(958) Rejecting fate

Mary Po Po came from a family of five siblings. She is the eldest and had three brothers before our friend was born. By the time I met the former, she was in her early seventies.

Even though women of those days were not educated, this particular one learned to read Chinese newspaper and speak a smattering of English while she was employed by the foreign engineers. You see, that particular house hold boasted of an amah (maid who cleans house and washes clothes), a gardener, a driver and a cook. The gardener was an educated man. He spent his free time teaching the amah and the cook to read.

One day, we were "yarning" in her little garden while my children were in school. She related how her brothers all passed away one after another. I found that fascinating. Even with the lack of medical care, the widespread poverty, and the war as well as civil unrest, one can hardly account for the short life spans of males in this particular family. So I asked point blank questions to get real answers for this phenomena. She was most candid. Her mother was a superstitious woman. When all five children were young, the mum went to consult the occult authorities to "read" their futures. Whatever the reason, all five children were supposed not to live beyond fifty years old.

It was funny that the parents took the trouble to pay and find out the children's future but did nothing about it. My friend, was the only one  who rejected fate and strived to live longer than predicted. She had long chats with any wise sage in the village who would give her the time of the day. Her game plan was to change her fate. But how? She said,"To focus on helping other more unfortunate people around her no matter what her own circumstances are, all the days of her natural life."

It was interesting that all her brothers embraced their fate. One smoked himself to lung cancer, the second gambled day and night until he died early of a heart attack, the third one was a delicate man who took too good care of his health. Guess how he died? He was run over by a hit and run driver.

What about the youngest? Oh! She does not believe in fate. She simply did not care enough to register her predicted short life span.  After she came out of the insane asylum, she just live one day at a time as best as she could. Probably her lack of stress leads to a long life.