My childhood story

This is my childhood story

There were several unusual incidents that happened to me while growing up on the island of Hong Kong. At Easter one year, I remember my mother held my hand tightly in hers as we hurried through the crowded street of Hong Kong.

I saw the street was full of people crying, praying and burning incenses; they were throwing coins onto the ground, scattering them around the area where they were praying. Then there were people burning large paper made houses, cars and fake money.

We were told later, the dead had moved into another world and each year during Easter their loved ones would burn paper houses, cars and fake money to them. Real coins were thrown onto the ground to distract those lost souls that were walking around aimlessly on the street.

At the time, I didn’t tell anyone that I've saw those lost souls, nor did I tell anyone about seeing an elderly woman standing behind a younger woman crying and begging to be heard. She was saying that it was useless to burn the paper houses and the paper money because she cannot receive them.

Another incident happened while I was attending a Catholic school, a school which was the closest to where we live. I remember our family seemed to move often from one place to another. You could image how confused I must've been when it was time to do our prayers in a Catholic school! I had no idea what we were doing and who we were praying to.

In the past, I had seen my mother praying to the Goddess Quan Yin; she would offer food and prayers while burning incense to the goddess. As if someone was reading my thoughts, suddenly I heard a man’s voice talking to me. He told me that I will always be protected and shield from harm. It didn’t occur to me to tell anyone, as if that was our little secret.

There was another incident happened around the same time but in a different school. One of the students came to class with a large photo of a woman whom we believed to be the real “Quan Yin”. The story behind the photo was this man while traveling on a plane took photos of a beautiful pink cloud in the sky. The photo turned out to be the Goddess “Quan Yin”.

When I saw the photo there was no doubt in my mind that it was indeed the Goddess herself. Even though there were a lot of discussions as to whether the photo was real or fake. I felt that it was her, there was a presence about her that was hard to explain, and I felt a sense of peace and love. I felt I knew her.

The last incident occurred at a place we called home which was a huge complex of 8 buildings five stories high looking exactly the same. There was no front or back doors to these buildings, just a long hallway that goes from one end to the other. It was a kid’s heaven for playing hide and goes seek! I remember laughing out loud but then suppress a giggle as I move from one floor to another because there was no place to hide just a lot of stairs to climb.

As I was turning the corner to the next level; I was caught off guard to see an elderly white haired man standing in front of a door sobbing and begging for the door to open. A quick and angry glare from him was all it took for me to quiet down.

I held my breath and move swiftly away only to realize that this man had passed on. He did not realize he was gone and was trying to get back into the house. I knew that when I noticed the white candles and incense burning in a clay pot just outside the door; it was a sign to let everyone know this house hold was in mourning.

At the time, I was barely ten years old but I remembered those incidents as if it happened yesterday. What happened to me as a child had sparked an interest; an interest that set me exploring life for answers. I believed those incidents also help shaped my destiny and who I am today.

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