Unfortunately the trip was not as pleasant as we had hope it would be. The second day in Mersing started of fairly well for us. Ted & I woke up early and went shopping for breakfast. After meal we took Mak & Ayah for a ride around my hometown. We shopped for keropok and dried fish. Maneuvering ourselves at one of the intersection, suddenly out of no where, came a motorcyclist and rammed straight into my Matrix. He flipped on to our windshield and came crashing to the road. Needless to say, we were in shock and dreading the worst we all jumped out of the car. My heart nearly stopped when I discovered that the cyclist had a passenger, his 4 year old daughter. Fortunately both of them were conscious and talking. I hardly see any scratch on them.
We took them to the hospital and they checked out ok. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about his bike and our car. The usual negotiations about repairs came after that. But unlike any others that I know, the negotiations were fairly brief. Ted immediately said that he will pay for it all and there were no argument about that. Our car took more beating then the bike and Ted decided to pay for both. Conversations at home after that was a lot about whose fault the accident was and I thought it was unfair for us to pay for it all. But Ted's outburst later that night explained the reason why he wanted to pay for it all... it is all about doing something right for a change, at least for him.
It would have been too easy for all of us to make the police report and put the blame on the cyclist. To just leave Mersing and not bothered about what happen to the cyclist. Yes, it would be easy to do the wrong thing. The temptation to walk away was there and was dangling right in front of us. But Ted wanted to do the right thing here. For him it was a chance to redeemed for all the mistakes he had done in his past. He had taken so many journey in his life doing wrong and bad things. This could be a chance for him to do something right for a change. In his heart, he caused the accident and the right thing to do was pay for everything. So that was what he did.
In the end, bearing the cost for the whole accident was the right thing to do. It left his conscious clear. Despite being short a few thousand Ringgit after that, Ted maintained the self respect he had been trying to sustained all these years. He had decided to leave the dark life he led long time ago in his past and he had struggled to be good instead. But God will always test him to see if he would go back to the old ways. He knows there will be many more such temptations... he prays that he will prevail in making the right decisions to create better journey in his life, from the bad to the good.
