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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Teary (Part two of a Single Tear for two Hearts)


This story was conceived long before we even thought about the names of Jeremiah and Jubilee. A baby girl left to be abandoned by the plantation fields of a small village in the remote province of southern China. On that fateful day a kind hearted and childless widow of many years from the countryside walked by after tending her herd by the rice fields and heard the sound of a tiny defenseless baby fighting desperately with fainted cries. She quickly dashed in to the thick plantation field bushes and tracked down the location of the cry and before too long, she found her. What an adorable little face the widow thought, two big round brown eyes with thick lashes and dimples on the side of the cheeks. She must not be just a few weeks old as she was still doing sucking motions with her lips. Startled by the wrinkles on her face, the baby girl cries even louder and seemingly grew more hysterical.

This baby girl was severly dehydrated as her lips were all cracked and smeared with dry blood. She was tied up in urine-soaked blankets and scabs of dried mucus growing across her eyes. A cute but darken muddy button nose, she let out a big snotty sneeze. Without a second to lose, the elderly kind widow grab the baby girl and headed straight back to her village. That first night, the baby girl developed a high fever and coughed her way in to nightfall. She eventually fell asleep just when the sun was rising. She woke up by noon and the elderly woman fed her some light porridge as she waited for the doctor's arrival to examine the child. After a 40 mile travel in to the inlands to reach the village, the doctor finally arrived.

By this time, the little baby was already unconscious and had slipped in to a comatose state. One look at the tiny baby girl, the doctor recommended for the baby girl to be transported to a more adequate environment in order to stay alive. According to the experienced doctor's thorough examination and speculation, the baby girl was left abadoned for at least 2 days and even part of her toe was injured due to perhaps an attack from a small animal or insect. It's critical that the baby might lose her life if treatment was not administered immediately. Without another moments's delay, the doctor took the baby girl along with him and off they traveled back to the city.

A month had passed and still no word from the doctor. Everyday the widow walked the same path as the day she found her, hoping to relive the moment of finding her again. She remembered the very first glimpse of the baby girl as if a mother's first glance at her own baby right after birth. It's a motherly instinct and almost a second nature for her to love that baby eventhough they were together for only a day. Everyday after tending her fields, the widow went to the temple to light an incense for the baby girl hoping that she would live and see her again. The other villagers saw this act of kindness and decides to join in with her everyday by the temple. Everyday, they went to the temple and burnt incense hoping for the little girl to live.

Month after month passed by and soon the revolving season changed one after another like the great Yellow river. Six years had passed and one day the doctor re-appeared at the remote village and carrying with him was a bightly similing little girl. The villagers saw the doctor and somehow recognized the little girl. She must have been the little baby girl that the widow had rescued, they thought. The distinguished doctor asked around for the widow hoping to find her and to tell her the little girl was fine after years of battling with congenital heart illness. Finally the doctor saw a familiar face and stop to ask a passer where the widow had moved to. He put the little girl down and immediately one can notice that she was walking with a limp suffered from injuries of those fateful days. The villagers took a quick glance and shook his head uttering "too late too late...."

The widow passed away a year ago said a gentlemen. He took them to her grave and they both paid their respects. The doctor then told the little girl in a most gentle way, "this is the lady that saved your life." By the tombstone there was an inscription that says, "A happiest and also saddest mother for one day".

There are many stories of babies being abandoned especially baby girls in China. They have been abadoned for many different reasons and sometimes it's just simply because they are girls. Traditionally in the Chinese culture, females have always been looked upon as the inferior race. Girls are thought to be ones who will one day leave home and become a part of her husband's family therefore leaving the parents to care for themselves during old age. Boys on the other hand are put on a different pedestal. They are the strong ones who can help tend the fields, earn a living and be the ultimate bread winner. Another issue is the one-child policy that China adopted in 1979 in an attempt to control population. These two factors have contributed to the many abadoned child stories. The beginning of the story about the widow and the baby girl is all too familiar but the ending of it, in reality, is echoed with unheard cries that set like the sun and never find itself to rise again the next morn. Many of the baby girls, unlike the story told here, did lose their lives because of parental abandonment.

Jeremiah and Jubilee are names that we have given to our future adopted daughters. We may not know where these two girls are now but surely we will find them.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an inspired story. My tears goes out to each girl's dying smile.

iamthewalrus said...

HI I really like your blog. Thanks for visiting me on mybloglog

Anonymous said...

This got to be one of most touching stories I have read in a while. Life is precious and to know that there are parents who would to do simply because of gender and self economics is unimaginable.

Anonymous said...

The video is great. Love the song. Such a happy song and with such reflective writings. I am hook with your writing plots.

Anonymous said...

Who are all these singers in the video? The melody is so friendly and catchy. Your story is definetely inspiring. Great blog. This is my first time here and I will be back for more.

Anonymous said...

What an amazing story. I was an adopted child myself 28 years ago and if not for my adoptive parents, there is no telling what would have happen to me. I am a heart doctor and I treat each patient as if my adoptive parents held me for the first time 28 years ago in an remote orphanage located in inner Mongolia.

Anonymous said...

This is a tear jerker for sure. Good way to end the work week with your writing. Glad I stumble upon it.

Anonymous said...

H8i..nice blog and good blog here..i like..
how are u??

Anonymous said...

What precious names you have already given to your future daughters. There are too many orphans in this world and not enough parents.

Anonymous said...

What an heartwrenching story. It's grabs my soul.

Anonymous said...

I love all your stories but this one is special. It brought me some happy tears because i know there are still people out there who would give a good home to one's that we have once left abadonned.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I just wish I have bigger arms to hug all these precious kids.

Anonymous said...

Tears came to my eyes reading this story about the situtation in China for baby girls. It is deeply sad that any child anywhere in the world is abandoned. I apprecaite taking the time to post this. I have friend who adopted a baby girl from China and the mother and now growing girl are doing really well. The American mother also keeps the girl in touch with her Chinese heritage. Thank you for your visit and kind words. I like you site it is very thoughtfilled and compassionate!

Anonymous said...

All the wonderful goddesses lost because of their gender. How incomprehensible.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes older generation people will tell my parents that they need a son too (I was an only child until my sister). My parents just tell them having a son guarantees nothing.

It's kind of a double edged sword:
I am the older child so I have the duties that a son would have but I am also a girl so whatever I do will reflect with more weight than with a boy.