Sea Birds

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny Sunday, and my family went to spend a day in a seashore park in Redcliffe Peninsula.

Having finished lunch in a pavilion, the two boys urged to play sands on the beach. The two brothers, each holding a bucket of toy spades and shovels, were digging the sands under a tree’s shadow on the beach, while my sister put the windmill on the sand. The winds from the ocean had spun the windmill to a speed that we had not seen before. My wife then walked into the water to have a feel of the cold. I picked up my sketchbook in my pocket and used a ballpoint pen to capture what I was seeing on the paper. I drew the line of pine trees along the shore, the lazily floating clouds in the sky, the calm ocean waves that were pushing to the beach, the people who were swimming and playing in the water, a couple of surfers far away in the ocean, as well as a few sea birds, some of which were flying over the sea while others were standing on the sands under the warm sunshine.

Long, long ago, when I was still a student at Queensland University of Technology, I had a few classmates from Sri Lanka who were devout to Buddhism. One day I asked them why some of them were vegetarians but others were not, and why some of them only ate chicken as the meat.

“In fact, chicken and beefs shouldn’t be considered as to be different!” Ahilan said. “People just copied the convention from Sri Lanka, whereas they don’t understand the reason. In Sri Lanka, some people only eat chicken because chicken were all imported, which means those chicken had been killed elsewhere and those who eat them do not involve in the process of killing them.”

He finally concluded, “In Australia, the beefs and chicken from supermarkets are generally the same in this perspective.”

“What will happen to me if I go to a Chinese restaurant to order a fish, and then the boss lead me to a glass container where a few fish are swimming, to select one for the dish?” I asked, and said that this was the normal procedure in a Chinese restaurant.

They were startled. Kanes said, “Then you will have to be an animal in the next reincarnation.”

“But no worries. Sometimes animals have a life better than human beings,” Ahilan said.

“Yes,” I said, imagining I were a cattle eating grass on a range with endless green covers and great mountain views.

“I mean you can be a puppy of a rich man,” Ahilan said. “In western countries, puppies are darlings to their masters.”

“No!” I shook my head firmly, thinking that a puppy would first be castrated when they were bought, and with a rope leashed on the neck while walking outside.

“I want to be a wild animal! In Australia, wildlife is protected by the law. They don't need to work or study. There are no life burdens like those of a human being. I want to be a possum climbing on the power lines with no anxiety or pressure.” Then I thought for a while and said, 'I think a wild bird is the best, as it can fly.”…

Then I walked to the group of seagulls on the beach while recalling the past. I tried to wave to them, as if to ask, “Would you mind accepting me as your peer?” 

However, they all flew away before I could approach any closer, leaving a fine row of footprints on the sand.