Do you remember those scary stories and tales that your mum or dad used to tell you when you were kids? They say all the scary stuff just to make you eat your dinner, behave or not run wild. One of the silly childhood tales which is actually pretty racist now. I had friends who told me that their parents will scare them into believing that the indian man would take them away if they didn't behave. I thought that was really bad but not until recently, that I found out that an ex-colleague of mine actually told her son that if he doesn't behave the 'boop - boop' uncle will come and take him away. And I asked her, what's this 'boop-boop' uncle? And she said, it's the man on the motor cycle. I stared at her in disbelief. No wonder kids grow up to be racist and also afraid of the motor cycles....Mad...just pure madness....
That brings me to the scary tales and stories that my parents would scare us with. They are pretty good parents and they would tell us never to talk or follow strangers because they might take us away. Been a curious kid and I'm still a curious adult now, I asked where are they going to bring us to? And they said with a straight face, well, they'll take you and chop off your hands or legs and then make you beg on the streets! I was like ya right! You think I'll believe that gibberish that you just told us?
Well, when Joanne was about 4 years old or so, Dad and her were at Jurong Bus Interchange. They were there to change buses to come home. Dad turned around to buy smokes and when he turned around, he couldn't find Joanne. He ran and hunted high and low trying to find my dear sister. I could just imagine his fears of losing Joanne. Finally, after much searching, he found this guy almost boarding the bus with Joanne. Dad said that he was so livid that he almost punched that bastard in his face! And thank God! I almost lost my sister! And that did it for me. Yes, dad and mum, I believe you now!
So you readers must be wondering, why am I telling you all these. Well, after living in Hong Kong for a while, I've been seeing quite a number of beggers. Have to say that Hong Kong is a world class city and yet you do see a couple of beggers. Wait, there aren't as many as in Bangkok or some other places. But have to say that the beggers that I see are a little scary. I've seen beggers with their arms or legs neatly chopped off. Or with weak legs or with faces scarred by acid. WK mentioned that he actually had a nightmare after seeing the begger with a scarred face. And when I saw her, I did have a nightmare as well. I have been ponderinging for a while if those scary tales told by my parents were true. The beggers that I see are adults. And if it's true, like with WK said, it must take a really hard heart to chop or scar a kid. What can possess a person to be so cruel and evil? Does greed actually drive a person to be so evil? Well, that's food for thought.....Is money the root of all evil or is it greed and wanting more and more that is the root of all evil?
2 comments:
I know exactly how you felt when you saw those handicapped beggars. There are also plenty of beggars like that here in China. I felt so sad for them especially when I first got here in 1998. I heard they belong to some syndicates, where they are usually abused(break their arms or legs) and are sold from syndicate to syndicate when they don't make enough! Their only job is to make people like us pity them and spare them some change. I stopped giving to these beggars when I know the money will end up with these people, people who abuses them!
Oh, so it true after all about the 'beggers syndicates'. No wonder sometimes I see people giving them food instead. The people who abuse them deserve to burn and rot to death in hell!
Post a Comment