At 2:28 p.m. today, one week to the minute of the earthquake, 1.3 billion people stopped what they were doing to stand up from their everyday lives and silently send their thoughts, prayers and respect to the victims of Sichuan earthquake for three minutes. Some prayed for the dead, some hoped for those still buried or hurt or homeless and some sent thanks for returning loved ones. And, in typical China fashion, they put their own spin on the “moment of silence.” Traffic pulled to a standstill, and drivers climbed out of their cars with one hand firmly on the horn. For three straight minutes, air raid sirens and car horns filled the air that is usually littered with pollution and overcrowded shouts. The magnitude of that type of moment doesn’t wait. It isn’t one that hits you days or hours or minutes later. You live in the moment knowing that you are standing shoulder to shoulder with 1.3 billion people. And it gives you the kind of hope that common sense tells you tragedies like this should destroy.
Five minutes after that moment brought back hope, I read that 200 rescue and aid workers were killed in a mudslide as they marched through the wreckage to help those that the earthquake left behind. Hope and hopelessness cry the same tears.
Sometimes you feel like the only thing you can do is eavesdrop on the tragedy through the New York Times or Shanghaiist.
Sometimes you’re sitting at your desk at work and you want to cry because you hear about Chen Jian, a 26-year-old man who was trapped for 73 hours. While he was waiting for rescue crews to bring the equipment to remove the three slabs pinning him down, he was interviewed on Sichuan television. All he wanted to was to get word to his wife that he was ok and would be home safely soon. Six hours later, the rescue workers finally removed Chen Jian. As he was pulled out, inexplicably, he died. The anchor who hours before had spoken to Chen Jian and helped him send word to his wife that he was being rescued now had to go back on the air and tell the watching world that he had died just as he had been rescued.
And then you read about a mother who was found dead, still nursing her three-month-old. Or the police officer who recently had a baby and is now nursing eight orphans.
Or the beautiful story of a couple buried together. The husband, a failed businessman who tried his luck around the country, had only been in town for two days. They took turns breathing as the rubble slowly closed in on them so they would not leave their 14-year-old daughter alone in the world. Now, their daughter won’t leave their bedside.
Or the two miraculous rescues that occurred today. A 61-year-old woman who had been trapped for a week survived the odds and made it out of the rubble alive in a show of endurance and strength that took the breath away of rescue workers and the world.
The nationalism brought on by Tibet and the protested Olympic torch rally that has been boiling over in China is now being funneled into a good cause, as donations of clothes, money and blood are flowing out from every corner of China and all corners of the world.
It is both inspiring and depressing to see how quickly and efficiently the Chinese government acted. If only it wasn’t a national tragedy that spurred the CCP to look after some of its most overlooked citizens.
It is both inspiring and depressing to see how the world’s strongest nations have offered words of encouragement and support. If only our international aid brought understanding diplomacy during times of prosperity.
It is both inspiring and depressing to watch a Chinese girl in fifth grade donate 100 renminbi. For too many reasons to name.
It might not be our family or friends who are gone or hurt or trapped or living in a park in a makeshift tent, but the earthquake seems to have broken more than earth in Sichuan; it has broken hearts around the world.
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost. –Arthur Ashe
If you have the means, please donate.
3 Comments
May 20, 2008 at 1:32 pm
let’s not forget though, that when Taiwan experienced it’s devastating 921 earthquake, China refused to allow Russian rescue teams to cross their airspace. leave it to China to politicize everything. maybe this experience will, as they say “learn them.”
May 26, 2008 at 7:41 pm
What a horrible occurance, so many dead in a poor part of China, may China minister to the hurt, and remember the dead. May God bless those that have lead the searches and possibly lost their lives as well.
May China recover to realize that though they are a larger ‘game player’ than in times past, they are as venerable as any other country to the rath of naturally occuring catastrophic events.
As China completes the final preparations to host the Summer Olympics in August, may they also pay tribute to those that have lost their lives in this earthquake. Times of such saddness to times of triumph, all within a small amount of time, ironic.
I was struck by the parents sitting next to the rubble, waiting for word of whether their children were alive or dead. Hoping for the best but fearing the worst.
Jamie, stay vigilant since your safety is very important to those of us that love you. We applaud your independence and your ability to venture where many would not. We all miss you!
May 28, 2008 at 7:32 pm
practiced says : I absolutely agree with this !