Today evening, i saw a bunch of people fishing at the Punggol jetty. Usually if there are fishes caught, these fishes are put into buckets. i would walk by, chant and blow into the water. May they be reincarnated peacefully.
but today, there was one particular incident. a 'rough' family with 2 restless young boys. The mum catches a baby fish now, removes it from the hook whilst it gasps for air for these few minutes. The boy's tub has one other slightly bigger dead fish which looks like a flatten baby box fish. I stood there and watched how excited he was. Into the tub, the mum drops the little fish.
then, i hear him say, 'i want to - i will cut it.'
I was surprised to hear that so i exclaimed as if curious, 'but its alive!'
The mum stands at his side, she squirms and say 'i won't want to see this.'
Within the next second, he catches the 6cm fish, he snips off the tail with two snips at different angles. I stood there in horror and shock as the mum watches her son do so. You can see the little fish now although not dead or bleeding, out of whack with balance - now thrown back into the small tub, unable to comprehend what had just happened, still gasping for air, now turning upside down.
The snipping had probably totally disturbed the lateral line of the fish - the central line that divides the fish lengthwise.
Now, I check a link on the net which says
"The lateral line is a sense organ used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. It consists of a line of receptors running along each side of the fish."
So, can it feel pain? I don't know, but it sure looked painful to me. This reminds me of the trends and likes of people who enjoys eating the Indonesian famed fish dish - where they deep fry a live fish into hot oil - I'm guessing, they deep fry with chopsticks to hold the body in a twisted way so that it shapes up perfectly when served on the plate. The mouth is wide open - as if gasping for air. And whilst it's served, the fish's head is still breathing, gasping.
So, can it feel pain? I don't know. I certainly was in pain seeing how a human kid was behaving - overall as a whole - his respect/disrespect of another living being, causing harm to another, although ignorantly. But many of us aren't that ignorant. I'm sure the mother wasn't ignorant to what would become the end of the fish's short life span.
...
The next thing the boy decides to do is, he grabs the fish and throws it back into the sea. I suppose the fish will either drown from the rocky waves and lack of proper oxygen exchange in the gills - or just be eaten by another - perhaps this is the luckier option. the faster perhaps the better?
Eventually i had to let my horror subside. I also tried to withhold all comments that rushed in line into my brain which probably came from the experience of shock - come on - I just witnessed the existence of the same species called human being - but one of which seemed to have lack in values - values that i thought would not even exist in the animal kingdom. Animals kill to survive. To eat. Or for territorial instinct. To be fair, I have seen cat's play for pleasure, but I did watch a video based on a true story on how we can teach a cat to not kill too.
I reflected and figured i was meant to see all of that - so as to remind myself to continue my practice.
To remember that there are some things i can't change and that is the course of life in others, in myself perhaps. But more importantly, what it reminded me off is what i can do - and hopefully this is true - to elevate ignorance, but only through my practice, because we can't teach others how to be kind when they are not interested or ready. (i used to place wishes that others will feel the same pain that they had caused and placed upon others especially if it was intentionally.)
Is somebody up there trying to show me something? I can remember Kangyur Rinpoche's teaching of the cycle of life, the nature of reincarnation - how through rebirth, we might be carrying a child which was our enemy in the past who caused us harm, and we might be cruel to a dog whom is a reincarnation of our mother in the past who loved us with her life.
In the world of duality, samsara, the endless cycle of life, i am limited. i can only achieve this or that much.
I guess I could do my practice - mantras, be mindful and discipline my mind. Use the law of attraction to lead and walk my talk. Peace through practice, peace through mindful action, focus and concentration to speed things up. Thats all i can do.
Today i saw this ignorant horrid act, because i was meant to see it, so that my practice will strengthen..
The ripple effect is like cause and effect and it will continue as long as humans and beings exist.
~ by Si-Y
but today, there was one particular incident. a 'rough' family with 2 restless young boys. The mum catches a baby fish now, removes it from the hook whilst it gasps for air for these few minutes. The boy's tub has one other slightly bigger dead fish which looks like a flatten baby box fish. I stood there and watched how excited he was. Into the tub, the mum drops the little fish.
then, i hear him say, 'i want to - i will cut it.'
I was surprised to hear that so i exclaimed as if curious, 'but its alive!'
The mum stands at his side, she squirms and say 'i won't want to see this.'
Within the next second, he catches the 6cm fish, he snips off the tail with two snips at different angles. I stood there in horror and shock as the mum watches her son do so. You can see the little fish now although not dead or bleeding, out of whack with balance - now thrown back into the small tub, unable to comprehend what had just happened, still gasping for air, now turning upside down.
The snipping had probably totally disturbed the lateral line of the fish - the central line that divides the fish lengthwise.
Now, I check a link on the net which says
"The lateral line is a sense organ used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. It consists of a line of receptors running along each side of the fish."
So, can it feel pain? I don't know, but it sure looked painful to me. This reminds me of the trends and likes of people who enjoys eating the Indonesian famed fish dish - where they deep fry a live fish into hot oil - I'm guessing, they deep fry with chopsticks to hold the body in a twisted way so that it shapes up perfectly when served on the plate. The mouth is wide open - as if gasping for air. And whilst it's served, the fish's head is still breathing, gasping.
So, can it feel pain? I don't know. I certainly was in pain seeing how a human kid was behaving - overall as a whole - his respect/disrespect of another living being, causing harm to another, although ignorantly. But many of us aren't that ignorant. I'm sure the mother wasn't ignorant to what would become the end of the fish's short life span.
...
The next thing the boy decides to do is, he grabs the fish and throws it back into the sea. I suppose the fish will either drown from the rocky waves and lack of proper oxygen exchange in the gills - or just be eaten by another - perhaps this is the luckier option. the faster perhaps the better?
Eventually i had to let my horror subside. I also tried to withhold all comments that rushed in line into my brain which probably came from the experience of shock - come on - I just witnessed the existence of the same species called human being - but one of which seemed to have lack in values - values that i thought would not even exist in the animal kingdom. Animals kill to survive. To eat. Or for territorial instinct. To be fair, I have seen cat's play for pleasure, but I did watch a video based on a true story on how we can teach a cat to not kill too.
I reflected and figured i was meant to see all of that - so as to remind myself to continue my practice.
To remember that there are some things i can't change and that is the course of life in others, in myself perhaps. But more importantly, what it reminded me off is what i can do - and hopefully this is true - to elevate ignorance, but only through my practice, because we can't teach others how to be kind when they are not interested or ready. (i used to place wishes that others will feel the same pain that they had caused and placed upon others especially if it was intentionally.)
Is somebody up there trying to show me something? I can remember Kangyur Rinpoche's teaching of the cycle of life, the nature of reincarnation - how through rebirth, we might be carrying a child which was our enemy in the past who caused us harm, and we might be cruel to a dog whom is a reincarnation of our mother in the past who loved us with her life.
In the world of duality, samsara, the endless cycle of life, i am limited. i can only achieve this or that much.
I guess I could do my practice - mantras, be mindful and discipline my mind. Use the law of attraction to lead and walk my talk. Peace through practice, peace through mindful action, focus and concentration to speed things up. Thats all i can do.
Today i saw this ignorant horrid act, because i was meant to see it, so that my practice will strengthen..
The ripple effect is like cause and effect and it will continue as long as humans and beings exist.
~ by Si-Y
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