Murder He Wrote

Kenneth in his blog, I Say What I want wrote about killing a lizard in his room and feeling bad about it. I thought I could identify with that. A few years ago, a field mouse ran into the little living room where I was working in. The field mouse had run in and out for several days now and I had been annoyed with the pitter-patters of its little feet. Then, I guess that had to happen- Murder was on my mind and one day, when the little field mouse which the Chinese believe brings good luck to the house came in, I took a ruler, knocked its head and the rest as they said was history. Blood started oozing from its head and yes, I was reminded of this murder scene which I saw in movies. The field rat laid motionless where it was hit and there was a pool of thick crimson blood around its head. I wiped the blood with some old newspapers and wrapped the mouse with it as if trying to cover a crime. It was a bad feeling no doubt especially when I saw the pool of blood and I promised myself not to kill again, not a rat at least and not by knocking its head until it bleeds. I suppose mind, as Buddha says, is the forerunner. A non-meritous act does come from an ill-conceived thought and there is Karma in action. One probably would think that the best thing about punishing a crime is to lock up someone in prison or in hell, but the mind probably is the best prison of all. And while a person can come out of prison or hell after a definite period of time, the mind is an eternal prison. It just takes one thing or another to remind you of something bad you have done and in my case, Kenneth reminded me of a crime long forgotten. I suppose I have long picked the lock of my prison but really, I should thank Kenneth for reminding me that life is so fleeting...