Karma & the sanctity of life

My 81 years old father’s at work picking rambutans, mangosteens & cempedak fruits in the small orchard located a stone’s throw away from my parents’ house in the village. On a Sunday in July’10, I woke up from a mid-day nap and drove to the orchard, chipping in to help with picking and packing the mangosteens and rambutan into plastic bags. This small orchard which once belonged to my elder brother was sold off to a businessman (an Ah Long) from KL who had asked my father to tend the orchard on his behalf, he does not give any pay but instead compensates my father by asking him to sell off the fruits during the fruit season and keep the earnings to himself. This season my father was however cheated by some unscrupulous men who after taking a van-load of mangosteens, paid only a very tiny fraction of what was supposed to be the worth of the fruits in a whole-sale situation; whilst another did not even show up after taking the fruits for sales in tamu ground, promising to pay later. It’s frustrating to think that they have the hearts to cheat an elderly man like that, it must have upset him to see his hard work being paid off with the sheer dishonesty and unhonourable promises of young men, who with their abled bodies and strong physique could well earn money and returns many folds compared to the meager income my father receives, if they labored with a willing heart and sincere efforts. Yet they chose to deceive.

But with karma, hopefully they would one day come to realize that what goes around will surely come around…







Bought four fishes (ikan galak and badus ) from a village friend, one of which has glaringly deep red wound on its head, the other with a little bleeding around its mouth on Sunday’s market in Beaufort town. My sister and I thereafter immediately rushed home in our kancil, with my sister driving whilst I was at the back seat with the plastic bag containing the fishes held loosely, lest a tight hold would suffocate their tiny lives as well as fearing the deep wound so caused on one the fishes would render them unable to make it to the creek located at the back of my parents’ home where we had intended to release them to. The fishes, once freed, immediately swam to oblivion leaving trails of tiny bubbles on top of the water surface, to deep water safe from prying eyes of other predators besides humans, all with vested interest to partake in its fragile lives.

Upholding the principle on the sanctity of life would require us to nurture a sense of utmost respect and sincere appreciation for all life forms, for life is precious and no attempts should be made to endanger nor shorten the lives of our own nor of others, and this includes tiny living things like fish.