The Crying of the Earth

On May 12th, 2008, an earthquake up to 7.8 Richter scale, which epicenter was at Wenchuan, Szechwan, China, shook the entire country and also the global media. It was the most serious earthquake to China for a hundred years. Over one hundred thousand of people died, hundreds of thousands of people wounded, and countless victims are now homeless.

Yesterday our government proclaimed that Taiwan was going to donate two thousand billion NT dollars to, fist of all, supply the rescuing equipment, and secondly, to rebuild the disaster area. However, as soon as the announcement was made public, it was soon attacked on the Net. “If the national treasury has too much money, why doesn’t the government subsidize the international raising price of the crude oil or help those Taiwanese children who don’t have the money for lunch?” The government argued that the assistance is out of humanism. However, the Chinese government only prepared to supply 3.5 thousand billions for the disaster. Besides, comparing to the September 11 earthquake, in which the Chinese government not only didn’t gave Taiwanese a hand immediate, but also pressured other nations, except for having their permission, no country should assist Taiwan directly. Therefore, today, when China has also face the extreme calamity, some of the Taiwanese, unlike most people in the world, started to question why should Taiwanese help a country which has always been a drag to us.

Now, it is very conflicting situation: to help them or not? As now the world has become a global village, many countries are count on mutual assistance. As long as you aid others when they are in need can you have the opportunity to get others’ help when you are in trouble. Secondly, love is what we should hold in our hearts. Instead of caring hate all the time, we should commiserate others first. This is also the beauty of Chinese culture. However, are those protesters wrong? Aren’t there some serious financial problems in our country? Yes, there are. But here comes the critical question: comparing between a life of a stranger and the poor of a kindred, which one is more important? Without ant question, saving a life is more urgent, but most people care about themselves more than the others. As for me, it is also a difficult question.

As a member of humans on earth, when I saw other people hit by a natural adversity, I feel pity for them. When I saw the news and those scared faces, crying children, I can’t help but think of those who have also undergone this misfortune nine years ago. Even though I will never know what kind of torture it is for them, but I can imagine how frightened they should be. To see anyone confront such a blow, we should all feel not only compassionate but also grateful for what we still have now, safety. Even if our living quality is reducing, at least we are not fighting for living. But of course, when it’s your foe standing in front of you, seeking for help because he or she is going to die, it’s a though decision to make whether to save him/she or not, since you don’t know after he/she is recovered will he/she stab at your back again?

However, I still think we should have a microscopic view. It is not the commoners of China who go against Taiwan; it’s the government of China. It’s just like the case of Chinese and Japanese; we don’t hate every Japanese since the slaughter was done by the army of Japan. The country and the people of the country, in this case, seem to be different stories. We should still have mercy in our hearts. Do our best to help others. For me, this is the right way to live.