Remembering the Earthquake

I just stumbled on this website via my other China friends blogs. But, it's picture after picture of earthquake victims. It's heart-wrenching (and sometimes very graphic) so take care when you go through them. But, please .... take a second and look through the pictures, stopping to pray for these people.

Before I went to China, I'd see pictures like these and sorta forget that these were real people, not just images. Now, my viewpoint is different: I see that man on the subway, who, carrying his blue plaid plastic bag (which they all do!) smiled at me with his missing teeth. I picture that little girl and her mother, staring at me with such intense curiosity at what I was loading into my grocery cart. I remember the Mc'Donald's lady, who knew me and always made sure that I had a place to sit when I walked in. I see the bottle man, sitting outside our building, simply waiting for people to donate their plastic bottles so he could turn them in for cash. I remember biking by construction sites and being with Kc when he took pictures of men, sitting on high scaffolding, eating their noodles for lunch.

I see these pictures and I remember the smells of China. I can imagine the cries and the anguish of these people who have lost their loved ones. I understand why they weep. For many of these parents, they've lost their future, as their only child has been taken from them. They are too old to conceive again and now their future is gone. I see another orphan ... and man, how I've seen those kids in China. I remember one little girl that my team leader often helped. She was from a remote area, like Sichuan province, and was sent there (at age 6) to beg in Beijing to help out her family down south. She lived on the streets with her grandparents (who were also beggars) and then would return home every few months to turn in her earnings. It happens all the time.

I remember the chaos of everyday life in China, where there are no lines anywhere, it's every man for himself. I remember the pushing and the shoving, the elbowing you'd have to do in order to get a space to stand on the bus or subway. I remember accidents and people just standing around to watch, not help, just to watch. Now, you see these pictures of a disaster and not everyday life and some things are the same. Yet, these people are hurting and doing everything they know how to help. In some ways, it's a beautiful thing to observe in the midst of horror.

So, please, take a second and look and then pray. Pray for these people. When you see that picture of a mother holding her dead child, pray for her grief and for her soul. Pray that, in nothing short of a miracle, there will be hope in the midst of suffering. Simply pray (and love) these Chinese people. They are precious to me.

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20080513_1.htm