“Saved from the dump” ~ another case of baby dumping headlined the Sunday Star yesterday. A baby had been left for dead in a sports bag near the Tanjung Agas (Muar) dumping area yesterday, so reported the said paper. The newspaper further chronicled nine baby dumping cases since March this year. And this is just a few days short of the news about a poor German Shepherd being neglected to death by her owner in Subang Jaya. The NST on Wednesday October 18th further quoted at least 2,400 animal neglect cases are reported every year in Malaysia. The pity of it all is that the pet owner was only slapped with a RM100 fine under the Animal Ordinance which carries the maximum fine of only RM200 or six months jail or both. Something is definitely wrong with this law.
What is our society coming to? Where did we go wrong? Is life so worthless these days that the perpetrators could not even be bothered to hand their charges over to the respective authorities but instead, leave their children or pets for “DEAD”?! How can one take the responsibility of a life so lightly? It is absolutely criminal!
And to think a few of my childless friends have to go through hell to try to get a child and here you have people “killing” their own kids. Yes, “killing” is the right word. When you leave a baby in the dumpster, would you expect the baby to survive? The person who did that has as good as signed the death warrant of the child!
On another note, just yesterday, a good friend of mine had to put her beloved dog of more than 15 years to sleep due to old age and sickness. It was a very sad occasion. I knew how tough it was for her to make that decision and it took her a couple of months to do so. But in the Subang Jaya case, you have a healthy dog which was “left for dead” by the owner. And yes, “left for dead” is the right phrase to use. After all, when you leave your animal in the house for days without food and water, what do you expect … a hale and healthy dog running to greet you?
When we take a child or a pet into our home and hearts, we undertake the responsibility for that life. We are supposed to nurture and protect until they can stand on their own feet, and even then, we continue to nurture and protect in other ways. In return, we receive love; and in some cases as in our pets, it’s unconditional love. Do we then take that love and trample upon it? It is unthinkable to call it quits halfway through that cycle. But what is worse, is that instead of nurturing the child or pet, we seek to destroy. That is something I could never fathom. What happened to the milk of human kindness?
As much as I like kids and pets, I know that my current lifestyle would not be able to accommodate them unless I am willing to make that sacrifice. And that’s what we have to consider before we undertake such a responsibility. We must be willing to take that responsibility and make those sacrifices! We can’t just take it and leave it at our own whims and fancy. And when the going gets tough, we can’t just say, “Oops! Sorry, I made an error God. Here, I give you back the child!”
When will “we” ever learn to take responsibility?
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2 comments:
Humm... seems to me like you could do with a change of focus. There are many sad things in the world, and I read such stories when I was pregnant, so you KNOW how it made me feel. However, to protect yourself and to help you focus on your dissertation, you must try to find something else in the newspaper to celebrate. Right now, in Dissertation Land, your psyche cannot afford a barrage of these sad stories, and unfortunately, sad stories seem to sell newspapers. So, you may have to do some digging to find positive things on which to focus. Remember: your dissertation needs you. It's your baby, your constant responsibility for now. Be good to yourself. try reading The War of Art by the guy who wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance. I can't ever remember his name, and typing in the title only produces The Art of War instead of The War of Art. Read some Jack Canfield, and some other Can Do type authors, but stay away from the maudlin. It takes away from your ability to produce. This is only in my opinion.
Thanks for the advice. Nah, I am not depress. It's just thoughts and musings swirling in my head when I see an injustice and I need to vent out the frustrations within. Blogging is very therapeutic in that sense. I will be back on my feet again in no time. Thanks for the concern once again. :)
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