| Thus I Saw and Heard | ||||
| By Zhong Wen-ying Translated by Tang Yau-yang | ||||
I witnessed and heard about episodes of courage while volunteering for Tzu Chi in its disaster response efforts after the gas explosions in Kaohsiung: a mother consenting to donate her son’s organ; a man helping eight victims escape from danger. Writing down their stories, I asked myself: Would I ever be as courageous as they were in the face of impermanence?
I reached Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital a few hours after the gas explosions and went directly to an intensive care unit, which was on the second floor. The entrance area to the ICU was packed with family members, people from the media, and volunteers from charitable organizations. To keep the noise down and clear access to the unit, hospital personnel eventually asked the volunteers and media people to move to a conference room on the sixth floor. After some time, the crowd in the conference room gradually thinned out and Tzu Chi volunteers went back to the area outside the ICU to keep family members company or to be available to help. Some of them talked with anxious family members so they could have an outlet for their emotions. Before noon, 30 boxed meals, prepared at the local Tzu Chi office, were delivered to the hospital and given to the waiting family members. Some of them did not feel like eating, but volunteers reminded them that it was important for them to keep up their energy so they could take good care of their loved ones. This suggestion touched their hearts, and gave them courage to brace up for a future that might be tough to face.
Good wishes Many family members at the hospital had not slept since the explosions, 12 hours earlier. Having skipped a night’s sleep, many of them looked weary as well as worried. Amid this glum atmosphere, one couple in a corner of the room appeared particularly calm. Mr. Wang, who himself had a loved one injured in the explosions, told us that the woman, Mrs. Hong, had been crying very hard when she first arrived at the hospital, around 2:00 a.m. Her son was critically injured. But she seemed to have calmed down during the past hours. When Mrs. Hong learned that her son probably would not survive, she said to her family, “Let’s not cry. Our calmness and peace of mind are the best things we can give him now.” The son’s girlfriend of seven years, Miss Huang, had rushed from Dajia, central Taiwan, to the hospital. She could not believe what had happened. “He only went out to buy some things. How could this happen?” Miss Huang could not stop crying. Volunteers hugged her, and Mrs. Hong said to her, “His body has been badly damaged, so let him go get a new body and come back to this world.” Mrs. Hong—whose own parents had even chosen to become a Buddhist monk and nun—and her husband were devout Buddhists and believed in reincarnation. As a result, they were able to draw strength from their faith and accept their son’s death. The hospital informed the Hongs that their son’s national health insurance card showed that he had previously agreed to donate his body and organs in the event of his death. However, his body had been badly damaged in the explosions, leaving only the corneas of his eyes still viable for donation. The family decided to go ahead and donate what they could. After the surgery to remove the corneas was completed, Mrs. Hong said with moist eyes that the remains of some victims could not even be found, so she thought that her son was fortunate to be able to donate his corneas. “My son didn’t do much for society when he was alive, but he could at least help someone after his death.” I was truly impressed by Mrs. Hong’s composure in the face of life’s impermanence and how she was able to let go in such a short period of time and display such a courageous and positive attitude. I believe that the young Mr. Hong, with his parents’ good wishes, will go to his next destination in perfect peace and joy. At the same time, I asked myself: Will I be as courageous as they were when impermanence strikes me?
In shock Lin Xin-liang (林信良), a Tzu Chi volunteer, owns a vegetarian restaurant. After the explosions, one of his employees, Mrs. Xie, asked for his assistance. Her son, 38, went to help rescue the injured after the explosions and didn’t return home until after dawn. He had been unable to sleep well ever since. He said that as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw all over again the ghastly sights that he had witnessed. “Mom, why are human beings so fragile?” he asked her in tears. On that fateful night, the son helped rescue eight people. One of them was a firefighter whose legs were trapped under an overturned fire engine. The truck had severed his legs almost all the way through, but not quite—so he remained stuck there. Beside Mrs. Xie’s son, there were three other people around the firefighter, but none of them knew what to do. The injured firefighter, wanting very much to live, begged the four people to just pull him away from his legs. The four men, however, couldn’t bear to do that. As they hesitated, the firefighter begged them repeatedly to just pull him free. “I will not blame you whatsoever for doing what you have to do,” he said. The men finally mustered their courage and yanked him out. Then an ambulance took the firefighter to a hospital. Mrs. Xie’s son later heard that the firefighter died anyway because of an excessive loss of blood. After going through such a heart-rending tragedy, the son was emotionally shaken. He even contemplated suicide. That was when Mrs. Xie asked Lin Xin-liang for help. Lin rounded up some volunteers and went to Xie’s home. “You were like a bodhisattva helping people like that,” they told the son. “You were very brave. You’ve done noble deeds, so don’t be sad or sorry. Life is like a play. When a person’s part is over, he or she gets off the stage. We should all learn to let go.” After the visit, Lin often called the son to talk with him and see how he was doing. Gradually, he felt better. Mrs. Xie was extremely grateful for the volunteers’ help. She hopes that more people will join charitable organizations to do good and make society better.
Home visits Tzu Chi initiated a home visit project soon after the calamity to help comfort people traumatized by the disaster and to identify families who needed help. The seemingly nonstop rains in early and mid-August did not stop volunteers from carrying out the project.
One morning, volunteers gathered in a heavy rain at San Sin High School. They held the gift packs to be distributed to the affected families under their ponchos to protect them from the rain. Then they set out. Jiang Meng-qian (江孟倩), a volunteer from Taipei, carried one gift pack in each hand and an information packet under her arm. The rain was coming down hard, and the wind blew down the hood attached to her poncho. She pulled the hood back on only to have it blown off again. I asked if I could help her carry anything, but she declined. She put the hood back on and clamped its edges in her mouth to keep the hood in place. Then she marched forward in the rain. “Are you okay?” I asked. She answered, “Sure. We’re here to help. This rain is nothing.” Actress Chen Shu-li (陳淑麗) was in our group. She said that she couldn’t stop tears from rolling down her face when she watched news reports on TV about the explosions. Then she heard about the home visit project, so she signed up. “Did the explosions scare you?” Chen asked a Mr. Lin, who lived on Wuying Road. He replied that he had indeed been quite scared. Chen took a book out of a gift pack, handed it to him, and said, “I joined Tzu Chi over 20 years ago because of Jing Si Aphorisms,” referring to the book that she had just taken out. Then she added, “We all live on the same land. You’re just like my family.” The man thanked Chen. He was grateful to Tzu Chi volunteers for visiting in such a heavy rain. Dr. Lee Yi-pang (李彝邦) of Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, who was also among the volunteers, greatly impressed me. His hair was cut so close to his head that he looked almost bald. He called it a hairstyle of “five savings”: It took less water, electricity, time, shampoo, and money to wash his hair. In one home that we went into, a disagreeable smell seemed to be coming from somewhere in the house, yet the living room was quite neat. Dr. Lee noticed that our host seemed to have difficulty walking freely, so he asked him to sit down and examined the wound on his foot. A volunteer had told us that the oldest son of this family had lost many teeth and could definitely use some advice on oral hygiene from a physician, but he would not leave his room to meet the doctor in the living room. Dr. Lee went into his bedroom and discovered that it was the source of the foul smell. The smell did not deter him, though the heat in there made him sweat profusely. The son was playing computer games. Lee talked to him and tried to engage him in conversation, but the son simply ignored him. Still, the doctor was not daunted. He said, “You’re awesome, working two computers at the same time.” Surprisingly, the son answered this time, “I’m playing several roles.” His back was to the doctor, and he didn’t look once at Lee. Lee continued to talk about online games to engage his attention, but all the while the son only nodded or shook his head in response, saying next to nothing. Eventually Lee told the son how to care for his teeth, and the volunteers left this family. Though they did not appear to have accomplished much during the hour-long visit, Lee thought that they had at least learned that the family could really use some help. Volunteers would continue to care for this family and give what help they could to nudge the son out of his reclusion. For more than a month after the explosions, I took part in the home visit project. What I saw taught me that I was blessed to be the one who gave instead of received, and that the blessed should go to the less fortunate to give them warmth and light. Let us pool our love together and allow it to ripple out to every corner of the world. With such a great power of love, we’ll be better able to help everyone gain happiness and live better lives. |
|
