Wednesday, May 28, 2008

I Know We are Beautful

I love this sweet glimpse of care and compassion. Jiang Xiaojuan, a police officer in China, is shown nursing hungry babies after the quake. It reminds me of Rose of Sharon. Do you remember her from John Steinbecks' Grapes of Wrath? Starving along with so many others in the dustbowl, Rose of Sharon's baby comes still born. And yet, through her pain, she offers her milk to a man so close to dying he could barely move.

Ma smiled. "I knowed you would. I knowed!"...

She moved slowly to the corner and stood looking down at the wasted face, into the wide, frightened eyes. Then slowly she lay down beside him. She shook his head slowly from side to side. Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast. "You got to," she said. She squirmed closer and pulled his head close. "There!' she said. "There." Her hand moved behind his head and supported it. Her fingers moved gently in his hair. She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously.

What surprises me about this bit of news from China is that it is being made such a big deal of. Are we that out of touch with our caring that it is a massive news item when someone that is hungry and scared gets fed and comforted?

I'd like to live in a world where we are stunned and put it on the front page when people don't.

5 comments:

Project Pink Suitcase said...

Amazing story! I agree that acts of this type should be more normal.
Thank you for posting it!

Anonymous said...

I think that it is normal. I found that when I became a mother, I loved all children and wanted to care for them. Children are beyond our world of daily challenges; they are special.

Gerky said...

That is a beautiful story. i would also like to live in the world you describe. Hopefully by raising caring, loving children we can accomplish just that!

Juno

Garden State Kate said...

Sad, I agree it should be more shocking when people don't care for others, especially children.

Tifferbob said...

Thank-you for posting that great story.