Sichuan Heroes

by Zelliot

Based on various e-mails I've received and news I've heard, here's a list of several acts of heroism great enough to make you shed a tear. I was moved by all these, and hopefully, you will be, too.

The earthquake that hit the Sichuan province of China has a magnitude of 8.0 and released more energy than five hundred atomic bombs combined. A week after the incident, more than thirty thousand people are confirmed dead, more than twenty thousand missing and millions have lost their homes, belongings and loved ones. Amidst this calamity, heroes were born.

Through mails I constantly receive, all bringing me to tears, I decided that compiling these acts of heroism to let every nation know how the people of China were able to survive as one is the only way I can contribute to this calamity that shocked the entire world.


























1. Only twenty four hours after the earthquake, all blood banks in China ran out of storage space for blood donations. This could only mean that people close to the calamity area went out of the comfort of their own homes to literally give something of themselves. Not every nation can do that.

2. Thousands of volunteers rushed to the calamity area, led by taxi drivers who, upon their will, can choose to ignore their people and continue to make a living for their own family. Never mind the opportunity to earn money, they did not think twice about helping their people.

3. Medical workers provided free medical assistance, even giving birth to new babies in the middle of the street. No other reason can be good enough for them to leave the streets and stop attending to the sick and the injured. Doctors and nurses, medical staff, they were all there, not even bothering to go home to change, to rest and to eat. They stayed.

4. An owner of a big construction company sent its people along with construction equipments and machineries only a few hours after the incident. Again, never mind its own interests, never mind the profit those several days of stoppage of operations could have brought in.

5. The Chinese Prime Minister came to the rescue area two hours after the incident and from then on has been in the front line of the rescue operations.

6. Paratroopers jumped from planes 20,000 foot-high to remote areas in the hope of rescuing trapped victims. They do not know where they will land, the thick clouds, heavy rain and strong wind can bring them anywhere, but still, they jumped, not knowing where fate will bring them.

7. The first group to arrive at the epicenter of the earthquake walked for twenty-one hours straight just to get there. With them are heavy relief goods and medical equipments. Never mind the possibility of aftershocks and landslides, they needed to get to Sichuan, they want to get there.

8. The wealthy donated millions, the homeless donated their everything. A man who sleeps on the street, who has no money to buy food for himself, went to a bank, exchanged his pennies for whole bills, thinking that the volunteers will have a hard time counting coins, and dropped everything in the donation box located at every corner of China. Never mind that he will be hungry for the next week or two, his heart reaches to those who are suddenly less fortunate than he is.

9. Parents used their own bodies to shield their kids from falling buildings and collapsing walls. Most of them did not make it, but their kids will live on knowing that they were saved by the love and life of their parents. Brothers and sisters carried their siblings on their back, walked endlessly and aimlessly, with the hope of getting as far as possible from the disaster area.

10. Teachers sacrificed their lives in order to save their students. Most of them are no longer here, but their bravery and encompassing love have given hundreds of kids a chance to grow up and experience the joy of life.

I salute these heroes. I bow to you and look up to you. May every nation have the same love and concern for its own people, enough to extend a helping hand, regardless of distance, regardless of the risk of getting their own hands wounded. So go on, click on the google advertisement at the left. You know you want to.