Home - A santuary?
Finally, a sense of relief!! Exams are over! I can now close a small chapter of my life and look ahead to the brighter future.
But along the streams of light exist some dark spots. Spots that become jarring not due to their colour, but due to how we stumble upon them. Some pop out of blue! Some gradually appearing before one’s eyes.
As I was in the midst of savouring whatever that is left of my post-examination euphoria, a strong black spot appeared: My neighbour’s house was broken into.
Suddenly the world around me felt a little less peaceful. We read about crime in the newspapers everyday or watched them from our big telly, but it is really scary when you know FIRST HAND that crime exists. That’s not the scariest part. I can live with that knowledge.
The “dementor” of such realisation is that, you know somewhere deep inside you, the very house could be yours.
I pity my neighbours. I really do. I could only hope that my family be spared from such traumatic experience. A break in is different compared to a snatch theft or some robbery in the bank etc. It differs not in the nature of the act but in the repercussions that affect us - the humans who always yearn for a sanctuary from the world.
“A shelter from the elements” is an understatement. A shelter doesn’t just give rise to a mere picture that consist of a roof above our heads or the walls that surrounds us. It is something psychological: knowing that we can tuck ourselves in bed, taking a rest that is free from worries….well at least for a short time. The underlying thing is, we know we can always go somewhere PEACEFUL.
What happens when the peace is taken away from you? A home ceases to be a home. It looks the same (if you buy back the same furniture lah!!). It smells the same. But it doesn’t feel the same.
These robbers didn’t just take pieces of furniture and money. They took away the human’s most innate desire:
A place call HOME.
Last 5 posts by Jian Wei
- How does one say goodbye? - January 6th, 2009
- Humpty Dumpty - November 17th, 2008
- Happy Birthday Papa! - October 4th, 2008
- What's In a Name? - September 15th, 2008
- Happy Mooncake Festival - September 14th, 2008
Jian Wei you have got so much more to see out there!!!!!!!!!
Thank God it ain’t you that got robbed. xD
P.S. - Your english WAS epic. Corrected. =]
People will always trespass one another.
Like how someone steals our friends, takes our jobs, kidnaps our children… it’s ****ing free for all fest out there.
Sadly, that is the picture of the world now.
That’s just stuff.
You can padlock the house nicely, and feel secure again.
The worse kinds of crime is when something more precious is taken.
The life of a family.
The loss of hands due to ‘tetakan parang’ when you won’t acquiesce to the robber.
The loss of honor and purity.
Safeguard your house Jian Wei, but above all, safeguard yourself.
Some things are not like TVs or furniture.
No matter how hard you try, they will never be found again. It will never be the same again.