Last week, while I was sorting my files, I happened to come across a photograph of a sunset way back Year 2010. The photo had never been posted but I never thought the reason would come too soon and too outrageous! The scene is from a roadside place where I used to drive and have the afternoon cup of coffee.

In my younger days, I and the rest of my siblings used to walk a dirt road 6 kilometers a day for years to go to school, so driving a hundred kilometers would never mean much for a place that offers me a lot more than education. There are the wonders of the sky on my right when the sun starts to touch the mountain ridges, setting silhouette of shrikes and the singing bush chat. Then a group of long-tailed pipit would drop by to feed on some insects on the ground from the other side of the road.

Upon a visit to the same place yesterday, what was once an alleviating view has become so horrible! I could hardly see the small patches of trees and worse now, garbage has been repeatedly dumped in the area. Whoever has done this, you owe me none, but to the next generations to come. I can drive somewhere else to find another simple and priceless beauty of life that your heart could not see. But the wildlife I might leave behind wouldn't be that lucky enough. For they live, feed, and raise their young in the mess created by your own cruelty.

CAS 13Mar2016