New Streams of Life (13)
New Streams of Life (13)
I had a late start today due to the menial work in the garden yesterday. First thing I heard in the morning was that the chicken died in the chicken house last
night. But what was coincidental was I just watched a program “Kill it, Cook it
, Eat it” on BBC Three, which, as the title suggested, educates people where their food came from. The programme last night was about pig. It traced the journey of one animal from its life on the farm to its fate at a small working abattoir. Various People were invited to the show witnessing the slaughter of the animal and later tasting the meat from the newly slaughtered animal.
Though witnessing the process of pigs being killed made me absolutely sick, I agreed that the programme was educational. By showing people what was normally “
behind the scene,” the programme made you think of the underlying process in our shopping life. Whenever there are carnivorous people and demands for meat, slaughters such as pig-killing, like it or not, will always be going on. So while slaughtering is inevitable, to make the animal enjoy the most happy farm life when it’s alive, and feel the least pain possible when being killed is what we, as consumers, can do at least. Having said that, I am glad that the chickens my friend raised have enjoyed their life without suffering the latter part—being slaughtered.
Anyway after reading in the conservatory in the sun some two hours, my friend and I went to relocate the blocks purchased last week. They have been laid on the
front door grass several days with the result that the grass under it was withering away. We had to relocate them onto the garden floor before it was too late.
Fortunately the weather was pleasingly sunny and warm. It was a tiring and tedious task. But thinking of it was a one-time task, we managed to move half of them
away before it is too dark for the grass under them to enjoy the last glimpse of sunlight today.
When we came back to the house, I suddenly realized that today it was Women’s Day. Relocating from China to England seems to me now mean more than just relocation itself. I have been separated from any festivals that I was used to, such as
Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, and now Women’s Day. Instead I will be immersed into the festivals here such as the upcoming Easter, and, later in the year
, Christmas. Somewhat I can understand how my friend felt last Christmas. It must be the mix of emotion and disappointment, as how I felt during the newly-past
Spring Festival. The feeling was intense and acute because you were breaking away, the first time, from one place, one culture to another.
Knowing the Chinese girl from the next town actually makes me more mature. By seeing her mentally and emotionally trying to separate her from the outside world
in order to feel at home, I saw the underlying weakness I had myself, and foresaw what would happen to me if I didn’t walk out and immerge. But because I knew
her feeling, I was able to understand and comfort her. And for the same reason,
I was motivated and able to grow, as I hate being seen weak and hard to adapt.
I guess this was all part of life. Every day you take in new information, digest
, and grow more sensible and wiser than before. The other day I searched on wiki
with the key word “meaning of life”, and found that there were so many different answers to this straightforward question. Then I was thinking what mine was.
I don’t know if other people think I am too quizzical, focusing on abstract questions of this sort. But I find it is necessary to repeat asking myself the question now and again. It is somewhat like the thought of “act and live with the
end in mind”: To remember that you only have a one-time opportunity to live your life, to remember that you will die one day will make you think seriously, and
furthermore act seriously and differently.
P.S: I enjoy what T. S. Eliot said: “...We must not cease from exploration. And
the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time...” One explores in order to answer one’s inner crave
, to reach the inner placidity and wholeness, and to make the one-time journey well worthwhile.
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