Earthquake Hit Students Find Light in the Dark
Four days ago, China was hit by a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed over 22,000 people, and left over 15,000 people buried under the ruins waiting to be found.
Many schools, which were poorly built, where the first ones to collapse when the earthquake hit. Hundreds if not thousands of children were killed.
19 year old Meng and Gong were neighbors, they are two of the lucky ones to be alive. Despite losing their homes and classrooms, and without enough clean water or food, they were still studying hard in the ruins for their tests.
“Getting into the college is my only goal, so I can help my parents not be poor anymore.†Meng says.
Yi, a college student was able to dig up a few wet and wrinkled books from her collapsed home, which she will dry out and begin studying for her test to become a paralegal.
June 7th is an important day for students who want to get in the college. This earthquake occured in the central part of China, which is the poorest area among the nation.
Having a college education is the only way for most kids to escape poverty and even in this disastrous situition, these kids were still working hard for their future.
If you ask these Chinese kids what they have to say about the disaster, their answer will be “The earthquake can ruin our homes, but it can’t ruin our future!â€
(link)
By Mui Mui on 17-05-2008
Comment by DARKWING DUCK
May 17th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I don’t know what we’re put on this planet to do but we’re here damn it!
Comment by Aikyrie
May 17th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Wow such dedication!
Comment by Nate Nead
May 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
That is amazing. People will triumph one way or another, but we’ve sure got to go through a lot of crap before we get there.
Comment by evilbelgian
May 17th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Wow, i doubt i would have the strength to do what they do after a disaster like that, well power to them.
Comment by Brent
May 17th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
This is incredibly sad. Forget grieving your lost classmates, just get back to work. Is this dedication to their studies, or more fear of failing?
Comment by gee-man
May 17th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Damn, that is some serious dedication, more power to them for it. Goes to show how different values are between nations. I know that if I was in an earthquake that bad, the last things I’d be thinking about are college entrance exams.
Comment by John
May 17th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Just shows the cultural differences, any American kids would love the excuse to skip school. I’m sure all of those ignorant idiots who didn’t leave New Orleans didn’t care one bit about it affecting their school work.
Comment by don wan
May 17th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I believe its the END OF TIMES..that means we are ALL screwed!
Comment by darkwing duck
May 17th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
It would make a great movie! Better than that damn Columbus. America was already there
New orleans kids
What the hell, kids, you never wanted to go to college anyway, did you?
Sure selling shoes is fun. But behind the glamour, it’s like any other minimum wage slow death.
Comment by wowwow
May 18th, 2008 at 3:56 am
how do they have such dedicate willingness to learn
Comment by Mike
May 18th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I doubt it’s only about the learnig. I mean, after a tradegy like that I don’t think they care too much about the equasion for when a you drop a pen on the floor. It’s about being somewhere else in your mind, why not use books? Also, it’s about them getting the heck away from there, can you imagine the time it will take for them to rebuild all that was lost? Better to go be a doctor and help out that way instead.
Comment by new orleans
May 19th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
i’ve never read this website but glad i did today.
ignorant idiots of new orleans?
if thats what you feel of victims of a natural disaster, i have one word for you.
watch your fucking back because we will pounce on you so hard you’ll wish it was a hurricane.
fucking piece of trash.
Comment by LifeGoesOn
May 24th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Grieving is to be done in your own private pace. Just because some people feel it’s the time for grieving and have their own idea about the ‘right’ way to grieve, doesn’t meant you have to follow their order, you should be able to choose to grieve in your own way and in your own time. It should be free right? I thoguht freedom is an abstract thing that this era loved to brag about.
Just like how a rejoicing matter is private, grieving matter is private too. If you can’t put both on the same page, then you certainly had made double standard for living, and that’s not true freedom.
All in all, this is what you call as “Strong hearts”. You grieve, you mourn for the lost souls(in your own way, in your own time) but in the end life goes on. Maybe, continuing with your life is among the best way to remember and respecting the dead. You live on, you carry on for their part too. You achieve your dream, in place of those kids who can never achieve their dreams. You live on for honoring the lost too.
Life goes on. And this is probably one of the greatest power in a human being; to be able to stand up again after falling down, and start again from the beginning.
I hope you will be able to continue with your life too, when some bad things happen to the souls you’re close too. I believe, they would want you to be able to go on as well.
Comment by sultan_azteca
May 28th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Admirable in its own context. No better or worse than any other culture would react to catastrophe. But still admirable.
Comment by Uncle B
June 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Yes, but 1 in 4 girls between 12 and 16 in the ’states have STD’s – We hold the record, we are the studs to the world! beat that!
Comment by kiki~~
November 11th, 2008 at 12:10 am
well, I agree with the whole “grieve at you own pace” statement and the “be somewhere else in your mind” comment but I, for one, would be out helping as many people as I could!!! Of course, not everyone is strong enough to be able to handle that scale of devastation and it’s always good to take breaks and relax (if possible). It really puts things in perspective… All in all, kudos to those kids and i hope they have VERY happy and successful careers (^-^)
Comment by Annnnoooon
October 6th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Also…Chinese people tend to have stone hearts. Part of the culture. Only care about your immediate family and closest friends. If you have no time for friends, even better.