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Wisdom Of The Taxi Driver

(me) Do you think it'll rain today?

(taxi driver)  I don't think so...

But it looks so cloudy outside, maybe it'll rain later at night

It's fine if it rains at night, as long as it don't rain now

Do you get more customers when it rains?

Yes

So isn't it better for you if it rains then?

Yes, but it's not good saying that

Why?

If it rains, the workers at the construction site will have to stop working. They live in those plank houses, their clothes will all get wet and cold. They don't have electricity to help dry their clothes, and they won't be able to work. We can't only think for ourselves...

Oh, yeah, you're right.

(Passes some construction workers clearing the side of the road)

You see them? They work long hours for just about 40 or 50 ringgit. If it rains they won't be able to do their job. Can't always just think of my own work.

But then how about the farmers? if it doesn't rain at all, they'll have problems too...

So hope it rains at night then. Everyone can get their work done, and the farmers have rain for the crop.

Yeah. I guess so...

(after I get out of the taxi and pay the guy)

Did you get your wallet back?

(Shows it to him)

Yeah some girl at the University found it and gave it back to me. No money inside though but I got everything else.

OH, so it wasn't lost in a taxi?

I guess not, but I'm not sure.

But, I scolded all the taxi drivers, telling them that this girl who's our regular customer dropped her wallet in a taxi and that if any of them took it they should return it!

I'm really sorry. My friend told me that perhaps I had dropped it in the taxi we took together. I honestly thought I lost it there...

(He smiles)

It's ok. Wallet's like your life you know? You have to be careful with it.

Yeah...I know.

How much money was inside?

About 40 bucks I guess

Oh well. At least you got your ID and stuff back. If you don't have those you'll have more trouble, having to deal with the immigration and registra and all. Making a police report, everything.

Yeah, I'm glad I got the IC and all back. The money don't bother me much. I bought a new wallet to keep my IC and stuff in now.

Good, take care of your wallet. Be careful.

Thanks.

You better hurry,... Don't miss the train...

(Smiles and waves goodbye)

[The whole conversation was in Malay by the way]

***

There are taxi drivers who work the route around my University. I am familiar with a few of them. Mostly the Indian ones, and a couple of the Malay ones, I don't think that there are any Chinese taxi drivers on the route, I haven't seen any actually, unless they are not on the regular schedule. so anyway, I talk to them when I ain't too tired to hold a conversation and the ones who converse with me normally have some interesting things to share. The taxi driver today, he and I are like friends, but we don't know each others names. He's still very kind to me actually. I told him when I lost my wallet that I thought it fell in the taxi and asked him if he could ask about it. I'm sorry I did that, shouldn't have troubled him, but I was really low then. Glad that he wasn't miffed that the wallet hadn't fallen in a taxi at all. It's nice to know though that in a way they look out for me too. One of them asked me if I would be interested in marrying his son. ahahahah Funny some of em. mostly they wanna know why I don't have a boyfriend.

Those taxi drivers are nice people. The smile at me and we greet each other even if I ain't taking the taxi that day. It's nice really.

 
 
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THE RED LIONS DANCED

Chinese New Year: children and parents at the ward,
It’s no real holiday celebration tending to the illnesses,
Mother tending to her child who’s got cancer,
Children: too young to even know life, yet facing death.
Children whom should be running wild and happy,
Lying in pain, needles attached to their body…

They smile when they see us,
It’s a break from routine to have visitors,
And we talk, trying to make the children smile,
Trying to ease their parents minds for a while.


We tell them that the Lions will come,
They are all geared up with anticipation,
The air is energized with excitement!

When the Lions came,
Even the frowns turned into smiles,
Some children were clamoring to see,
Others were fearful, yet filled with glee.

Laughing, grinning, smiling, even crying,
All together it was a glorious sight to see,
Seeing those people in the wards looking happy.

The Red Lion’s Dances and gave out oranges,

It was a happy occasion for all of us…
It was good that we did it for them today,
So they know they that don’t have to be alone,
Nor forgotten, as we celebrate Chinese New Years day.
The end
Sky Lark Crow
14th February 2002 0001

The visit to the Childrens' Cancer Ward was before that accident.

At first we thought that the Lions were not coming because they were so late. But we waited
anyway. I was feeling bad thinking that we promised the Lion’s were gonna come and dance, but
there was no sign of them yet. Half of the group had to leave first because they had some place
else to go too. Almost right after they left though, the Lions came and it was spectacular, the
reactions they got as they danced around the wards giving the children oranges.

Oh, Lion Dances, for Chinese New Year, if you don’t know is performed by people wearing elaborate
Lion Dance costumed. More Elaboration:

Bringing luck and happiness

The lion dance is an important tradition in China. Usually the dance is part of festivities like Chinese New Year, the openings of restaurants and weddings. If well-performed, the lion dance is believed to bring luck and happiness.

Although lions are not native in China, they came to this country via the famous Silk Road. Rulers in what is today Iran and Afghanistan sent lions to Chinese emperors as gifts in order to get the right to trade with Silk Road merchants. The lion dance dates back to the Han Dynasty (205 B.C. to 220 A.D in China) and during the Tang Dynasty (716-907 A.D.) it was at its peak. It was particularly performed during religious festivals. The lion dance was not only introduced in China, but also in Korea and Taiwan, where lions are not native as well. The dances are not exactly the same in these countries, but the symbolism is quite similar.

The lion is enacted by two dancers. One handles the head, made out of strong but light materials like paper-mache and bamboo, the other plays the body and the tail under a cloth that is attached to the head. The 'animal' is accompanied by three musicians, playing a large drum, cymbals and a gong. A Little Buddha teases it with a fan or a giant ball. The head dancer can move the lion's eyes, mouth and ears for expression of moods.

The lion dance combines art, history and kung fu moves. Normally the performers are kung fu practitioners. Every kind of move has a specific musical rhythm. The music follows the moves of the lion: the drum follows the lion, the cymbals and the gong follow the drum player.

Quite often people observing the dances think that they are looking at dragons. The main difference between lion dance and dragon dance is that the latter is performed with more people than two.

There are a few other kinds really. You can look it up over the net. Just search “Lion Dance”. Here's one too:
The Lion Dance

 
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WASTED

Do you know how fragile life is?
One minute you're riding on the road,
With the wind on your face feeling free and easy,
The next you're flung into the air, flat faced,
You're lost in the darkness...
And those others who stand witness,
Stupidly staring at the blood pouring from your face,
Waiting for someone to do something,
While standing watching, doing nothing,
Not even those who put you in that predicament react.

A little too late help is there,
Merely seconds too late,
You're drowning in your own blood,
As someone's holding you saying prayers,
The pain is too much to bare,
You don't know what's going on,
only that death is near,
And she's telling you that you'll live,
if you can just hold on a little longer,
Hold on a little longer,
while your bloods drowning you...

I don't know if he heard me at all,
I don't know if there was hope at all,
I only knew that I wanted him to live anyway,
So I tried to hold him as I prayed.

Now it seems so surreal,
Yet I know it wasn't a dream,
His blood washed off too easily still,
Perhaps it'll be harder on my jeans,
It doesn't matter if it's forever stained,
I just hope my prayers were not in vain,
May it have been to send him to Heaven,
May it have been to beg God to bring him back to earth,
as his soul floated above us watching...

I know it's not my fault,
I am only angry at those who wanted to wait,
When that boys life was teetering about to break,
We all reacted just a minute too late.

The End
Sky Lark Crow
13th Feb 2002 11.06pm


***

 
Everything over the last past week is unimportant now.

There was an accident. I don't know the parties involved. I was in a car with a friend who's a doctor. I saw the car ram into the side of the building, and knew that the passengers were virtually unhurt. I told my doc friend, and the person in front stopped and ran to a different direction. I didn't notice that, but I noticed suddenly the motorbike on the road, the helmet on the road, didn't know who it belonged too. The doc driving made a quick U-turn and we both got out of the car to see if we could help. THAT's when I noticed where the motorcyclist was. face down on the side of the road. I went to him, as a few others did. the ground beneath him was covered with blood and I knew that if he didn't get help soon he would die. The Doc had to shout at the people watching before they understood that! They wanted to wait for an ambulance to come but the boy was bleeding too much to wait. They picked him up and moved him beside the doc's 4-wheel drive. She instructed them to put him in the back of her vehicle but no one wanted to seem to do it. Someone took his legs and I was so damn frustrated with the men staring and doing nothing that I went and took his head and shoulder, covered with blood. Seeing that made the other men decide to finally act like men I guess. They lifted him into the back of the 4-wheel drive. I got in and tried to hold him still, and prayed and prayed and prayed as Doc drove like crazy to get him to the hospital. She had already called ahead, asking SGG to let the hospital know. Apparently they didn't believe that the boys situation was critical until we had arrived there and that doc saw the condition and finally mobilized the emergency team. By the time I found a wash room and washed the boys blood from my hands and got back to the entrance, they were JUST getting him out of the 4-wheel drive. I was so damn angry that they were so slow when someone's life was at stake. I watched, they had put a neck brace on the boy. I guess his neck was broken, he was so damn limp in my arms when I was trying to keep his body from hitting the sides of the 4-wheel drive.

They were pumping his heart as they pushed him into the emergency ward. We stayed for a while. Then it was decided we had better leave it to the doctors after giving them all the information which we had, which wasn't much. I don't know for sure if he lived or died. But I think his soul's departed. I want to know for sure, I want to pray for him. I feel as though some little part of me has followed him.

Doc and SGG made me promise not to hold on to it. I won't hold myself responsible. I know it wasn't my fault. I just wish that the others there had been more aware of the life which was at stake as they just bloody stood and stared.

I hope then that my prayers sent him, if he did pass away.

I know I'll always remember this day.

 

***

A LESSON

In those fleeting 10 minutes,
He taught me how precious life really is,
I still don't know his name, I'll never know,
But I'll remember him as a dying angel though,
Whom God sent to remind me of how truly blessed I am,
And to value this life of mine, as much as I can...

The End
Sky Lark Crow
14th Feb 2002 2210

 
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