Friday, November 21, 2008

A story that I won't forget

She was an orphan.
Being adopted by a temple caretaker since small.
She grown up to be a pretty lady, and married to a medium, of another temple.
.
.
... ...
.
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Mediums are those who 'lend' their body to God, for possession.
During possession, the 'God' who enter the medium's body will help the public in anything that the public requested.
Like,
Check whether your house is haunted.
Check whether you should change job.
Check whether your boyfriend / girlfriend is the right one to get married.
Check when you can be a millionaire.
Check whether you should go travel this month.
Cure any untreatable disease.
...
Basically the medium can do anything under the sun.

Back to the orphan...
Her name is Doris.
Doris had a typical mother-in-law,
Who always find-fault with her.
Whenever Doris planned to go out with the husband, the mother-in-law will try not to allow her to go.

For example,
There was a wedding invitation,
Suppose Doris and the husband were invited to the function.
The mother-in-law will be so jealous.
and will find ways to make Doris cannot go for the dinner with the husband (which was her son).
The mother-in-law will tear off the 'zips' of Doris's dress, one hour before Doris dress herself up.
In the end, Doris got no dress to go and have to stay at home.
Husband will attend the function either alone, or with the mother.

It was really sad..

Since the first day Doris married to the husband.
The mother-in-law never fail to give HELL to her.

16 years later,

One day... ...

The mother-in-law put something under the kitchen stove.
Then pretend to pull the son to the kitchen,
and said she found something under the stove.
"Son, see! What is this?!"

The son pick the thing up...
The mother continue to pour acid...
"Must be your wife trying to charm you, she wanted to do black magic on you!"
"This is a very good evidence! No wonder every times she likes to cook for you to eat!"

The son was so so so angry...!

He ran to the bedroom...
Grabbed the wife's hand.
Then pushed her out from the house.

Poor Doris...
That night she got no where to go to.
...
...
...
She didn't feel well..
Next day she was admitted to hospital...
After a few session of check-up...
She was diagnosed with LAST STAGE OVARY CANCER...

Why?!
Why was she so unfortunate?

Just being chased out by the husband,
next day got such bad news!

She was lying in the hospital,
with her hand busy dialing phone number...
Called her friend to help her find room to rent.
Asked her colleague to help tender her resignation letter...
Seek help from friend to withdraw her EPF, to pay her medical bills, pay the rental fees...
and run errand for her.

She has nobody to turn to......

She has three children...
Eldest son was 15 years old.
Second son was 10 years old.
And the daughter was only 9 years old.

The husband didn't allow the children to contact her or see her.
During her admission in the hospital, the husband kept calling her to go to the lawyer office,
to sign divorce letter.
She told the husband that she was very ill, got cancer and was lying in the hospital.
The husband didn't believe her.
Said: "This is just your trick to make me see you! This is just your trick to make me stop thinking of divorcing you! You are so cunning! You witch! I won't believe you!"

After staying in the hospital for one month,
she was discharged.

Friend took her to her rented apartment,
while hospital referred her to Hospis Malaysia (a charity organisation that take care of terminally ill patients, which doctor announce no medication for the sickness anymore).

I knew her through Hospis Malaysia.

She was looking for a volunteer to bring her to Tong-Shin Hospital.
She wanted to see Chinese doctor, hoping that Chinese-medicine can cure her cancer, but she didn't understand Mandarin, so, she needed someone to help her.

I was the only volunteer who can read, write and speak Mandarin that time (by now, Hospis Malaysia should have a few Chinese-educated volunteers).
So, I was assigned to bring her to Tong Shin hospital.

The first day I brought her to see Chinese doctor, I was so moved by her...
She was really a very nice lady...
Even though she had such a terrible marriage, and was so ill...
She never complain...
Never talk bad about the world...
Never blame others.
Never cry and scream...
Or like other people who will ask why the God treated her so unfair..
She never...

After the first round Chinese-medicine,
she needed to see the doctor again, to take new medicine.

I went to take her to hospital again.
When we reached the hospital....Her sickness like suddenly turned serious.
I got to help to admit her to the hospital...
I still remember that day was Thursday...
I took her IC to the counter, and arranged for her admission...
I saw her birthday was the coming Sunday...

After I admitted her to the hospital... I left the place with full of sorrow.
She never see her two children since the day the husband chased her out.
Only the eldest son daring enough, took bus to the hospital and visited the mother few times after school.

On Sunday,
I rushed back from Penang...
I wanted to give Doris a birthday surprise by buying her a cake.
But it was already 10pm.
All cake shops would have closed, and even if I manage to find one, by the time I turn back to the hospital, her birthday would have overed already.

So, me and my honey ran to the Swiss Garden Hotel (just opposite the hospital where Doris stayed) to buy one slice of cake...
I chose a piece of cheese cake, then bought a smiley balloon for her.

We went into her ward, wake her up and sing her the birthday songs.
You know what...
I can't stop crying.
Cause she married to her husband for 16 years, never once she got the chance to celebrate her birthday.
And her favourite cake is cheese cake!

...
...
...

The story is not end yet...

I talked to the eldest son..
We planned to take the other two children of Doris from school,
to visit Doris in the hospital...
Because the husband will make sure the two children reach home by 5pm after their tuition finish in the school at 4pm.

That was an exciting Monday...
I brought the eldest son with me.
And drove to the brother sister's school at 1pm...
The eldest son told the teacher that I need to take the brother sister to hospital visit the mother,
they will have to skip their tuition at 2pm.

The teacher allowed!

We quickly brought the two brother sister to Tong Shin hospital.

On the way,
I told the two small children to get ready...
Told them not to cry when they see their mother
As the mother will not look like the healthy and pretty mother like they knew...
The mother has no more hair... Face swollen... And not much voice to talk already.

The two small children just obey and nodded their head in the car.
I was crying in my heart.

When the children reach the hospital and saw the mother...
They just can't stop crying and hugging the mother.

It was really really sad..

at 3.30pm, I have to separate them... and send the two children back to school.
So that they can take school bus home at 4pm, without the father knowing that they went somewhere...

I promised the two children that I will bring them again to see the mother on Wednesday.
But...
Doris passed away on Tuesday night....

Before she passed away, I asked for her permission to share her story with other people.
I still remember she was smiling like a kind Bodhisattva, told me to go ahead and share her story with others.

It was an unforgetable experience for me..

That even though life is short.
We can raise our head up high and live until the end.
We can be kind no matter how taugh the situation is.

Doris is really my role model.
I respect her, and will always remember her kindness...

Dear friend,
Please say 'hi' to Doris:


The world is cruel.
Human heart is unpredictable.
But that should not stop us from being kind.
For doing our best to treat other good...

I'm not showing what I did..
I just wanted to show you how kind a person can be.
Even though she is so ill.... She was still smiling all the time...until the last breath....

Hope everyone can be so kind and calm like Doris....

7 comments:

Jazone said...

hi doris! is a touching real life story...sometime the world was cruel...at least she still able to see her children...

In this unforever world, find a person which is taking the bleeding rose. Yes, That's me, Maguaifan. said...

hi doris. so tauching. after i finish reading i was cried T.T. why the god is not fair to her, she was such a good lady like an angel. i must tell everyone, dont be greed, selfish and bad to another person. we mus thnak all the peole the are loving us and good to us.

Unknown said...

hi doris! its so touching. im sure you are one great lady.
we should learn not to complain or say bad things about others and to treasure what we have.

Anonymous said...

My tears rained out when saw her photo. You have been so kind.

MiChi said...

Dear jason:
Yeah, the best thing is she can see her children before she passed away...Sometimes I was thinking, what did we contribute to the human world...If we die tomorrow, will we regret that we have been wasting our time doing non-meaningful thing.

Dear Edwin:
I am happy that you understand about not being greedy, selfish and bad to another... Keep up the good thing.

Dear Stephanie:
Yes, she is a great lady... I still remember her kind smile even in the coffin...she looked so calm and peaceful...

Dear straight a student:
Every times when i tell people about her story, i still can't stop my tears...I wish she is having good life in nirvana now

Anonymous said...

It is so touching. My tears come out when i reading it. I can't believe there is such mother-in-law in this world. The mother-in-law is so selfish and bad hearted.

allthingspurple said...

Hello Doris. Nice to have the fortune to know about you and know of you.

Thanks for sharing, Michi. My heart was lead laden reading about her sad life. From my own experience, I know only too well people like her MIL. Doris was such a forgiving person. I believe most people would have turned to self grievience given the same situation. Doris have my greatest respect in this department.