Q: 我是一个失败的人，什么东西都做不好。

The photo was taken by Peri Paleracio, in the Philippines. The whale shark was found by a scuba diver, still alive and trying to swim. Its pectoral and ventral fins were cut off by poachers who sell shark fins at a premium for the Chinese delicacy, shark fin soup. Locals, with the help of local government, pulled the still struggling to shore where it died the next day. Here a local woman mourns its miserable fate.

This photo was named "most compelling image" of 2010 in honor of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity.

This is not just something caused by Chinese fishermen, it is a global problem. Shark Fin soup is sold all over the world, even in the UK. 
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Today, this picture moved me beyond speech. I have not had shark fin for over eight years now, because I made a solitary pledge within the family to no longer consume the Chinese delicacy. Shark fin soup is almost like a religious ritual that ties in with weddings and huge dinners at your fancy Chinese restaurants, especially so when you have a rich uncle who would buy the table. The number of weddings I've attended with my parents is a testament to my will, I often skipped the bowl and continue with other flavorful dishes (ie suckling pig or buttered prawns). The bowl would then go either to daddy, or someone else. At times, I felt sorry to my parents for sticking out like a sore thumb, for denying that bowl. Some of my uncles and aunties gave awkward glances and made comments about wasted efforts such as,"the creature is dead and everyone else is eating it, you should too." Of course, there is also that notion of being disrespectful to the person paying for it all. But heck, it is disrespectful of you to be forcing someone to eat a dish they don't want to in the first place. Tsk. Relatives. 

I would not blame them for their lack of understanding. The thing is, it is of cultural factor they acted in such mannerisms. Considering that the shark fin soup is part of a tradition harden within the veins of every Dragon's descendants on this living earth, the efforts to convince people to part away with culture itself seem bleak. It is similar to trying to stop the Vietnamese from dog meats or the Norwegians from whales. But I hope my little effort brings awareness to others I meet and by chance, shark fin soup would be less of a mandatory on dinner tables. 

Mudflats,
Vonnie S.