This is not another day - from NY

KH's post from NY:

Thank you for your personal account of May 19 in Beijing. What a grand sight filled with a lot of loss and sadness but also great comfort and hope.

Much like you, I am filled with strong emotions the whole of the past week but at the same time couldn't read enough about the conditions in the disaster area. I am moved one moment by the unimaginable pain and the next moment by the enourmous greatness of spirit. I do not know if I feel this way because of my Chinese heritage or because I am human - but whatever it is, I feel at one. Si hai yi jia.

And I have never been more proud of the Chinese people. We are seeing Chinese at our best - united, determined, caring, generous, humble, self-confident, courageous, calm, civilized. One can't hide 5000 years of humanism and civilization. More than once it crossed my mind, "wow! this is what a great nation looks like." The Olympics? that's just a party, this is the real deal.

I read a story of this journalist from Singapore's Lianhe Zhaobao who spent 2 days in the quakezone carrying only her handbag, and for 2 days and nights the quake victims who lost everything took care of her, sharing their meager food and water with her and giving her a place to sleep in their tent. Others offered her a ride in their transport. Amidst the devastation, she see a calm determination to find survivors and also a quiet acceptance keep on living. How admirable! What a great people!

If the true test is in times of adversity, I see Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau behaving as one nation. I can report that charities are all over Chinatown right here in New York City as well - and people are contributing. There is a Chinese consciosuness that transcends the day-to-day issues and contemporary conflicts that the media obsessed about. They are - quite rightly - mere small details for a people who takes a very long perspective to life.

Life is full of imponderables. We often (mis)judge the present by looking into the rearview mirror (i.e. comparing with the past) and think we "know" what the universe has in store. Now I am speculating .... but when you think about it, the trouble with the Tibetans may have actually heightened the numbers and prepareness of the PLA in the Chengdu military region, which made it possible to mobilize so quickly when the quake struck. Ren suan bu lu tian suan. Everything good and bad happen for a reason that we mere humans are not aware of.

Yesterday I wrote a question on a webforum to the NYT reporter (an American Chinese) who is in the quake zone. I asked him, knowing that Western Sichuan is an ethnically diverse region, what proportion of the people affected and being assisted are Tibetan? I am curious to see that perspective because I know in my heart that the same PLA is risking their lives helping Tibetans. While making my post, I noticed that 9/10 webposts from China are filled with love and gratitude graciously thanking the world and esp people in the US for their kind thoughts, assistance and solidarity in this time of trouble. How gracious and dignified I thought. What a wonderful attitude. Granted 10% are ignorant silliness but the majority of US posts expresses sympathy or asks how they can contribute. Its great to see from behind these snapshots the common humanity coming together even outside the Chinese world.

Bro, now is an opportunity to appreciate our lives and family is it not?