Don't Waste Your Life

Hello! My name is Mavis. I am 7 years old and I am in Primary 1 this year. I like going to school because I can learn many things from my teachers there.

Going to Primary 1 and having Daddy at home teaches me lots of interesting things! A few days ago, Daddy found a little brown beetle on my bag. He helped me to catch it and we put it in a small tupperware container so that I can observe it.

I think beetles live among the bushes and trees, so I put in a few leaves with it to keep it company. Daddy said beetles like fruits, so I put a little unripe berry that looks like a fruit in the tupperware too! So that my beetle wouldn't have to go hungry. But after so many days, the beetle still didn't eat the berry. I wonder why. :( Da Biao Jiu (whose real name is Liren) asked me why I didn't feed a durian to the beetle even though durian is a fruit too. I didn't know how to answer that, so I just giggled at him and ran away. And oh! I purposely kept the tupperware container a little open.. just enough for my beetle to get some air without suffocating, but not big enough for it to fly away.

I love my beetle. I think it's so cute. It just sits in the tupperware all day, not doing anything, not moving much. I wonder what it does to pass its time. It must be so bored! I'm already so bored when I'm in DaBiaoJiu's room and he's doing his homework for a whole week!

I brought my beetle out for dinner with my family today. We met DaBiaoJiu, Yipopo and LaoDio for dinner. I showed my beetle to DaBiaoJiu because I had already shown it to Yipopo a few days ago. So we sat down to dinner, and I asked Mommy why I wasn't allowed eat my favourite horfun every single day. Mommy said I already knew the answer.

We finished dinner, and since the adults were talking about things I didn't understand, I decided to play with my beetle. I opened the tupperware and tried to rearrange the leaves inside the tupperware to make my beetle more comfortable. I looked at it lovingly, trying my very best to take care of it.

And then, all of a sudden, my beetle flew away!!! It just.. decided.. to flap its wings.. and it flew out of the container, near the ceiling.. and in a short while I couldn't find it anymore! It had gone away. The adults made this noise 'oohh' that sounded half-sad, half-happy and half-nonchalant.

I was shocked, and then my nose cringed, and the tears welled up in my eyes.

My beetle! It flew away!

I ran to Mommy and she took me into her arms. Before I could start crying, Mommy said 'see. the beetle flew so fast! that means it really wants to go home. imagine what it would be like if someone caught you and put you in a small container for many days.' Yipopo tried to comfort me too.. she said 'it's ok. we'll catch another one. maybe something that won't fly away so easily..' Daddy was quiet, and so was jie-jie and DaBiaoJiu.

But they didn't understand, neither did I. They didn't understand how I felt, and I didn't understand why my beetle had to fly away. I thought it was happy.. after all, it had stayed in the container so nicely for so many days. I tried to take good care of it lovingly, as much as I could. I put leaves which would make it feel at home, and fruit that daddy said it would eat. I tried. I loved it.

But it still flew away. I don't know why. It was MY beetle. The first thing I really tried to take care of after being taken care of for the past 7 years. The one thing that was really mine, because everything else I had ever had somehow belongs to mommy and daddy. It was the first thing I had that they didn't buy for me. I have never really properly owned anything before. It was MINE.

The grown-ups don't get it. That beetle was special. I don't want any other beetle.

I am so sad. I just hugged mommy and cried. I guess I'll never see you again, my dear beetle.

Well, at least I could hug mommy and cry when I was sad. I hope you can find your mommy too.