valley at nearly 100 kilometers an hour. ers to search the lower slopes of the
Gemsstock along the valley, using
S OMEWHERE BELOW, Nicolas is searchlights and night-vision equip-
growing increasingly desperate: The ment.
lighter is empty and doesn’t work. He Meanwhile, Daniel Petek and the
38 | 122017
Pilot Stefan Bucheli, who, with Christian von Dach (inset), rescued the teenager.
rest of his group are still out there, FEARING THE WORST
braving the snowstorm. They have Up in his mountain shelter, Nicolas
been standing in the same spot call- has devoured his first portion of spa-
ing out Nici’s name into the gloom for ghetti. Now, he goes out to collect
two-and-a-half hours. some snow to melt so he can fill up
At around seven o’clock, Dani’s the empty bottles with hot water to
phone rings. It’s Von Dach. He asks help keep him warm. He strips down
the tourists to go back down into the to his underpants and lays his clothes
valley. “Once it’s dark, it gets a lot on top of the blanket to conserve his
more dangerous—and we don’t want body heat as efficiently as possible.
to have to start searching for more Suddenly, he hears the sound of
PHOTO: (LEF T) © REGA
122017 | 39
READER’S DIGEST
Alpnach air base with a thermal im- of finding Nicolas alive recede by the
aging camera so that they can detect hour. More than a few people are
any signs of life in the snow. But the starting to think he must have fallen
camera can’t “see” through the walls into a gully or over a precipice.
of Nici’s shelter. While still hoping for a miracle,
At around midnight, they give up Junge-Hülsing also now fears the
the ground search for the night. The worst. “It’s best if you stay at home”,
search team return to headquarters he tells his wife, Katrin, on the phone.
for a briefing, while back at the youth “There’s nothing you can do to help
hostel the ski club members and Nici’s here.”
father are growing increasingly fearful Katrin stays put in Munich and
for him. waits for more news. Eleven-year-old
As the night wears on, the chances Josefine, known to everyone as Fini,
sits down beside her. “Nici’s alive,
After more than 40 hours, Bernhard is I know it”, says the youngest of her
finally able to hug his son again. three daughters. “I can feel his heart
beating.”
40 | 122017
and all is well with the world. He’s at was last seen from the Oberalp Pass.
home with his friends and family, and “Down there,” shouts Von Dach and
no longer alone. Then he wakes up points through a gap in the clouds.
and the nightmare begins again. “There’s someone there!” Now the
On Saturday, the storm batters the pilot, too, can see a figure waving his
walls all day long, while the snow is arms around wildly outside a wooden
now several feet deep. When Nicolas hut.
opens the door, a white hell stretches Then they both see three man-sized
out before him. blue letters sprayed onto the snow:
Climbing to the summit is no lon- SOS!
ger an option, much less trying to “It’s him!”
make his way down the mountain. If
he starts an avalanche, it could engulf A SOBBING NICOLAS collapses into
the people who are attempting to get the search party leader’s arms. “It’s
up the mountain to rescue him. all OK now”, says Von Dach, reassur-
ing the rescued teenager. “You did all
SUNDAY MORNING. Back at the Rega the right things!”
base, Stefan Bucheli looks up at the Some time later, father and son are
sky. Although the cloud is slowly start- standing outside the door of farmer
ing to break up, the Gemsstock is still Remo Christen’s home in Hospental.
completely shrouded. “Your hut saved my life,” says Nicolas.
The helicopter pilot doesn’t want “I just wanted to say thank you and
to waste a single moment. He starts sorry for breaking the lock.”
up the turbine and takes off. He picks His father takes out his wallet. “We
up Von Dach at the cable car halfway will of course pay for the damage.”
station. The gruff sheep farmer says he’ll be
The clouds force the pilot to make a sure to send them the bill.
detour: Bucheli has to fly around the “What about the spaghetti and to-
Saint-Gotthard Massif and approach mato sauce?”
the location where the snowboarder “That’s on the house!”
FROM SONNTAGSZEITUNG (MARCH 13, 2016), COPYRIGHT © TAMEDIA AG, TAMEDIA.CH
122017 | 41
Making Yogurt,
42 | 122017
Healing Minds
How a psychologist turned entrepreneur—
and helped turn around lives
BY G I L E S T R E M L E T T F R O M T H E O B S E RV E R
P H OTO G R A P H E D BY PAO L A D E G R E N E T
Workers in
the La Fageda
dairy in
Catalonia,
Spain.
122017 | 43
I
READER’S DIGEST
44 | 122017
a project like that, some
people thought that I was
the madman.”
His special workers’
cooperative, which he
named La Fageda, after
the forest, began by provid-
ing manual labor from
its base at an old convent
building shared with the
fire brigade. But Colón
wanted a farm. “I wanted
us to produce something of
value, not to provide cheap
labor to others.”
When the Els Casals
farm came up for sale—its
farmhouse crumbling after
years of neglect, but with
space for a small dairy
herd—he saw fate at work.
Cristóbal Colón: “People thought I was a madman.” The place sits in dramati-
cally beautiful surround-
his company to be based in a place ings right beside the forest. Colón
of great natural beauty. “I knew that sweet-talked local banks into lending
would be good for me,” he says. “So him part of the 90,000 euros needed
why wouldn’t it be good for others?” to buy it. But could this company,
The Garrotxa region, deep in the owned by a workforce deemed to be
heartland of Catalonia, seemed ideal. mentally ill, compete in the raw world
His work in Girona meant he already of 20th-century capitalism? Many
had contacts and potential workers suspected not.
in the area. Some locals, however,
wondered whether he himself had M O R E T H A N 3 0 Y E A R S L AT E R
escaped from an asylum. Colón is running a business with
“I told people that my name was 256 employees and annual sales of
Christopher Columbus, that I came 16m euros. La Fageda, which makes
from the asylum and wanted to set up high-quality yogurts, jams and ice
a business in the middle of the coun- cream, has been studied at business
tryside,” he says. “With a name and schools as far away as Harvard. More
122017 | 45
READER’S DIGEST
importantly, it fulfills its aim of giving Finally the creamy, full-fat yogurts
employment to almost the entire made from La Fageda’s own milk
population of work-capable mentally became a success. Fifteen years
ill people in La Garrotxa. ago Colón began to hire a profes-
There have been many ups and sional management team, though he
downs. Attempts to set up as a remained the boss—his voice carrying
carpentry workshop, paint shop and the day at cooperativists’ assemblies
a compost supplier all failed dramati- where only some understood what
cally. A successful milk business was was being said and everyone was
ruined by entry into the EU—with its happy to follow his lead.
milk lakes and enforced quotas. That
forced La Fageda to turn the milk IT SOON BECAME OBVIOUS THAT THE
provided by 350 Friesian cows into La Fageda project radically improved
yogurt. The farm’s forestry nursery, the lives of its worker-owners. People
one of the biggest of its kind in Spain, who had repeatedly tried to kill them-
ran out of work after the country’s selves no longer did so. Those who
economy nosedived in 2008. took a monthly salary home found
Fortunately, by that point La Fage- they were no longer a family burden.
da’s brand was successful enough For others, La Fageda’s residential
for it to add jam-making to its activi- units in Olot also provided a solution
ties. “We made many mistakes,” says to their needs outside work.
Colón. “But we know there are many María Portas was one of the first
things we don’t know—so we ask who made the journey through La
people. And that is our strength.” Fageda’s woods with Colón in the
La Fageda ran on enthusiasm for mid-1980s. The only daughter of a
many years, its staff and workers poor peasant family, she had been
giving up weekends to tour towns with left looking after her elderly mother
cuddly calves and samples of their before having a breakdown, being
yogurts. Those in charge sometimes diagnosed with paranoid schizophre-
found themselves working late into nia and sent to the asylum.
the night to fulfill orders on time. As a young girl she was, as she puts
46 | 122017
it, “tricked by a young man” and, as forestry nursery and is proud of what
a single mother, joined a category of they have achieved. Work remains
social outcasts in Franco’s Spain. The important, though there is little for
baby boy, however, was beautiful and her to do. “It is something we find
she stopped her parents from hand- with the older people,” says one of the
ing him over for adoption. “He was care workers, Violete Bulbena. “They
so lovely,” she says. “Having a child is really, really want to work. Some of the
the best thing that can happen to you.” younger generation are not so keen.”
But little Miquel died of cancer, aged
just four. Maria never fully recovered. AMONG THE MORE REMARKABLE
Now aged 77, she still comes to stories is that of 57-year-old Luis
the farm every day, to a pensioners’ Martínez, whose mother Margarita
club that is part of La Fageda’s social heard about La Fageda from her home
support services. “I feel secure here,” city of Mendoza, Argentina. Luis had
she explains. She is happiest in the been diagnosed with schizophrenia. “I
Margarita Martínez with her son Luis, one of the workers at La Fageda.
122017 | 47
READER’S DIGEST
just think he is different, with a differ- while keeping an eye on their health.
ent way of looking at the world,” says “We can usually spot when something
Margarita, now aged 88. is beginning to go wrong and call in
Nine years ago she decided they medical help,” she explains.
should emigrate to Spain—where Just as La Fageda looks after its
her parents came from—and rented people, so it looks after its cows. The
an apartment in Olot. One day she herd is farmed in large open stalls.
appeared at La Fageda in a taxi with Visit and you may find them nibbling
Luis. “Now I see that he is happy,” she on hay while baroque chamber music
explains. “He likes to work. When you is piped to them from loudspeakers.
see him so joyful with his compañeros This is subtle marketing. La Fageda
you realize that these people have an has a sponsorship deal with Barce-
angel inside.” lona’s most important concert hall—
the spectacular, modernist Palau de
LA FAGEDA IS DIVIDED INTO THREE la Música.
categories: the clients who come to La Fageda has never sold itself as
the occupational therapy facilities, the a social cause. “We want to compete
workers and the so-called “profession- like any other brand,” says Colón.
als”. The latter are mostly management, “Our message has to be that, even
therapists and care workers. “We like though we have people with disabili-
to say there are people here who have ties, we are perfectly capable of doing
certificates saying they have a degree things well.” The farm has a visitors’
of disability and there are others of us center that attracts 55,000 people a
who don’t yet have them,” says Albert year. “That is the best marketing we
Riera, who became communications have,” says Colón. “People leave not
chief a dozen years ago. just liking the yogurt but also—after
Colón’s daughter Maria, who is one seeing the forest, the cows listening
of La Fageda’s psychologists, says they to their music and the workers doing
do not need doctors on site. An unob- their jobs—as apostles.”
trusive form of supervision allows That means La Fageda has found
them to tailor tasks to individuals the holy grail of marketing by engag-
48 | 122017
ing people’s emotions. It also works has been hired. The aim is to profes-
for locals. “We’ve helped put Garrotxa sionalize the management and the
on the map, and the people here now foundation’s board and prepare for a
proudly claim La Fageda as part of handover, as Colón puts it, “before I
their world.” die or get Alzheimer’s”.
For people like Luis Martínez, La
LIKE ANY BUSINESS, LA FAGEDA HAS Fageda is a guarantee not just of work
to take tough decisions and suppliers but also of future care. For his mother
have been forced to comply with its Margarita, it solved the problem that
standards. Colón is invited to lecture most worries every elderly parent of
at some of the world’s top business a dependent child. “He was going to
schools, but the company’s objective end up alone when I died, but he is
remains to provide work for, and look special and needs someone to guide
after, the mentally ill of the Garrotxa him,” she says. Margarita will not be
region. Colón is happy for it to remain the first person to die without that
a Catalan brand. “We don’t need to concern hanging over her.
accumulate wealth,” he says. “But the In 2007, local hairdresser Paquita
world of business is a marvelous place Casas, whose son Miquel was one of
to inhabit and to develop your dignity.” the early cooperativists, held on in
Colón himself is now 68 and aware hospital until he was installed in La
that he cannot keep running the Fageda’s residence. A few days later
company much longer. In 2015 it she died. “I know you will look after
changed from a workers’ cooperative him,” she had told Colón.
to a non-profit foundation. A young
team of executives—mostly women— © Guardian News and Media Ltd 2017
ANNE-MARIE GIONET
122017 | 49
Laughter
THE BEST MEDICINE
“I’m going home to die,” he insists. bar sipping beer when a man orders
“Who told you that?” ten shots of booze and shouts, “I got
“My doctor.” $500 that says no one here can drink
“Well, it’s not true. You are not all of these in one minute.”
going home to die!” Tom says, “My buddy will take the
50 | 122017
bet!” and pushes Al in front of
the shots. Al stares at all that liquor,
then runs out the door. The man
laughs. “I knew you lightweights
couldn’t do it.” SCHOOL’S STARTING!
Five minutes later, Al returns BUTTER UP YOUR
ENGLISH TEACHER
and slams down all ten shots in WITH THESE GRAMMAR
50 seconds. He grabs the money and JOKES
sits back behind his beer.
“Where’d you go?” asks Tom. n Q: What should you say to
“I wasn’t sure I could drink ten comfort a ruffled grammar
shots in a minute, so I went to the fanatic?
bar next door and tried it first.” A: There, their, they’re.
Source: copytechnet.com
n Did you hear the one about
PUNS MAY BE THE LOWEST form the pregnant woman who went
into labor and started shouting,
of comedy, but if you call them word-
“Couldn’t! Wouldn’t! Shouldn’t!
play, they sound clever. So here are Didn’t! Can’t!”? She was having
clever “wordplays” from the United contractions.
Kingdom Pun Championships:
Me and my buddies at the gun club n Q: Which word becomes
often go to the cheese shop just to shorter after you add two letters
shoot the Bries. to it?
I’ve got a friend who’s obsessed A: Short.
with completing his Beatles collec-
n When I was a kid, my teacher
tion. He needs Help. looked my way and said,
Supposed to be chauffeuring a “Name two pronouns.” I said,
female vicar, but I drove pastor. “Who, me?”
My Roman friend won’t go and see
the film Poison Ivy until he’s been to n Q: What’s the difference
see the films Poison I, Poison II ... between a cat and a comma?
It wasn’t much fun having a A: One has claws at the end
of its paws, and the other is
broken neck, but now I can look
a pause at the end of a
back and laugh. Source: mirror.co.uk
clause.
122017 | 51
Giving a gift unwraps long-lost memories
The
Christmas
Guitar BY JEAN CHAVOT
M
Y SON WAS ABOUT dreamed of a wild guitar to tame. We
to turn ten. He still went into the shop.
took my hand from Years earlier, when he wasn’t even
time to time when one year old, we used to sing a few
we were out together, but he let it go notes to him each morning to see
when we met other children, espe- whether he was awake. I say “we” but
cially girls. On that late afternoon in it was especially his mother, with her
winter we had strolled through the beautiful singer’s voice. He responded
Parisian streets illuminated bright as with the same little melody. It became
day with Christmas lights. Dirty snow a game to vary it, make it more intri- ILLUSTRATION BY BODIL JANE/FOLI O ART
beneath our feet, we came to a halt in cate, and to hear him reproduce it
front of the music shop window, his right away before breaking into his de-
small hand tucked cosily in mine. lightful rippling laugh. It was his way
We looked at the guitars gleam- of saying, “Again ! Again !”
ing on their stands. Their long necks When he was older, we asked him
decked with tinsel made them look from time to time if he wanted to learn
like ostriches tied up with ribbon to play an instrument. As musicians
(some people have no respect for ourselves, nothing seemed more natu-
musical instruments or for animals). ral, especially given—and I say this as
These pathetic-looking creatures objectively as possible for a parent—
were ruled out straightaway; my son his obvious talent. He consistently re-
52 | 122017
READER’S DIGEST
sponded with a clear and definite no. “You want to learn piano?”
When I asked why, he told me that he “No, guitar.”
didn’t want “to end up being forced to “Just like Dad?”
play in front of 300 people.” “No,” he replied, a touch of disdain
He had been to many of his moth- in his voice.
er’s and my performances. I wondered “Why guitar then and not piano?”
whether he had been upset by the “Because I like the physical connec-
shows where we were especially bad, tion with the instrument.”
whether stage fright was contagious, His mother and I looked at each
or whether his hypersensitivity meant other. We weren’t used to hearing that
he’d been put off by see- level of language from
ing us go through it? Or him. He didn’t say any
could it be that scales, more about it that day
singing exercises and With a nod, but we hoped we’d un-
rehearsals were, in his I referred the derstood. I bought him a
mind, just a typical adult salesman to guitar and at his request
occupation—a way of my son. He was we enrolled him at mu-
earning a living? Or did sic school.
he have another good the customer. While he appreciated
reason that it would be classical guitarists Fer-
useless to try to explain nando Sor and Heitor
to someone with the limited under- Villa-Lobos, it was only natural that
standing of a grown-up ? very soon he wanted to play music
Fortunately, he had a little class- closer to his own taste, on a guitar
mate at school who was taking piano that he’d chosen himself, with which
lessons and played “The Pink Panther” he could develop the perfect “physical
divinely. My son immediately learned connection.” It was in pursuit of this
it by heart, having taken notice for ideal instrument that we went into the
the first time of our home piano. For music shop on that Christmas Eve.
many weeks he played the tune in ev- A salesman greeted us as though
ery pitch and every key, with his head he were condescending to attend
down, eyes closed ... to us between a Rolling Stones tour
One day, to our great relief, perhaps and a session with Charlie Parker. He
because he had exhausted all possible addressed his remarks to me alone,
variations, he declared bluntly, “I want as the debit cardholder. With a nod,
to learn to play an instrument.” I referred him to my son. He was the
“Good,” we said, just as straightfor- customer.
wardly, afraid he would change his The salesman took that to mean that
mind. I knew nothing at all about guitars and
54 | 122017
that, obviously, the boy didn’t either. little beginner’s guitar. I loved it from
He brought out a guitar that was the first note. It sounded terrific.
“super for solos,” as he put it, then an- My son returned from the back of
other encrusted with mother-of-pearl, the shop, carrying a folk guitar. It was
then all the rubbishy expensive guitars definitely the right one. The salesman
that he hadn’t succeeded in flogging. tried to talk him into a more expensive
My son couldn’t see one he wanted. model by giving him a flashy dem-
He was too timid to play in front of onstration. We had to hold back our
strangers. He asked, “Can I look on laughter when he massacred the intro
my own?” Disgusted that suckers like to “Stairway to Heaven.” Then my son
these were making such a fuss, the said, “Let’s go, Dad!”
salesman let him head into the depths The salesman brought the guitar to
of the shop. the till. My son picked out a few notes,
As I waited, I thought back to my one ear pressed to the body of the in-
very first guitar. I’d have liked my fa- strument. He made a face.
ther to come to the music shop with “That’s not mine.”
me, but he had decided that I should “Yes, it is. It’s the same model,” the
go and choose it with our neighbors’ salesman assured him.
son. Michel was his name. His parents “It’s not his,” I said.
were devastated that he wanted to give The salesman headed back to the
up studying medicine to become a gui- stockroom. He returned with the folk
tar player, and he felt so conflicted that guitar. My son picked out a few notes.
he didn’t know what to do any more. He smiled at me.
My father had helped Michel follow
his passion and also intervened to re- ON CHRISTMAS DAY, he took his gui-
assure his family. It was a big thing for tar from beneath the tree, unwrapped
him to do. Admirable. But I knew one it and handed it immediately to my
thing for sure: my father would never father—eager for his verdict. With
have let me give up my studies to fol- the solemn intensity of an expert, his
low my heart. I hated Michel with a grandfather played some slow chords
fierce and dark envy. and long arpeggios.
I arrived a quarter of an hour late to “This little guitar sounds terrific.”
meet up with him to buy the instru- “It’s me who chose it all by myself!”
ment. He had already left, or more my son pointed out.
likely, he had never turned up. No “Well done, my lad, I’m proud of
way was I going home empty-handed! you,” said my father.
I chose my guitar all by myself. When We sat down to Christmas dinner.
I got home there was a terrible scene. That year the turkey tasted even better
Who did I think I was? It was a cheap than usual.
122017 | 55
The disease is a killer, but as many as
60 percent of all cases in Europe are linked
to causes we can control
Lower
Your
Risk
Breast
for
56 | 122017
122017 | 57
B
READER’S DIGEST
58 | 122017
percent compared with non-drinkers,” than none. “We know (exercise) also
says Dr. Evandro de Azambuja, Medi- reduces the risk of at least 13 other
cal Director of the Breast European cancers,” says Dr. Christine Frieden-
Adjuvant Study Team at the Institut reich, a Calgary, Canada based epide-
Jules Bordet in Brussels. miologist at Alberta Health Services,
who is part of a project to quantify all
■ BE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE modifiable risk factors for all cancers
Exercise lowers the risk of breast can- across Canada.
cer, and being inactive increases it. It’s likely there are many differ-
The protective effects vary depending ent ways physical activity is protec-
on whether or not you’re postmeno- tive against breast cancer. Exercise
pausal, whether the exercise is mod- decreases levels of estrogen in post-
erate or vigorous (gauged by whether menopausal women and improves the
immune system, and if you’re active
outdoors, the vitamin D exposure from
the sun may even make a difference.
THE MORE YOU However, further research is needed
EXERCISE, THE LOWER to understand the impact of different
YOUR RISK FOR kinds of activity on the body’s cells.
BREAST CANCER. AIM It can be challenging to incorporate
more exercise into our hectic lives,
FOR AT LEAST 30
but Shawn Chirrey, senior manager
MINUTES EVERY DAY. of health promotion for the Canadian
Cancer Society, says that policy shifts
in workplaces and municipalities can
or not you can chat comfortably while have an influence. Employers can
engaged in it), and how much time provide discount gym memberships
you devote to physical activity. or find ways to increase activity levels
“The more you exercise, the lower at work. Cities can build bike lanes.
your risk for breast cancer,” says Dr. “Environments can encourage people
Jayant Vaidya, MBBS, PhD, breast sur- to make physical activity part of their
geon and professor of surgery and on- day,” he says.
cology at University College London.
Studies show that premenopausal ■ CONTROL YOUR WEIGHT
women who are the most active cut Being overweight or obese in later
their risk by 17 percent. adulthood is a clear risk factor for post-
Aim for at least 30 minutes of brisk menopausal breast cancer (a category
exercise a day for prevention, but that includes most cases; an estimated
remember that any activity is better 83 percent of breast cancers are diag-
122017 | 59
READER’S DIGEST
nosed after the age of 50). Putting on cancer patients found a 75 percent in-
weight after menopause also makes crease in mortality in premenopausal
you more likely to get breast cancer. women and a 34 percent increase in
“Every 10 kilograms of postmeno- mortality in postmenopausal women
pausal weight gain is associated with who were obese when their cancer
an 18 percent relative increased risk,” was diagnosed.”
note Dr. Julian Kim at CancerCare As with exercise, there’s no single
Manitoba. (“Relative risk” means reason why weight influences breast
you’re 18 percent more likely to get cancer risk. After menopause, how-
breast cancer than someone of similar ever, fat tissue is a key source of estro-
age and body type who hasn’t gained gen. Researchers have also identified
weight. Maintaining a healthy weight links between obesity and chronic
protects against other types of cancer inflammation of fat tissue, which may
as well, not to mention diabetes, heart be responsible for an elevated cancer
disease and stroke.) risk in the breast. The same applies to
“There is increasing evidence link- higher levels of insulin. Whatever the
ing obesity to cancer,” says Dr. de reason, controlling weight, particu-
Azmbuja. “A recent analysis of 82 larly after menopause, will protect you
studies of more than 200,000 breast against breast cancer.
PREVENTION IN A PILL
60 | 122017
■ AVOID HORMONE stream and circulate. If you do opt for
REPLACEMENT THERAPY hormone replacement therapy, use it
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for as short a period as possible, and
is used to treat symptoms of meno- no more than five years. The elevated
pause caused by sharply declining es- risk of breast cancer dissipates a few
trogen levels, like hot flashes, sleep dis- years after stopping HRT.
ruption and vaginal dryness. It involves “Combined estrogen/progesterone
taking supplemental estrogen by pill or therapy has the greatest risks when
patch, sometimes in combination with used for longer than three to five years,
another hormone, progestin. But ex- so if you and your doctor decide the
perts estimate that HRT, which exposes benefits of HRT outweigh the risks,
postmenopausal women to increased take it for no longer than this time,”
estrogen, causes 15 percent of all new says Dr. de Azambuja.
cases of breast cancer.
“Deciding whether to take HRT is a WHILE THE EMERGING evidence for
complex decision a woman needs to preventing breast cancer is hope-
make with a specialist,” says Dr. Vaidya. ful, putting it into practice may seem
“HRT increases the risk for breast daunting. “To make healthy lifestyle
cancer, but can also make a huge im- changes that will last, find a way to
provement in the quality of life in some fit them into your daily routine, and
women with severe menopausal symp- don’t try to incorporate too many at
toms. Each woman needs to carefully once,” advises Brown.
consider the pros and cons to make a “If you’re overweight, dieting and ex-
joint decision with their doctor.” ercising about eight hours a week, is
Depending on your symptoms, your enough to take off kilos,” says Dr. de
doctor may suggest local estrogen Azambuja. “The weight loss will not
therapy, which uses low-dose vaginal only help you feel good, but you’ll re-
estrogen, like a cream or ring, and car- duce your risk for breast cancer, too.”
ries a much lower risk because very
little estrogen will get into your blood- With additions by the editors
122017 | 61
Points to Ponder
BEING ASKED TO explain why I love WE MUST continue to go into
America is sometimes like being space for the future of humanity.
asked to explain why I love my I don’t think we will survive another
fiancée. There are all the tangible thousand years without escaping
things you can rattle off so as not beyond our fragile planet.
to look sentimental and irrational.
But then there is the fact that you STEPHEN HAWKING,
just do, and you ultimately can say p hy s i c i s t , in a speech at the Oxford Union
ANDREAS ELPIDOROU,
p h i l o s o p hy p r o f e s s o r, on aeon.co
There’s a Tibetan
saying: “Wherever
you have friends,
that’s your country,
and wherever you
receive love, that’s
your home.” THE DALAI LAMA,
spiritual leader of Tibet,
in his book The Book of Joy
62 | 122017
I’ve noticed a parallel
between adult tantrums
and child tantrums ...
I desperately want
to walk up to certain
people ... and say,
“Talk to your body.
Just use your words.”
KRISTEN BELL, a c t r e s s , in Redbook
opportunities for our children, laugh- [SPAM] MAY MUTATE, but it’s not
ter, someone to love. The precept of going to stop. Spam is where evil
Us and Them is one that is taught; meets advertising, and no one has
it’s not the fundamental reality. ever gotten rid of either of them.
122017 | 63
64
|
122017
P HOTO: ©PA IM AGES/ALAM Y STOCK
23 surprising love and marriage customs of the world
Better
For
Worse
BY LOUISE BASTOCK
or
FR O M LO N ELYP LA N ET.CO M
4
array of forms Step Inside a
around the world. Courting Hut
If you’ve never wooed your Think you had cool parents
beloved with a spoon, won your growing up? Think again. In a revolu-
tionary parenting style, some African
partner’s weight in beer or been
tribes provide their daughters with
to a spinsters’ ball, read on ... “courting huts” to entertain poten-
tial suitors away from the parents’
1 Wife-carrying World
Championships
gaze. A similar custom exists in Cam-
bodia, where unmarried teens are
PHOTOS, CLOCKWIS E F ROM TOP LEF T: ©TI MO HARTIKAI NEN /REX /SHUTTE RSTOCK; ©HE MIS/
Each year competitors in the encouraged to use these huts to find
village of Sonkajarvi, Finland, par- that one true love.
take in this bizarre sporting event.
5 Juliet’s
2 Graveside
in Russia
Weddings
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
13th-century house believed to have
belonged to the Capulets (never mind
that they were all fictional characters),
is Moscow’s top destination for wed- to add their amorous graffiti and notes
ding parties, who snap photos and of adoration to the courtyard walls
drink champagne while the bride and where once fair Juliet was wooed by
groom pay their respects by laying her Romeo.
6
flowers at the grave site.
Ladies’ Choice at
3 Whale’s Tooth Gifts
Think you’ve got it hard, shopping
for that perfect wedding gift? In Fiji
Gerewol Festival
In an annual courtship
event, the men of the
it’s common practice when asking for Wodaabe in Niger dress up in elabo-
a woman’s hand in marriage that the rate costumes, put on make-up and
man presents his soon-to-be father- dance and sing in a bid to win a bride.
in-law with a tabua (whale’s tooth). At the end of the performance, the
Because, let’s face it, it’s not real love women do the choosing.
66 | 122017
Wife-carrying
world championships
Juliet’s balcony
in Verona, Italy
Ladies’ Choice at
Gerewol Festival
Graveside
weddings
in Russia
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATI ON CREDIT
Henna tattoos
122017 | 67
READER’S DIGEST
7
Tragic Myth decorative (not to mention, expen-
of Imilchil sive) paper streams.
Marriage Festival
PHOTOS, CLOCKWIS E F ROM TOP LEFT: © REX /S HUTTERSTOCKREX/SH UTTE RSTOCK; ©IMAG E BROKE R/ RE X/SHU TTE RSTOCK; ©R E MY D E L A
Set against the mystery and
romance of the Atlas Mountains of
Morocco, legend tells the story of two
10 Mt. Hagen
Sing-Sings
Papua New Guinea tribesmen paint
star-crossed lovers forbidden to see their bodies and don colorful feathered
8 Henna
Tattoos
In Arabic and African communities,
11 Eloping in Scotland
When the Marriage Act
of 1754 made it illegal
for persons under 21 to get hitched,
young English sweethearts hopped
Swahili women adorn themselves across the border to Scotland where
with intricate henna patterns before the law didn’t apply. As the first vil-
a wedding. They signify the bride’s lage en route, Gretna Green grew into
beauty, womanhood and worth, so the favorite spot for eloping couples—
she, naturally, boasts the most elab- to this day, some 5,000 couples visit
orate designs. Aside from their aes- each year to tie the knot or reaffirm
thetic delights, these tattoos repre- their vows.
sent an empowering, sensual quality
in Swahili culture, as the design often
conceals the groom’s initials in a se-
cret spot on the bride’s body.
12 Love Spoons in Wales
This adorable Welsh tradition
gives a whole new meaning to the
term “spooning.” The beau presents
9 My Big, ‘Rich’
Greek Wedding
Greek weddings are known
for their ebullient spirit. A wonderful
his lover with a meticulously carved
wooden spoon as a gesture that he
will always feed and provide for her.
68 | 122017
Eloping in Scotland
Mt. Hagen
sing-sings
Love padlocks
First dance
tradition
Love spoons
in Wales
122017 | 69
READER’S DIGEST
padlocks to the Ponte Milvio in Rome. and placed at the head of the top table
In what is now a worldwide phe- of the wedding reception. Toward the
nomenon, couples attach the locks end of the celebrations, the charms
and throw the key into the river as a are handed out to the guests as tokens
symbol of their unbreakable love and of love and thanks.
commitment to one another. How-
ever, these trinkets have caused quite
a controversy of late, particularly in
Paris where, besides being an eyesore,
17 Ghadames
Festival
Date
As the date harvest comes to an end
they are becoming an environmental in Ghadames, Libya, locals flock to the
hazard and have to be removed. World Heritage–listed old quarter to
relish in their fruitful harvest. As the
14 China’s
Blockade
Bridesmaid
As if the wedding day wasn’t stress-
festivities progress, many wedding
ceremonies are held as a coming-of-
age celebration for young men.
ful enough, when the Chinese groom
comes to fetch his bride, he’s confronted
by a barrage of bridesmaids block-
ing his entrance. After demanding red
envelopes of money, the bridesmaids
(and sometimes even the groomsmen)
18 Tree’s the
One for Me
Some unlucky girls in
India are born during the astrologi-
cal period when Mars and Saturn are
subject the groom to a series of games both under the seventh house. What’s
and physical tasks—he is forced to so wrong with that, you ask? Basically,
sing and generally teased to prove his it means they are cursed. Those un-
love. fortunate ones, known as Mangliks,
are said to have an unhappy union
70 | 122017
singletons, days for friends and days across the bride and groom supping
just to hug, there’s something to cel- on chocolates and champagne served
ebrate no matter what your relation- out of a replica toilet bowl.
ship status.
22
20
Salty Bread
Bachelor and to Inspire
Spinster Balls Romantic Dreams
in Australia’s In a celebration of the feast of St. Sar-
Outback kis, the patron saint of young love,
A cherished Aussie tradition, B and unmarried Armenian women eat a
S Balls offer a rare opportunity for slice of salty bread in the hopes of
youngsters in the Outback to social- having a prophetic dream about the
ize—that would be the censored ver- man they’ll marry. Not to be taken
sion. Notorious for binge drinking, too seriously, the idea is that the man
dangerous stunts and casual sex, who brings you water in your dream
these parties are under pressure from is your future husband. It’s also a kind
insurance companies to close down. of bonding ritual for the women in
But the Balls are seen as a rite of pas- the family to share and interpret each
sage for kids who often lead quite se- other’s dreams.
cluded lives.
21 France’s Toilet
Tradition
23 TV Dating in India
India is a country where mar-
riage is revered, so advertising pro-
In a weird, wonderful, yet utterly spective suitors and singles in local
gross fashion, French newlyweds were papers and online is commonplace,
made to drink the leftovers from their but a new Hindi-language channel is
wedding party out of a toilet bowl. taking it one step further. Shagun TV
Thankfully, this custom no longer ex- channel features a glitzy show that is
ists in its entirety, but you may come basically teleshopping for singles.
FROM WWW.LONELYPLANET.COM, COPYRIGHT © LONELY PLANET, 2014, LONELYPLANET.COM
122017 | 71
After 53 years of severely
impaired vision, I learned of an
operation that promised to
restore my sight—though it
wasn’t without risks
I WA S B L I N D ,
B U T NOW
I SEE
BY ROZINA ISSANI F R O M TORONTO LIFE
72 | 122017
W
READER’S DIGEST
74 | 122017
We arrived in Toronto in June
1983, when I was 22. I stayed with my
brother Hussein Ali, his wife and their
17-month-old daughter, while my
parents lived with Jalaludin’s family. I
spent the first few months immersed
in soap operas, hoping to pick up
some English.
Within eight months, I saw an oph-
thalmologist, who referred me to a
retinal specialist at the Hospital for
Sick Children. I learned that I’d been
born with a degenerative eye condi-
tion called retinitis pigmentosa, which
causes a slow, progressive loss of vi-
sion. The retina is equipped with mil-
lions of receptors called rods (which
receive light) and cones (which take
in color). Retinitis pigmentosa causes
those receptors to wither away until
they disappear. The author at seven, in Karachi
Then the doctor confirmed my
fears: “Unfortunately, there is no cure. tually become independent. I signed
Your vision will continue to deterio- up for courses through the organiza-
rate until you are completely blind.” tion’s career center.
My world crumbled. In Canada, In 1991, I got a call from a friend at
I thought I might attend college. I the CNIB telling me that a local foun-
wanted to travel. I wanted to live by dation was looking for a receptionist.
myself. Every night I’d sob in my room When I got the job, my parents were
after everyone else had gone to bed. thrilled—especially my dad. He’d left
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTH OR
122017 | 75
members by voice. A few months after
I started, my parents and I moved to
a new apartment.
my parents had taken care of. I regis- restore a blind person’s vision. At the
tered for my first bank account. I fig- time, only a handful of people had
ured out how to use a coin-operated undergone the operation. And Dr.
washing machine and dryer. Devenyi had brought the procedure
Those first few weeks at the apart- to Toronto. I called the doctor’s office
ment were strange. The place was so and made an appointment for the ear-
empty without the familiar sounds of liest time available—January 2015.
76 | 122017
READER’S DIGEST
Here’s how the Argus works: dur- in 15 years—a soft, radiant glow. I
ing surgery, doctors place an implant burst into tears. I could make out Dr.
on the patient’s retina. It contains 60 Devenyi, the technicians, the nurses,
electrodes to replace the damaged my friends. Though they were just
photoreceptors, along with a receiver dark shapes, without detail or defi-
chip that resembles a watch battery. nition, I was able to perceive people
After recovery, the patient wears moving around. I didn’t detect any
glasses equipped with a camera. A colors, just black and white. But I
unit at the patient’s waist processes could see!
the footage and sends it wirelessly to
the retinal implant. The receiver then THE MORE I USE the device, the bet-
transmits an electrical signal to the ter my brain can interpret what the
brain, and this produces an image. Argus sends it. I see something new
I endured tests to confirm I had almost every day—my vision has im-
no functional vision. In this case, my proved, and I explore the world more
failure was my success. The results than I used to. The first week, I was
showed that I was a perfect candidate out walking and saw what looked like
for the Argus II. Dr. Devenyi explained a fuzzy black tower on the street. It
the risks. My eyes could start bleeding was a traffic light. Then I spotted the
or become infected. My body might button you press to change the traffic
reject the implant. At worst, my retina light. I had no idea what it was; my
might detach from my eye. I didn’t friend had to explain it to me. On a
care. I was 53 and completely blind— clear night, I even gazed at the moon.
I had nothing to lose. I will never see perfectly. Objects
are still often a few centimeters away
ON MARCH 30, 2015, at 7 a.m., I went from where my eye tells me they are.
to Toronto Western Hospital for the I have to grope around for my phone,
operation. It lasted four hours, and for food at restaurants, for the door-
when I woke up, I had a patch over my knob whenever I enter my house. I
left eye. We had to wait for it to heal will have to use my cane for the rest
before we could activate the Argus of my life, but it’s been more than a
with the accompanying glasses. year since my operation and I’ve re-
Three weeks later, it was time. I gained more of my vision than I ever
was terrified. What if it didn’t work? thought possible.
I put the glasses on my face. The I am 54 years old as I write this.
technician gradually increased the People have always told me we live in
electrical impulse. And then it hap- a beautiful world. I’m glad I finally get
pened: I saw light for the first time to see it for myself.
© 2016, ROZINA ISSANI. FROM “LIVING IN THE DARK,” TORONTO LIFE (MAY 24, 2016). TORONTOLIFE.COM
122017 | 77
For young and old alike,
visiting the Christmas tree
in the Lithuanian capital of
Vilnius in 2015 was quite
literally like entering a fairy
tale—visitors could enjoy a
unique storytime experience
inside the tree itself! While
the outside was decked out
with fir tree branches, the
inside comprised a cosy
65 square-meter cottage
where well-known Lithuanian
personalities read Christmas
tales to their enchanted
audiences.
78 | 122017
Oh
Join us on a tour
of Europe’s
most remarkable
festive trees
Christmas
Tree!
BY CORNELIA KUMFERT
122017 | 79
The height of festive consum-
erism? That may be the first im-
82 | 122017
Life’s Like That
THE SECRET LIFE OF ANIMALS
WHEN A FRIEND learned that I was lady. Here are some favorites from the
seeing a man 15 years my junior, she Alabama-based website al.com. Y’all
accused me of being a cougar. feel free to borrow them:
“Why not?” I said. “My last two ■ “I just love how you don’t care
husbands were cheetahs.” what people think. That takes a
ELIZABETH RYLAN, Pa l m Ha r b o r, F l o r i d a special person.”
■ “I bet those shoes are comfortable.”
AS ANY SOUTHERNER knows, ■ After you tell her you lost nine
there’s nothing like a backhanded pounds: “Well, that’s a wonderful
compliment from a proper southern start.”
84 | 122017
■ After you arrive for a visit: “What’d the emoji. She said, “I thought it was
you do, sugar, drive all the way here a Hershey’s Kiss.” @BRIGREENSPAN
with the windows down?”
■ After you’ve cooked: “That was DURING MY 55TH high school
good. I must have been hungry.” class reunion, I spotted an old
■ “I bought this the other day, but it’s friend. “Bill!” I shouted. “You look
too big on me. Do you want it?” exactly the same as you did in high
school.”
MY MOM SENT ME a text that said He nodded. “Now I know why I
“I love you,” and she ended it with a never got a date in high school.”
poop emoji. I asked why she added PATTY CHANDLEE, D u b u q u e , Io w a
122017 | 85
Readers’ real-life stories of pets and
wildlife that amuse, help and inspire
Creature
Comforts
F R OM TH E B O O K O U R ANI MAL FR I E N DS
I
Crowd Pleaser
N THE MID-1980S, I had just completed a
successful season with my jazz duo in Lon-
don, and we were booked for a six-month
contract at The Golden Hat Piano Bar in
Paris. One night, just before our 1 a.m. fin-
ish and when the crowd had thinned out, a young
man in blue jeans and a light leather jacket walked
in with his small companion. He chose a table near
the band and ordered a cocktail for himself and an
orange juice for his friend.
They sat and listened to the music. When we
had finished the number, the little friend, who was
dressed in overalls and a red-checkered cap, care-
fully put his orange juice down on the table, and
they both clapped enthusiastically.
Well, we couldn’t very well stop at that when
we had two such delightful customers enjoying
the music, so we played on for another half hour,
thoroughly enjoying our small but select audience.
What made it an occasion to remember was that
86 | 122017
122017 | 87
READER’S DIGEST
the pleasant young man could have concentrating only on finding a tasty
been from anywhere, but his little lunch. He sorted through a few op-
companion—was a chimpanzee! tions before emerging with a wrapped
Surely, only in Paris! sandwich held between his paws.
—Leigh Weston Satisfied, he jumped down and am-
bled casually to a spot on the gravel
Tiger Earns His Stripes path, not a meter from where we sat.
MY CAT, TIGER, hates it when I use The children were mesmerized, the
my iPad because it takes my attention raccoon providing better entertain-
away from him. One year, I had a fall ment than any museum.
at home and was on the floor for 16 He glanced at us, perhaps as reas-
hours. During this time, I was unable surance that we weren’t about to pil-
to move and couldn’t get to the phone fer his lunch. With delicate fingers, he
to call for help. Tiger stayed by my peeled back the layers of plastic wrap
side until he vanished under my bed. until the half-eaten sandwich was un-
What’s he up to? I wondered. To my covered. Then he surprised us all. In-
surprise, he started to push something stead of starting his food, he turned to
toward me. It was my iPad, which I a nearby rain puddle and dipped his
didn’t realize had fallen off the bed hands in. With a casual air, he rubbed
and onto the floor underneath. He his hands together underwater for a
probably didn’t know what it was, but moment, preened his whiskers, then
he knew that it made me happy. started genteelly picking at his meal.
Thanks to Tiger, I was able to con- —Elizabeth Strachan
tact a friend, who then contacted
emergency services. I spent the next Pushed to the Edge
I
eight days in hospital recovering. GOT MY new guide dog, Zeke, in
When I returned home, I bought Tiger 2011. He’s a black Labrador who
a salmon out of gratitude. loves everyone. Sadly, Zeke can ALL ILLUSTRATI ONS BY CLAI RE FLETCHER
—Ray Betteridge become a little too enthusiastic, which
does not go well with Cocoa and Latte,
Gentleman in the City my two Burmese cats.
A FEW YEARS AGO, after a long morn- One day, when Zeke really an-
ing of sightseeing in New York, my noyed Latte, she waited until he went
children and I took a breather on a to bed before exacting her revenge.
park bench in Central Park. She scaled a 1.8-meter bookshelf that
‘Look!’ my son said, pointing to a stood directly behind Zeke’s bed and
nearby rubbish bin. That’s when we squeezed behind a suitcase that sat on
saw our first raccoon. Quite at home top. Once in position she walked back
in the big city, he paid us no heed, and forth, using all her weight to push
88 | 122017
that our dear goat Clarabelle, who
was slightly overdue, had given
birth to—and lost—her baby.
This was her second pregnancy.
She had twins the previous year,
but this time she only had the one
and she was very distraught. Her
big eyes looked sadly into mine.
One of the most memorable
things that occurred during the
morning was the procession of
animals that went in and out
of the pen to pay their respects
to Clarabelle and her little one,
which we decided to name Rosie.
Cats went in with chickens and
ducks and, of course, the other
goats.
Her best friend Annie came in
with her newborn twin kids, while
Gus and Roddy, our male goats,
looked on through their fenced
paddock.
on the suitcase. With a loud crash, the There were no fights and it was un-
suitcase toppled off the edge. usually quiet; all the animals were
Zeke woke with a fright and dodged very somber. Our cat Tabitha even
out of the way before the suitcase licked the baby and rubbed around
tumbled to the floor. I thought it must Clarabelle, which would not normally
have been an accident until Latte did happen. Birds sat quietly and looked
it again two weeks later after Zeke had on from the trees and the air was
got on her nerves again. It wasn’t un- heavy with grief. It is something I will
til the third attempt that I decided to always remember.
move Zeke’s bed to a safer spot. Zeke We left Clarabelle to grieve with
hasn’t annoyed Latte since. her baby for a day. She didn’t want to
—Kathryn Beaton leave it. She was fretful and “cried” for
days and didn’t want to eat anything.
Paying Their Respects It took a fortnight or more for her to
ON A FROSTY, winter morning in June, get through her mourning period.
we awoke at about 7.30 a.m. to find —Tracey Ney
122017 | 89
sense and hers told her John needed
an ear rub. —Paula Glennie
Y
EARS AGO we owned an English seemed inadequate.
setter named John, who often Everyone held their breath as the
suffered from infected or sore cub peered down at the long drop be-
ears. He was constantly being treated low. He leaned even further forward
for it, and absolutely loved ear rubs as and lost his balance, somehow man-
they seemed to make him feel better. aging to dangle helplessly by his fore-
One day my brother’s pet pig, Chloe, paws from the edge of the platform.
was in the front yard with John. When Realizing his predicament, the cub let
John settled down for a nap, Chloe out an anguished howl.
trotted over and started rubbing be- His mother had been exploring the
hind John’s ears with her snout. He far side of the enclosure, completely
groaned with relief so Chloe contin- oblivious to her newborn’s predica-
ued rubbing his ears enthusiastically. ment. At the sound of his distress, she
From that day on, whenever John raced across, jumped down into the
lay down, Chloe would trot over to rub pool, raised herself on her hind legs
his ears. Maybe animals have a sixth directly beneath him and stretched
90 | 122017
READER’S DIGEST
out her front paws. The cub released ered in batter, back into the kitchen
his hold on the ledge and dropped and found a battered budgie on the
onto his mother’s waiting forelegs. floor. After being washed, dried and
She lowered him gently onto the layer warmed, Chip made a full recovery.
of straw and then cuffed him around Bowls were always covered in future
the ear before returning to her explo- and Goldie and Chip remained the
ration of the enclosure. best of friends. —Anne Marr
—Nicholas Ordinans
Love Birds
Battered Chip YEARS AGO my friend Julius rescued
OUR PARAKEET CHIP and Goldie, a an injured cockatoo from the side of
stray tortoiseshell kitten we took in, the road and kept it as a pet. As the vet
grew to be best friends, eating and had to amputate one of her wings, she
playing together. I was a member of a was unable to return to the wild. Soon
bird conservation organization at the wild cockatoos came visiting and one
time, so we often took care of injured amorous male bird managed to find
birds. Goldie helped raise dozens of his way into the cage.
injured and orphaned native birds; “Mom” Cocky was soon expecting
acting as a watchful guardian. but as she couldn’t fly, “Dad” Cocky
One day, it was Chip who needed gave up his freedom and built a nest
Goldie’s supervision. I had left a large in the backyard, fending off every-
bowl of pancake batter uncovered in one who approached his bird bride.
the kitchen. But while I was out of the “Baby” Cocky eventually fledged and
room, Chip climbed onto the bowl to spent his days flying off with his dad,
have a taste but soon fell in and sank. leaving his mom behind. She would
Luckily, Goldie was on hand and stuck sit and screech until they returned
her face in the bowl to fish Chip out. home each afternoon.
She cleaned his face and beak so he The family stuck together and each
could breathe before running to alert night Mom and Dad would sit and
me with a loud meow. lovingly groom each other. A true les-
I followed Goldie, who was also cov- son in devotion! — Colin Stringer
FROM THE BOOK OUR ANIMAL FRIENDS, PUBLISHED BY READER’S DIGEST (AUSTRALIA),
PTY LIMITED, 2016, READERSDIGEST.COM.AU
HEAVENLY MALADY
From a church weekly notice sheet: “12 p.m.: Please join us for lunch.
This will be followed by prayers for the sick.”
DAILY MAIL
122017 | 91
HONG KONG
20 YEARS
LATER
92 | 122017
It’s been two decades since Britain handed over Hong
Kong to China. Our writer, a former resident, returned to
find the city as vibrant—and quirky—as ever.
BY BONNIE MUNDAY
PHOTO: © A LESSAN DRO DELLA BELLA /KEYSTONE/REDUX
94 | 122017
Street markets in the Mong Kok neighborhood of Kowloon sell food and much more.
woman chanting while she beats a seem to agree it’s business as usual.
paper with a shoe. A customer has Before the handover, many people
written on the paper the name of a here feared Communist China would
person who has upset him, we learn. curtail the capitalism and human
Afterward, the paper is rubbed with rights protections Hong Kong enjoyed
pork fat and burned. This ritual beats under British rule, even though China
the “villain” out of the customer’s life. promised self-rule—“one country, two
“Only in Hong Kong,” Jules says, systems”—for 50 years. But, as Chris-
laughing. tine Loh, a legislator here before and
Later we stop to check out the wares after the handover, expressed in an
122017 | 95
READER’S DIGEST
email to me, “The degree of freedom a recent survey of the world’s cities
in Hong Kong on a day-to-day basis by human resources consulting firm
remains very high.” Mercer, it ranked sixth for infrastruc-
ture, which includes such criteria as
WE’LL HEAR a similar opinion over a drinking water and public transit. It
lunch of dim sum—a local Cantonese ranked 71st among 231 cities for qual-
specialty—in Kowloon, where we’re ity of life—higher than the 11 other
heading now on the Star Ferry. It’s been Chinese cities included.
chugging across Victoria Harbor since The outlook for press freedom is
1888. The trip costs HK$2.70 (29 euro less encouraging: a Reporters With-
cents), a bargain in a pricey city. It’s a out Borders (RWB) survey shows
short walk to Serenade Chinese Res- Hong Kong has slipped from 18th
taurant; it’s vast, with huge windows in 2002 to 73rd today (China ranked
overlooking the harbor. 176th.) RWB cites growing difficulty
There we meet my longtime friend in covering sensitive stories about
Junko Watanabe. With her are Ron- Hong Kong’s government and main-
nie and Jennifer Ho, retired teachers land China, and finds “extremely dis-
in their late 50s who have just moved turbing” the purchase of Hong Kong
back from Boston to their home city media by Chinese companies such as
after 23 years. Over bamboo baskets Internet giant Alibaba.
of har gau (steamed shrimp) and siu Politically, Hong Kong residents
mai (pork dumplings) and an order use their right to protest when they
of yi mein (egg noodles, fried), Ronnie perceive China to be overreaching.
and Jennifer tell us they’re delighted to In late 2014, thousands took to the
be home. “We haven’t noticed many streets in a protest dubbed the Um-
changes in daily life,” Ronnie says. brella Movement when Beijing in-
Their parents had fled poverty in sisted on vetting candidates for chief
China for colonial Hong Kong at a executive. China got its way.
young age. Ronnie’s father encour- Another trigger for protests has
aged the couple to emigrate before been tourism from mainland China.
1997. “Our parents knew China was to Before 1997 most visitors came from
be feared,” says Jennifer. The 1989 Ti- Japan and Taiwan, but when Beijing
ananmen Square massacre influenced relaxed its rules in the early 2000s, the
their decision to leave. number of mainland visitors jumped
They returned to Hong Kong to be from about seven million per year
back among family. Says Ronnie, “We’re in 2002 to a whopping 43 million by 2016.
too old to worry about politics now.” For some locals, that’s too many;
they say the visitors are rude and loud.
CLEARLY, HONG KONG is thriving. In And they blame mainlanders for the
96 | 122017
Lamma Island is just a half-hour by ferry from Central but a world away.
Sai Kung, in the New Territories—the were intended to create loyalty to the
mostly rural region between Kowloon Communist regime. “We think that re-
and mainland China. Over a beer duces freedom of thought,” says Wong.
ironically named Gweilo, a rude Can- As leaders of the 2014 Umbrella
tonese term for “white person,” he Movement, Wong and two others
confirms locals are more outspoken were jailed last August for six to eight
nowadays. “People worry that as more months for their roles.
122017 | 97
spot graves set into green slopes that
face the sea for favorable fung shui.
They are tidy. During the Ching Ming
Festival two weeks earlier, families
had swept loved ones’ gravesites and
burned incense for departed spirits.
In Yung Shue Wan, we head to An-
dy’s Seafood Restaurant on Main Street
and find a table with a view of the sun
setting over the sea. It’s a slice of Hong
Kong heaven to dine on grouper with
soy sauce and ginger, and razor clams
in black bean sauce.
98 | 122017
READER’S DIGEST
122017 | 99
BONUS READ
Mıracles
R eal
in
Life
100 | 122017
LIKE LOVE, THE WORD MIRACLE GETS
overused. We trot it out to describe an
amazing sports play or a particularly
effective detergent. But a genuine
miracle produces something precious
and rare. It raises goose bumps, inspires
awe, and, most of all, touches the heart.
We think these four stories—about
families who discovered joy when they
least expected it—do that and more.
And what better time to celebrate joy
than during the holiday season?
122017 | 101
Paramedic Chris Trokey (left)
helped save the life of Dr. Michael
Shannon (right), before
recognizing Dr. Shannon from
his childhood.
102 | 122017
Miracle
in
Real Life
“I Don’t
Know if He
Knows
How Lucky
He Was”
BY LISA MILLER
the quiet afterward, his first thought knew it could explode within minutes.
was that he was alive. His second The man inside the vehicle appeared
thought was that he had to get out— remarkably calm. “He wasn’t freaking
fast. He sensed something burning. out. He wasn’t yelling,” recalls Trokey.
His legs and feet, wedged beneath the “He was saying, ‘Get me out of here.’ ”
crumpled dashboard, felt hot. But he Meanwhile, Shannon’s lower ex-
was pinned. tremities were getting hotter. He could
Help arrived almost instantly; a feel the nylon mesh of his running
unit from the Orange County Fire shoes melting onto his toes. The crew
Department was on the scene in less acted fast. “Someone handed me a fire
than two minutes. Four men work on extinguisher through the window, and
Engine 29—two are paramedics—and I think I used another expletive and
that morning, they were returning to said, ‘I need a hose!’” Shannon says.
their firehouse when they got the call. He was given a fire hose and used it to
The guys were exhausted from work- put out the flames inside his vehicle.
ing all night, but the timing was better The firemen doused the engine fire
than good. They were already in the and called for backup: They needed
truck and ready to go. stronger tools to pry open the SUV. As
they waited, Trokey phoned Mission
Hospital in Laguna Beach to alert the
MY MIRACLE
medical trauma team. After 20 min-
Our daughter was $2,500 short for utes, with a second crew’s help, the
tuition her freshman year, and we Chevy Suburban was opened with the
had no more resources to pay for it. Jaws of Life, and Trokey put the man
My husband said a prayer, played on a backboard and a gurney within
the lottery, and won exactly $2,500. seconds. As he sat with him in the back
MARILYN CERNIGLIA CHEW, Ne w Yo rk of the ambulance with the siren blar-
ing, Trokey began to meditate on the
crash victim’s name: Michael Shannon.
Arriving at the scene, paramedic The paramedic wondered, Could
Chris Trokey could immediately see this be the same man who had saved
how urgent it was. At 30, Trokey had his own life 30 years ago, when he was
been on the job for eight years, and a preemie and arrived at the very same
this accident was a nine out of ten ER they were headed to with panicked
in severity. The whole front end of parents and a perilously high tempera-
the SUV was tucked under the body ture? The doctor who slept by Trokey’s
of the semi. He could see that the side in the hospital until he was well
engine was smoldering—now only a enough to go home? As Trokey sat with
small red flame like a campfire, but he Shannon, the feeling of recognition
104 | 122017
grew stronger. But he didn’t say any- of guy you could talk to as if he was
thing—not then. “I wanted to focus on your brother,” Dee remembers, “but
what was going on.” you had confidence that he could do
anything.”
I
After seven weeks, Chris was dis-
N JUNE 1986, Chris Trokey entered charged, and his parents drove to
the world ten weeks early. His fa- Shannon’s office so he could check
ther, Mike, likes to joke that his son
loves ambulances because he was al-
most born in one. Mike and his wife, MY MIRACLE
Dee, went to Mission Hospital after her I was walking to the gas station and
water broke. There, they were rushed heard crying behind a Dumpster.
by ambulance to the hospital at the I saw a young girl in labor and
University of California Irvine, 25 miles helped her deliver triplets.
away. UCI had the region’s only neo- JAMES OPAL, No r th C aro l in a
natal intensive care unit (NICU); their
baby, the Trokeys were informed, had
a 50-50 chance of survival. the baby out. Chris was fine. However,
Weighing three pounds, two ounces within two weeks, he spiked what
at birth, the baby could fit in the palm Shannon coolly calls “a pretty good-
of Mike’s hand. But Chris was tough, sized fever”—dangerous for a new-
breathing on his own within hours. born but exponentially more so for a
While he was in the NICU, his parents preemie. The Trokeys were in touch
commuted between Irvine and their with Shannon as the fever soared, and
home in Dana Point. During those anx- the doctor soon suggested the family
ious first weeks, Mike and Dee searched meet him at Mission Hospital.
for a local pediatrician who was skilled Dee was a wreck. Having already
enough to cope with the health prob- faced the possibility that her new-
lems that premature babies often face. born might not survive and then living
Mike worked as an educator in the apart from him for nearly two months,
Saddleback Valley school district, co- a life-threatening fever felt like the last
ordinating programs. As he looked straw. At the hospital, Shannon was
through student files, he noticed one waiting for the Trokeys. Utterly calm,
name again and again: Dr. Michael he took the entire family into his care.
Shannon. When the Trokeys went for There was no infant ICU at Mission at
a meeting, they liked Shannon right the time, so “pediatricians took care
away, from his capable manner to his of their own intensive problems,” says
shoulder-length hair, denim shirt, and Shannon. He took Chris’s blood and
turquoise belt buckle. “He was the type sent it to the lab and did a spinal tap
122017 | 105
READER’S DIGEST
to rule out meningitis. Then he put at once. Although he has treated more
the infant on an IV antibiotic drip children than he can remember, it’s
and had the parents go home to sleep. the ones who need him most who
Shannon would watch over their son, stick. Yet if they’d passed each other
he told them. The pediatrician stayed on the street, neither man would have
with Chris for two nights, and on the recognized the other: At 72, Shannon
third day, the boy went home. had cut his hair short. And at six feet
Chris grew up with the family leg- three inches tall and 195 pounds,
end of the time that Shannon slept Chris looked nothing like the fragile
in the hospital with him until he was baby he had once been.
safe. His parents told the story again The day after Shannon’s surgery,
and again as the happiest resolution Trokey and the crew from Engine 29
to the most desperate period of their went to visit Shannon in the ICU. This
lives. Chris continued to be Shannon’s was unusual. As firefighters and para-
patient until he was in his teens. medics, they save lives as a matter of
A
course. But this case was different,
because it was such a close call—“I
FTER THE CAR WRECK, in an don’t know if he knows how lucky
echo of what had happened he was,” says Trokey—and such a co-
30 years before, Chris Trokey stayed by incidence. Both men still marvel at
Shannon’s side in the trauma room for the connection. Neither Shannon nor
Trokey is a churchgoer, but each says
this feeling—of having someone enter
MY MIRACLE
your life at a critical time and watch
I landed an airplane with engine over you until you are well, of giving a
failure that had shaken all but one gift without expectations and then get-
bolt out of its engine mount. ting it back when you need it most—
GENIE SMITH BERNSTEIN, G e o r g i a has given him faith in a higher power.
Shannon and Trokey are busy peo-
ple—Shannon sees patients four days
a few minutes. “I asked, ‘Do you re- a week, and Trokey works three 24-
member me at all? You stayed with me hour shifts a week. But every year on
when I was really little,’” says Trokey. the anniversary of the car accident,
Shannon had suffered a perforated the two men meet for a meal. And in
small intestine. He had second- and 2015, Trokey himself became the fa-
third-degree burns on his feet, and part ther of a baby boy. His name is Porter,
of a toe had to be amputated. Shards of and he has had no major health prob-
glass were embedded in his skin. lems so far. Dr. Michael Shannon is
Shannon recognized Chris’s name his pediatrician.
106 | 122017
Reunited on the
job: sisters Meagan
Hughes (left) and
Holly O’Brien
Miracle
in
Real Life
She Was
Sarasota. “You should talk to her,”
the patient told O’Brien, according to
Out There”
the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “Maybe
you’re from the same town.”
After O’Brien and Hughes finally
met, they did begin to notice parallels
BY MARC PEYSER
H
in their lives. They were both certified
nursing assistants. They were both
OLLY O’BRIEN’S patient was orphans who had been adopted by
just being nice. She prob- American families. And their reasons
ably didn’t realize that South Korea for ending up at the orphanage were
MI CHELLE BRUZZ ESE
has more than 50 million people or the same: abandonment. “So I said to
that there are over 1.7 million Korean her, ‘I know this is crazy, but what is
Americans living in the United States. your last name in Korean?’” recalls
She just thought it was interesting that Hughes, now 45. “And as soon as
O’Brien didn’t know Meagan Hughes, she told me Shin, I said, ‘No way.
122017 | 107
READER’S DIGEST
That’s my [Korean] last name too.’” blanks. A year ago, the nurses decided
Suddenly, the coincidences seemed to take at-home DNA tests and mailed
more than merely interesting. In fact, the samples away to be analyzed. Less
for years, O’Brien, 47, sensed that she’d than two weeks later, O’Brien got an
had a half sister back in Korea. Though e-mail. Their DNA matched—they were
her mother had disappeared when she half sisters. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, is
was an infant and she was only five this really happening?” says Hughes.
when her father was killed by a train, O’Brien was shocked but also relieved.
she had a memory of her and her fa- “In my heart, I knew,” she says. “I knew
ther living, briefly, with his second wife she was out there somewhere.” After
and a baby girl. O’Brien was ultimately more than 7,500 miles and four long
adopted by a loving family from Alex- decades, O’Brien had finally found the
andria, Virginia, but her Korean child- missing piece of her past, working just
hood never left her. She remembers a few feet away from her.
MY MIRACLE
My autistic son graduated from
college with a degree in Bible
T ODAY, THE SISTERS wear spe-
cial necklaces, each with a
heart-shaped charm, as a symbol of
ministry. KEN DILLMAN, Te x a s their bond. “I got her the silver one,
and I got the gold one for myself,” says
O’Brien. “She will always be my heart.”
one night, when she was about nine Divorced twice and remarried with
years old, waking up from a dream and no children of her own, O’Brien has
screaming, “My daddy died. I have a found the reunion with her younger
sister. We need to find her.” O’Brien’s sister to be especially sweet. In an in-
adoptive family contacted the orphan- stant, she has become an aunt to
age in Korea for information, but there Hughes’s two daughters. As much as
was no record of a sibling. she loves the family that raised her in
Hughes wasn’t haunted by lingering Virginia—O’Brien has eight adoptive
memories; instead, she was haunted brothers and sisters—making a bio-
because she didn’t have any. Adopted logical connection at this stage of her
when she was four by a family in Kings- life has been extraordinary. “I have this
ton, New York, she couldn’t remember very strong belief that God must be—”
either of her biological parents. “My For a moment, her tears overwhelm
whole life has been a question in my her words, as if washing away the sis-
mind, and an emptiness,” she says. ters’ 40-year separation. “Like, what-
Now the coincidence of meeting ever I’ve done, I must have done
O’Brien offered the chance to fill in the something good in my life.”
108 | 122017
Finally, mother
and child:
Jeanne Kerr (left)
and the author
Miracle
in
Real Life
“It’s Regina Louise. I think we
may’ve met a—”
Make
I crossed out another Jeanne on
my long list. The last time I’d seen the
You My
Jeanne I was looking for was in 1977,
when I was 15. That day, I’d stood in a
juvenile courtroom prepared to speak
“M
the shelter on May 1, 1975—a day
before I turned 13. I was confused by
AY I S P E A K W I T H her excitement regarding my pending
Jeanne Kerr?” I said, birthday. Then came balloons, cake,
crossing my fingers. and strangers singing to me as if I were
“Who’s asking?” the voice cracked. a big deal. In no time, it felt good to be
122017 | 109
READER’S DIGEST
where Jeanne was. I’d grown up with- everything changed. Now I had some-
out a lick of kin, so I had taken my cues one else to love and to think about.
B
from Donna Reed and June Cleaver. I
loved how they treated children, their
soft-spoken ways. I prayed to meet Y 2002, I CO-OWNED and oper-
someone like them who could see I ated two hair salons, and my
was worth the trouble I was born into. teenage son was a thriving scholar-
In court, my social worker pre- athlete. I decided to write a book
sented evidence of my “escalating” about my life from ages 13 to 15, a
behaviors: running away, telling lies, journey that included meeting Jeanne
sabotaging foster care placements so I and losing her.
could return to the shelter, to Jeanne. “Your memoir claims abuse and ne-
“It’s unnatural, Your Honor, how glect, so you need someone to verify
much she loves this woman,” she said. what you’ve written,” my editor said.
The judge agreed, and Jeanne’s peti- I had two weeks to locate that person.
tion to adopt was denied. I believe my My writing coach suggested I find
social worker objected because Jeanne Jeanne. I couldn’t bear to tell her that
was white and I was black. The National I’d spent years ordering phone books
Association of Black Social Workers from Nova Scotia to Hawaii, the num-
ber of times I’d been hung up on, the
dead ends I’d followed. But now I
MY MIRACLE
could scour the Internet, and I began
I walked into the room, and my searching on countless sites. Marriage
mother, who had dementia, raised license? Nothing. Certificate of birth
her arm, waved, and said, “Hi, of child? Nothing. Death certificate?
Karen,” with her eyes shining bright! Hesitantly, I punched in her name.
KAREN RASMUSSEN, C onn e cti cu t That, too, came back with nothing.
Had I made Jeanne up? But there
was the blue corduroy dress she’d
had issued a statement against trans- hand-sewn for me, with rainbows in
racial adoption, seeing it as an attack on my favorite colors. I’d lost it many years
black families. I was put in a residential ago. There was the way she called me
treatment center for severely emotion- “sweetheart” or “punkin,” the way she
ally disturbed girls. From there, I’d go smelled of Cream of Wheat, warmed
through 30 placements before land- milk, vanilla, and brown sugar.
ing in a group home in San Francisco. Then I remembered that, as a child, I
I stayed there until the age of eman- had been warned that everything I said
cipation, after which I flailed through and did was put in a file so anyone who
life. Then I became a mother, and wanted to could learn what an awful
110 | 122017
person I was. I called the county and My heart stopped. I opened the
asked for my file. When the package e-mail, and it was from Jeanne. My
arrived, I nuzzled it to my bosom like breath caught in my throat. Was some-
it was a newborn. Inside was a stack one playing a joke on me? Only later
of papers filled with legal jargon, in- I’d learn that a former coworker of hers
cident reports, and letters from one had read an article about my book in
institutional director to another about which the reporter revealed the real
my need to be “terminated.” But there
was no road map to Jeanne.
MY MIRACLE
With two days left to corroborate
my story, I asked Jules, a friend and We were so poor, we had not
correspondent at a magazine that planned to have Christmas that
had access to research databases, year. Then a stranger dropped off
for help. My deadline passed before the makings for Christmas dinner.
she finished her search, so I changed I still don’t know who did it!
the names of my characters. “Jeanne JANET WILT, Fl o r i d a
Kerr” became “Claire Kennedy.”
J
name of Claire Kennedy, and the ex-
ULES SENT ME the search results colleague told Jeanne, “Your Regina is
a week later: She had an address! looking for you.”
I wrote Jeanne a letter and sealed it In her e-mail, Jeanne wrote, “Please
with a kiss in red lipstick. The day be- reach out to me once your tour is
fore I left on my book tour, I received done. I don’t want to be a bother.” I
an envelope in the mail—it was my couldn’t wait—I immediately dialed
letter, stamped with the words Ad- the number she had given.
dressee Unknown. “Hello?” The voice at the other end
In Los Angeles, I was interviewed by sounded hushed, just as I remem-
radio talk show host Tavis Smiley. He bered Jeanne’s timbre; she had a
asked: “You have it all: You’re a spokes- particular way of saying “hello” that
person for foster care, have a thriving softened me from the inside out.
salon business, a well-adjusted child. “I can’t believe it’s you,” I said
What more would you like?” through my absolute bewilderment.
I replied without hesitating. “Some- “I never stopped thinking of you.”
one to say they are proud of me.” “You were my first child,” she told
Afterward, back in my hotel room, I me. “I never stopped loving you.” Her
checked my e-mail and saw a message words reverberated, and all I could do
with the subject line: “I am so proud was listen. “They said I was the wrong
of you, sweetheart!” color and that I wasn’t allowed to
122017 | 111
READER’S DIGEST
I
chance to tell her “thank you.” On the
phone with her, I knew my deepest
wish was on the verge of coming true. N NOVEMBER 2003, I stood in the
Three weeks later, I sat for six hours same juvenile courtroom in Cali-
at LaGuardia Airport in New York fornia where Jeanne’s adoption re-
City, waiting out a storm that had quest had been denied in 1977. I was
delayed Jeanne’s plane. I paced and 41, and I was with my son; Jeanne, her
smoothed my skirt. Finally, a woman husband, and her son; and my partner,
rushed toward me, her long gray- Stevie Anne, and her family. After the
white ponytail swinging from beneath judge swore me and Jeanne to honor
COURTESY REGINA LOUI SE
a baseball cap. She wore an oversize and love each other as mother and
sweater splattered with gigantic mul- daughter for the rest of our lives, I
ticolored peonies, green polka-dot turned to Jeanne, cupped my hand
capri pants, and kitty-cat ankle socks around her ear, and whispered,
paired with a well-worn pair of run- “Thank you—Mommy—for loving me
ning shoes. I looked at her, head tilted when no one else could.”
NARRATIVELY (MAY 25, 2016), COPYRIGHT © 2016 BY REGINA LOUISE, NARRATIVE.LY.
112 | 122017
READER’S DIGEST
Miracle
in
Real Life
“This Cat Is
Meant to
Be Here” Mr. Fancy,
home at last
O
BY ASHLEY LEWIS
him Mr. Fancy, or Fancy for short. streets, and sketchy neighborhoods—
Soon, Mr. Fancy was strutting in back to the Bosches. “This cat is
and out of the cat door. However, meant to be here,” Ann says. Even
Ann’s husband, Gene, argued that Gene agrees. “Whatever time I have
Fancy should find a new home. “We with Fancy,” Ann says, “they’re going
don’t need another mouth to feed, to be the best years of his life.”
122017 | 113
Brainteasers
Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind stretchers,
then check your answers on page 120.
BUBBLE MATH
(Moderately difficult)
Assign a whole number
11 between one and seven
to each of the seven
7 bubbles. Each number
14 6 occurs once. The sums
of some of the numbers
10 are revealed in the areas
POTATO BINS
(Easy)
There are 100 potatoes spread
over three bins in a grocery store.
A total of 35 potatoes
are in bins A and B.
A total of 75 potatoes
A C
are in bins B and C.
B
How many potatoes
are in each bin?
114 | 122017
1…100
COUNTING DIGITS (Easy)
How many times does
the digit 5 appear in the
numbers from 1 to 100?
MATCH PLAY
(Difficult)
The grid contains 4 5 5 3 2 3 4
matches of different
sizes, any of which 3
may be completely
unburned, partially
burned or completely 4
burned. Matches
burn from the head 4
(COUNTING DIGITS; LOST TIME) MARCEL DANESI; (MATCH PLAY) FRASER SIMPSON
122017 | 115
Trivia Quiz
BY PAUL PAQUET
10. Batman. 11. Paris. 12. Mel Gibson. 13. Proteins. 14. Canada. 15. Thomas Edison.
The Lord of the Rings. 5. Jerusalem. 6. Germany. 7. Beijing. 8. Twisted Sister. 9. Somalia.
ANSWERS: 1. Mount Olympus. 2. Jennifer Lawrence. 3. The harp. 4. Hobbits, from
116 | 122017
IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR
Word Power
Do you ever toss off an impressive-sounding word at a cocktail party
only to wonder: Did I get that right? The terms in this month’s quiz,
inspired by the book You’re Saying It Wrong by Ross and Kathryn Petras,
will make you sound like the smartest person in the room—if your
pronunciation is correct. See the next page for answers.
BY EMILY COX & HENRY RATHVON
122017 | 117
READER’S DIGEST
Answers
1. detritus (dih-'try-tuss)—[B] debris. 9. machination (ma-kuh-'nay-
People on our block are still picking shun)—[C] scheme. Despite all his
up detritus from Billy’s birthday bash. machinations, Wile E. Coyote can’t
catch Road Runner.
2. prerogative (prih-'rah-guh-tiv)—
[C] special right. If Dad wants to 10. slough (sloo)—[C] swamp. The
regift his dinosaur tie, that’s his slough is home to a variety of species,
prerogative. including salmon, ducks, and otters.
3. segue ('sehg-way)—[A] transition. 11. spurious ('spyuhr-ee-us)—
But enough about you; let’s segue to [B] fake. So that UFO sighting in Cen-
the topic of snakes. tral Park turned out to be spurious?
4. hegemony (hih-'jeh-muh-nee)— 12. nuptial ('nuhp-shuhl)—[B] relat-
[A] domination. Brian has complete ing to marriage. I’ve attached a string
hegemony over this Monopoly board. of tin cans to the nuptial sedan.
5. dais ('day-iss)—[C] raised 13. coxswain ('kahk-suhn)—
platform. The crowd threw tomatoes [C] sailor in charge. It’s traditional
at the dais as the mayor began her for a winning crew to toss its coxswain
press conference. overboard.
6. kefir (keh-'feer)—[B] fermented 14. geoduck ('goo-ee-duhk)—
milk. Beth always eats the same [C] large Pacific clam. A geoduck
breakfast: kefir mixed with nuts can weigh over ten pounds—and
and fruit. live for more than
DULL AS WHICH 150 years!
7. peremptory
(puh-'remp-tuh- WATER? 15. plethora
ree)—[A] allowing People often say a boring ('pleh-thuh-ruh)—
no disagreement. thing is as dull as dishwater. [B] abundance.
But before the phrase was
“I am not going Joe claims a
misspoken, it was actually
to bed!” the as dull as ditchwater. Most plethora of
toddler yelled in a dictionaries now accept proof that Bigfoot
peremptory tone. either, but here are a few exists.
8. quay (kee)—[A] phrases that are just plain
wrong: butt naked (for buck VOCABULARY
wharf. Passengers
naked), hare’s breath (for RATINGS
waiting on the hair’s breadth), and road to 9 & below: mumbling
quay prepared to hoe (for row to hoe). 10–12: well-spoken
board the ferry. 13–15: eloquent
118 | 122017
ALL IN
A Day’s Work
DAVID BORCHART/THE NEW YORKER COLLECTION/© CONDÉ NAST
122017 | 119
READER’S DIGEST
120 | 122017
Next Month
COMING IN THE JANUARY ISSUE
The Healing
Power of You
Science is showing
how placebos
actually bring healing
and ease pain.
T H E NE X T I SS UE W I L L B E P U B L I S H E D JA N UARY 1, 2 018
122017 | 121
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122017
Last Laugh