Atomic Bombs

                                           

                                                                           Atomic Bombs

The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit was equal three hundred sixty-two atomic bombs. There are a lot of disasters that have happened in China. Therefore, disasters have shocked the heart of Chinese again and again. It almost seems like China isn’t a good place to live. People may suffer a lot of disasters, such as typhoons, floods and earthquakes. Typhoons and floods can be predicted, so people can reduce their loss. However, earthquakes are uncertain and precipitate disaster. It was hard to take precautions against them. The catastrophic earthquake took place in Sichuan in 2008 changed my view of life, my view of material needs, and it changed my family member’s daily lives.

                                 

After the disaster, my view of life changed. From television and newspapers, I saw all kinds of miserable images from the Sichuan Earthquake. A lot of people were homeless, a lot of people lost their relatives and a lot of bodies were trapped under the rubble. All of these images shocked me. These images made me understand disasters are heartless. My deepest impression of a miserable image is a mother that was tightly holding her baby in the rubble. Unluckily, the mother died, but the baby was still alive. I couldn’t estimate how great the mother was from this image. Before seeing this picture, the role of mothers always stupefied me. At the same time, I saw some people whose body parts were trapped in the rubble. However, with the purpose of saving their lives, they required a doctor to cut their trapped body parts. After seeing these images, I knew that if a person wants to save her/his life, he have to give something up. These images made me feel that the victims were courageous. The victims helped me learn that I have to cherish my life no matter what happens.

                                           

Moreover, my view of material needs has changed since witnessing this disaster. Before the earthquake, I didn’t know how to be thrifty. I wasn't satisfied with the objects or clothing I had. After the earthquake, the disaster areas lacked relief supplies, so a lot of victims couldn’t get anything they needed, even a place to lived. Food and clothing were hard to access. In addition, during the earthquake, a lot of roads were buried in mud so that relief supplies were hard to deliver in disaster areas in time. There was a call on TV and radio for people to send supplies to Sichuan. This motivated me to find things I never used or didn’t use anymore, and to donate to the victims. Maybe little things I owned could be holy and valuable for the victims. Since then, I have begun to do my best of saving everything, and I don’t waste food anymore.

                                         

Furthermore, the daily life of my family has also changed. During the earthquake, a lot of schools collapsed. My father and my uncle quit their jobs and joined in the work to rebuild the city. Unfortunately, lots of teachers sacrificed their lives to save the students, so disaster areas needed some volunteer teachers to let the children go to school again. My mother and sister also quit their jobs and became volunteer teachers so that the children could get education again. They kept volunteering until the local government was able to organize a recover operation. After they came back to Guangzhou, they found another job and they even volunteered when they were on their free days. Moreover, school and academy organized a donation. Not only Chinese donated some money to help, but many foreigners also supported the victims. I was a volunteer for charitable organization in Guangzhou. This experience made me realize people should practice selfless dedication, and also let a lot of people get some help they need. During the short time, our organization raised some rescue funds to order relief supplies. After consolidating our effort, the relief supplies were transported to disaster areas so that the victims could get the necessities they needed as soon as possible.

                            

In spite of the atomic bombs have shocked the heart of China from east to west, the Chinese people still stand erect. The pain of losing siblings was difficult to endure. Even though the victims lost body parts, their home and their relatives, many are able to face their lives positively. The disaster affected my family a lot. We have learned to cherish our lives, reduce unnecessary waste and volunteering the value. Even though the earthquake happened for years ago, the shocks let me learn how to cherish my life and let me lend a helping hand when needed.