Unwanted Riches

"Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven."

Confucius


Yesterday, I was nearly conned of $50. The story goes like this. Like any other Sunday evening, I was at home watching the popular Chinese Wuxia drama, The Palms of Buddha, when I heard a soft but insistent knocking on the wooden door. Hesitantly, I opened the door, half-expecting the usual door-to-door salesman doing some kind of promotion. Instead, I saw an Indian lady, in her late twenties or early thirties, hugging tightly to an infant wrapped in a sarong and a lttle boy pushing a cradle behind her. She looked a bit haggard with her unkempt hair and the little boy was innocently playing with the cradle.

In a soft-spoken tone, she pleaded," Sir, I leave across the road. My baby is sick and I wanted to bring her to KK Hospital but my husband is at work."

"I only managed to borrow $10 from my neighbours. I need another $50 for her. Do you mind if you lend me the money first?"

Being the soft hearted person I am, I felt compelled to lend her the money but my gut feeling tells me something was wrong. To confirm she was telling the truth, I questioned her," Which block do you live in? Can I know your telephone number?"

Sensing my distrust, she replied," Sir, you can follow me to the hospital if you do not believe me."

Obviously, I did not want to trouble myself to go all the way to the hospital and that kind of pushed away all doubts of her being a con. However, I was still not comfortable giving that much money to someone I did not recognise or seen before.

Instead, I asked my mum whether she wanted to lend her the money(actually for a second opinion). Being the "stingy"(sorry mum) person, she retorted to the woman loudly and demanded to know in detail what she wanted. Frankly speaking, that sort of turned me off and I just went to my room to avoid this embarassing situation. In the end, which was after 15 minutes, my mum offered only $10 but the calculative woman insisted on the whole amount, stating that the hospital did not offer any kind of help in paying A&E bills, which brought more ??? to my thoguhts. Finally, she just walked off with the little boy, without getting any money.

Coincidentally, I read on the Chinese newspaper later on the same night that there were complaints of an Indian woman going around with an infant and a little boy begging to borrow money in Serangoon Road to see a doctor. Well...that perfectly fitted the whole picture. I was glad, in some way, I did not waste my $50 on some con-people(And I have my mum's shrewdness to thank for). But, I really felt angry over the fact that how can someone make use of other people for money!?

However, I was also saddened at the karma she faced. According to Buddhism teachings, one who had conned others of wealth or other property will be turned into a hungry ghost, with a stomach and desire to eat everything but a mouth the size of a pin. Quite a sad event if it really happened...imagine being so hungry but unable to eat anything at all.

Anyway, it also brought me to reflect upon the flaws of Mankind that DESIRE is a very strong stimulus for one to commit a sin. Oftentimes, in a bid to get something they really want but do not have the means to do so, people resort to immoral methods, irregardless the consequences. A word of advice though - refer to the quote up there. Life and death is predestined and whether we will be rich or poor is more or less determined by our actions, whether they harmonise with the environment and bring favor to Heaven. To put a long story short, do not be over-persistent to pursue material wealth as it will most probably ensue in spiritual poverty in the long run. Pay more attention to LIVING LIFE!

P.S. Frankly speaking, I don't mind being conned. As opposed to Cao Cao, whose belief that he would rather turn his back to the whole world than have the whole world turn their backs to him, I actually believe that as long as my actions match my conscience, I have nothing to worry about. Although that does leave me $50 poorer...can't buy comics, can't watch movies, can't....