Life Wisdom: Learning Lessons from Disasters
Time passes by day after day, and every day, I see and hear about disasters in the world. We see Haiti. On August 14, it was affected by a strong quake. The casualties are heavy, and many people have become homeless as their houses have been leveled. There is devastation as far as the eye can see. And now, in the aftermath of the quake, Haiti is also affected by a tropical depression.
Haiti is also affected by a tropical depression. So, early this morning, I asked: "What's the situation in Haiti?" I then learned that people there are truly suffering unspeakably. The tropical depression has made landfall, bringing strong wind and heavy rainfall. We don't know about the damages yet. The situation there is indeed very dire.
How can I settle my heart and mind? I'm very anxious and worried. Locals in Haiti are truly suffering unspeakably. They are poor to begin with, and as robberies often occur, their society is far from peaceful. Our Tzu Chi volunteers carry out relief there and care for the locals with love. This is truly not an easy feat.
In a videoconference yesterday, I saw our local volunteers there in a few photos. They live out Tzu Chi's spirit unwaveringly to benefit the locals. The stories of how they give with love are all very touching. A few years ago, a local volunteer who is one of my disciples was wounded by a gun in a riot. Even so, he didn't let go of his aspiration, but rather continued to give with love and benefit the locals without ever complaining.
Yet, although we've been doing Tzu Chi's work in Haiti for many years, only a few locals have been inspired to join our rank. Some volunteers have been serving there for 20 or 30 years, and volunteers from the U.S. also go there to coordinate Tzu Chi's work. Despite the harsh local environment, one of our volunteers helps with aid distributions and works with love to benefit the locals.
That is Si Cheng from the U.S. Oftentimes, he stays in Haiti for several months, Oftentimes, he stays in Haiti for several months, and has been traveling to and fro between Haiti and the U.S. for many years. He has built close bonds with the locals and has been striving to guide and inspire them. Yet, it truly is a pity that there are only a few local volunteers in Haiti.
As riots and street robberies often occur, there is still much social unrest there. So, it is very hard to inspire people there to volunteer with us. This is why many people there have yet to be relieved from their suffering. Our volunteers serve as living Bodhisattvas to relieve people there from their suffering. They can't bear to see the locals suffer, so they've been long staying there to serve.
Yet, it's hard to inspire the locals to join our rank, for the society was still in great turmoil. Some volunteers risk their lives to help the locals, which is truly not an easy feat. I feel deeply for this country, for even now, it is still in such social unrest and people there still live in extreme poverty. Yet, we've never given up on them. Exactly when will peace prevail in this country? My heart truly goes out to its people.
We've also sent shoes there. Some people cherished so much the shoes they'd received that they didn't put on the shoes. They walked home barefoot with great joy. They walked home barefoot with great joy. Although they have little, they are content and happy. See how we enjoy an abundance of resources. It often worries me deeply how we've been enjoying and depleting our blessings without sowing any new ones. As we enjoy more, our blessings become less. So, with each passing moment, our blessings decrease one after another. Exactly how many blessings do we have and in this life?
Time passes very quickly, and as time passes, our life diminishes. Even if we do not do anything, time will still pass and our life will diminish. So, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva cautioned us: "Since our life diminishes day by day, what joy is there?" Although our life diminishes day by day, we are still deluded. Recently, I've often said: "Disasters are descending upon us. But, we have yet to awaken." Instead of awakening to truths, we are still deluded.
I've been urging everyone to awaken. Time passes unceasingly. See how many disasters have occurred in this world. How can we not awaken? We must not be deluded in this life or have no idea where we'd like to go in our next lives. Since we've been suffering in the six realms, how can we not awaken?
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