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Disasters often bring out the best – or worst – in a person. Hollywood superstar Sharon Stone remarked that the Sichuan tragedy was the result of bad karma because of how the Tibetans had been treated. By HOO BAN KHEE, mStar online
A CRISIS always brings out the best or worst in human nature. What a person does or says in reaction to a calamity is a true reflection of his or her character. Take a road accident, for example. Oftentimes, we see good people getting off their vehicles to render help to the victims. But there are also those – thank goodness there are only a few of them – who are heartless enough to take advantage of the chaos and steal whatever valuables they can find. A woman cooking lunch at her partiallycollapsed house in the earthquake-hit Yong’an town of Anxian County near Beichuan, Sichuan province.
Of course, there are people who would simply mind their own business and just move on. Or those who make unwarranted or hurtful remarks about the victims having done something bad to deserve such bad luck. Now let us move on to the tragic earthquake in Sichuan province, China, that has killed nearly 70,000 people and left many more missing and injured. Buildings collapsed and houses were flattened, making towns and cities in the mountainous region resemble a bombed-out war zone. As the international outpouring of aid and sympathy continues – unprecedented in Chinese history – and survivors were miraculously pulled out from under tons of concrete and steel days after the quake, many heart-wrenching stories emerged and were picked up by the media. A teacher was found with his hands encircling his students to protect them from the crumbling building when rescuers found their bodies. A mother was found crouched over her little child. She left a message on her handphone telling her child that if she (the child) survived the disaster, to remember: “your mother loves you very, very much.” There are heart-warming stories too. Tens of thousands of rescuers from China and some friendly countries, risked their lives to save the victims, while ordinary Chinese form long queues outside hospitals to donate blood. They included a couple still in their bridal costumes. A crippled beggar donated his entire savings and an invalid old lady was wheeled to the bank to withdraw Rmb 2,000 for the victims. And then there was this marvellous policewoman, Jiang Xiaojuan, 29, who left her seven-month-old baby behind to join the search and rescue operation. Jiang was singled out by the media and honoured as the “flower” of the police force. This selfless woman, in between helping in the search and rescue operations, also breastfed eight babies, including five orphans, found among the victims. When she found herself in the media spotlight, Jiang said what she did was nothing great. “It was just motherly instinct. Those babies have not taken milk for several days.” Now we also have some very contrasting reactions to the quake. Hollywood superstar Sharon Stone remarked that the Sichuan tragedy was the result of bad karma because of how the Tibetans had been treated. That is no telling whether Stone is a Buddhist or she just said it to sound fashionable as many Hollywood stars have a political agenda over the Tibet issue. Obviously, Stone is a great admirer of the Dalai Lama, from the way she bowed so low to the Tibetan exiled leader as seen in a picture published in The Star recently. She may not know that among the tens and thousands of people buried alive, there were Buddhists, Christians and even Tibetans, and thousands of them were innocent children. If she had learned anything about karma from the Dalai Lama, it was obviously the wrong thing. When Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury on New Orleans, resulting in the death of 1,700 people, did Stone blame it on bad karma? What about the Sept 11 terrorist attack that killed nearly 4,000 people? Was that also caused by bad karma? Besides the tens of thousands killed and maimed, and towns and villages razed to the ground, the earthquake also affected the fabulous Jiuzhaiguo of the Aba Tibetan-Qiang autonomous prefecture of Sichuan. Listed in 1992 as a Unesco World Natural Heritage, the hugely popular fairyland resort has been a source of income for many Tibetans involved in tourism-related business in the area. Stone subsequently apologised, after earning the wrath of the Chinese. Obviously, her basic instinct had taken leave when she uttered those hurtful words in the face of such immense suffering.
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May be US deserves more tragic than any other country in the world, but we will not like to see this to happen. Every human life is precious.
Stone will not be forgiven (just like the Kerismuddin) and I will not watch her movie forever and advise the rest to do so.