Eric's Beijing Diary

Driving rain last night. Hank and I lay on the platform being used as a bed and watched a movie on his iPhone. Robin Williams in some flick about a guy who is trying to be a successful businessman and take his family on vacation at the same time. I was struck by the irony of this movie in the environment I was in. But it shows that the Americans really do know that family should come first. Yet, they continue to throw their families to the wind in pursuit of their careers. I am afraid urban China is headed down the same road. So different from what family life is like here in the countryside.

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This afternoon we went down the hill a bit to the demolished home of an elderly lady and helped her clean bricks and remove rubble from her (former) living room. The scene was pretty pathetic, because there really isn't much left of her home. But I suppose if we can manage to clean the old bricks, they an be reused, saving some on the cost of rebuilding.

When the earthquake struck, her husband was in the hospital. He was protected from falling bricks by a door that fell on him, and has since been moved to a hospital in Chongqing. He has been paralyzed for many years, so this lady has had to feed him, in addition to working in the field to make what money she could from her small farm. Even in the best of times, she was living a hard China life. And now this. But she was smiling and cheerful the entire time we were there. The relentless cheerfulness of these pleasant country people in the face of such a devastating interruption is a testimony to the power of God's creation in this beautiful valley to lift the spirits and give one the belief that life will go on. But will this lady be able to stay here? This is her life. She doesn't want to leave. But what will she do when winter comes?