Chapter 3 Ming's Dilemma

Many believe that our fate in life lies in the hand of God,if so why He had to be so cruel as to deprive a wonderful girl of good life?.Perhaps fate is cruel,if created by God He could changed its course at least make those sufferers lead a more decent living.Then of course those around her could help her made the difference,blessed those good Samaritans.Cursed those who took advantage of her and made her life miserable.

When as a young man I always considered those born with mentally impaired mind were the happiest people in the world.For I had seen many of them dancing and singing in the streets laughing at the world as they wandered about their normal life,without a care ,happy and joyfully enjoying the world rolled by.Their world were forever free from the sorrow of these world.

Mental disease is hereditary and passed on from generation to generation .But I have seen a difference in the town of Bentong,Pahang.This little town had a host of insane people.What surprises me were the fact that in this town there were always a madman around every time around town as if handed down .When such a person dies off or wandered away or maybe removed to those lunatic asylum these wonderfully happy insane people were replaced with another.

Many will want me to prove,well no problem, I can name you some.When I was first in Bentong in the 1963 there was a madman,a fat joyful Malay man from the Ketari Kampong.This joyful character could be be seen around town always,mind you cycling and many a times dancing along the main road.Another thing about him was he always dressed as though he was an officer holding a short stick and waving about.Whenever there be any parade he will be always in front of the parade as though he were the parade leader leading the parade.Surely a joy to watch and he provided much of the entertainment those days.

When he went missing he was replaced by an elderly Chinese in pajamas attire and sleeveless singlet.He talked to himself most of the time with many a times displaying his powess in "Kung Fu" with a long stick along the streets of Bentong.Of course there were a host of them.

Another sad case I need to tell was a bit of tragedy was that of of an insane woman,being driven off her home was bad sufficiently for her,but as she loitered aimlessly around town and slept at the only us Station in town ,some unscrupulous men,scavengers,odd job workers around and some taxi drivers who gave her a mere dollar or so or a packet of food took full advantage of her and made her pregnant.

What a shameful and indecent act.Against all human sense,raping an insane person making her pregnant without a single soul to admit their misdeed.Some how she was taken away by the welfare department and what a sad case.Man can be so cruel and whoever made her pregnant will have a child unknown to him a child born without a father,cursed be on that man who did this awful thing.

Here I would also like to heighten another story about a mad man in Sri Jaya,Maran,Pahnag.He was a young man,well built and ought to be tall and good looking but unfortunately insane.Well,for a start he was never a border to any one,he was just a plain and simple walker.He would walked miles and miles,north south east and west and repeat those process daily as per routine as if he was on a mission to some where known to him.

For food when hungry he could be found scavenging those rubbish dumps for food,just imagine consuming those dirty rotting food.Certain good Samaritan would always buy him a drink or packet of food on seeing such.At least there are good and kind souls around these days.

Good guys are hard to come by but bad ones are in abundance,these cowards moved around in groups ,for alone they are nothing,utterly useless .There was this group in Sri Jaya,Pahang who ill treated the insane man above.Having induced the insane with some food and drinks they of of mischief shaved small patches on his head.THe poor guy just sat there obediently to be made a fool of by them just for a mere packet of food and drink.

How awful and cruel human being can be.Come to think of it they should be the one who were insane.Have the no brothers or fathers,do they want others to apply their insanity on any of them?.They ought to be ashamed of themselves.However the sufferer did not suffer their insanity for long,for within the next few days or so some kind hearted man had the presence of mind to pay for his hair cut,saving him from further touting by all those concerned.

As I said before this insane man bore no hard feelings against any one and proceeded on what he was used to doing,walking long distances daily to find a solidarity where his soul shall dwelt happily forever,till thy Kingdom cometh.

No doubt about what I said about that such insane people were the happiest people in the world for the above stories were about some unfortunate souls floating around,many still do enjoyed a happy life style.but there are others who would point to me those inmates suffering in the hospitals and lunatic asylum.Their sufferings in the most deplorable conditions while there.

Having shared the above stories let us be directed towards the flight of poor Ming,having been diagnosed with that dreadful disease schizophrenia really devastated her as well as her family.Of course her case was hereditary and one of her young uncle is presently badly sicken by the disease and is being treated or rehabilitated at one of our lunatic asylum in the country and had been there for good ever since apparently.

However through the tender and warm of her family members especially her parents she did not have a terrible encounter with her sickness, her sickness was brief.At the time of her attack she was only sixteen years old,when she was full of life and enjoying it.She had just passed her Lower Certificate Examination with few distinctions and looking forward to perform well in the days to come.Unfortunately fate blew a cruel blow to her educational career when she was only months in form four.

Sickened with that dreadful disease she was forced to withdraw from her studies,her recovery there after was a slow process.Under good medication and tender care of her loving and determined parents she slowly recovered within a year or so,mostly staying at home.Had she been hospitalized her condition would not had improved so fast.


Of course there were times that she went into delusions letting a screaming or two out of no where.That really puts the poor patience parents out of their wits to quiet her or clam her down.Those were tough time for both parents but nevertheless they through their sheer determination and patience did keep her mind at peace. Only thing was it took them a lot of their time.Her parents were great and did a marvelous job .

MOst of time she would spent time sitting in a quiet corner thinking and day dreaming.Being able to dream away time I think did her a world of good,of course when her thoughts ran into beautiful scenarios her smiles were wide and beautiful,maybe she would laughed aloud as she expressed herself in happiness.

When her dreams ran into a sad sad scenes than her mood varies into a delusion her mood would changed to sadness and she indulged in deep sorrow thinking hard in search for an answer. Perhaps she would shed a tear or two,but not to worry as such were only wild wild dreams that had no truths whatsoever in them..No harm I suppose just a momentary passing of time,soon it be over.Those were passing moments which kept both parents in tense situations.

When it was first discovered that she had inherited her life seemingly shattered her life ,her dream to lead a normal life. Every thing ran hare wired,coupled with the state of illness she was sadly pushed to a corner.While on medication she dwelt in her self a lonely sad soul at a corner of her room.There was no others to console her but her parents and other siblings.Poor pitiful soul at so young and tender a age had to suffer thus.

Day in day out she would be left alone,with no one to understand her feelings.Well,of course her parents were there to look after her requirements and offering of tender care but her feelings within her was out of reach to all.Or should there be any there was no way she could expressed them out for all to understand her.Oh Lord why should so young a girl should suffer such torturous fate.

Not only her but many have suffered similar fate and their poor being alive were like hanging on to a thin thread.Yes ,all of them dependent heavily on drugs for their survival.Mind you much of such drugs administered unto them are expensive and sad to say many sufferers can ill afford them.

Ming is one very fortunate soul for she suffered her first attack she had her parents to care for her.Just imagine at about sixteen schizophrenia stuck her and her sickness was so bad that she had to be taken off from school.She was just in Form four.With a school certificate examination she was doomed with no future.Her recovery was definitely to be slow a process.

However initial importance was to treat her first, putting the education aside.Apparently she was never the aggressive type and remained pretty much to herself.Of course there were instances she would talk aloud to herself or let off an occasional screaming ,marveling good nothing others could understand.The tender and gentle care of both parents played an important role in her slow recovery.

Family members took turn to look after her,despite all odds they just did that.Her medications were prescribed by the General Hospital,Taiping,Perak.The medication kept her sickness under controlled although the whole process was rather very slow.
It was slow with a doubt but good for her,for she recovered fully to lead a more normal life.

It took her nearly a year to recover and by that time she was already too old to continue her education in Form four.Actually she was out of place with when they tried to put her in a class of younger students.She could hardly adapt herself among them so she gave it up at her personal free will.

Poor girl with only a Form three education where could she go?.For an ambitious young gal It was going to be hell.When she had recovered sufficiently her parents found her quite restless wandering around the house.Fearing that would aggravate her sickness and induce her to a relapse the had to find something to keep her occupied.

Without a better education she could go no where so they temporarily put her up as apprentice hair dresser with the hope that she could pick up that trade.Most important was to keep her busy or not allowed her mind to wander a strayed.She was not paid for that but instead her parents had to stump some cash to maintain her stay there.Well.they had high hope that she might learn at least a trade there whereby she could fend for herself in future.

She managed to cope up with what there were to offer for sometime although there was not much she could have learned. Her elder sister had better ideas.Sensing the younger sister precadiment she swiftly enrolled her younger sister in a private school so that her younger sister might have a better qualification.With that extra education she would have a better opportunity to secure a much better position else where.

So she was enrolled her into a private institution where many of the students were almost or older than her.Accordingly it was her sister who subsidized her her education fund.
Being a bright student as she always had been,she quickly adjusted and adapt herself well within.Thus she took the examination as a private candidate and not surprising she passed the examination with a reasonable good result despite being absence from schooling for such a long period. Yes,she never let her sister down.

Armed with that good result she began applying for jobs .sending application 3every where.Of course she was looking for something lucrative and to her fancy.
She saw the advertisement for Nurses and without hesitation submitted her application.She had always admired those donning uniform like Nurses so she never let off such golden opportunities.



To be continued with further details.