Elderly in Hong Kong need helpers on hand, everyone must realise that

A helping hand for the elderly is a win for all

My letter to the editor of South China Morning Post was published today, a bit to my surprise because I hadn't sent it as a "letter to ed" just as a comment meant to be passed to Peter Kammerer.  Oh well, they printed it anyway....
Here's the text, which in the printed version was headlined "We must realise that our elderly need assistance":

Good to see your senior writer, Peter Kammerer, admit that he was wrong (“I was wrong: Hong Kong does need domestic helpers for elderly care”, April 9). He now makes exactly the points I made in my letter published on December 7 (“Elderly need helpers as well as more clinics”).

But I do wonder: why does it take a personal experience – his elderly mother needing household care – to change his mind? Why could he not have empathised with others in the situation he now finds himself in, and done so before the fact? 

It seems that too many people are ready to denounce others without thinking. In his case, let’s not forget that he called it “laughable” that people should want to employ domestic helpers to help with elderly relatives. 

Still, it’s good that he has come around and had the integrity to publish in full the eating of his humble pie.

Peter Forsythe, Discovery Bay