My Dear Baby, If You Can Live Through This ...

[Vivien Wong]

… You Must Remember that I Love You.

亲爱的宝贝，如果你能活着，一定要记住我爱你。(My Dear Baby, if you can live through this, you must remember that I love you.) Those were the exact last words that a mother left, in a sms message, for her baby. A short message that brought tears of sadness and joy to many. I saw a message in a friend’s MSN that said, “Beautiful anchorwoman reporting not so beautiful news.” I believe that she and many others were affected by the devastating news, in Myanmar (Burma) and Sichuan - China, that were being reported everyday. There are numerous sad news reported of the quake in Sichuan - China and of the cyclone in Myanmar (Burma) and just as many inspiring and happy news reported. This is one story which touched me deeply and one which I would like to share with you.

It is hard to imagine how a human being so fragile in one moment and yet stronger than steel in another. How could one possibly withstand the weight many times that of oneself? When the evacuation team found her body, she was on her knees with hands flat on the ground, holding up her body. It was almost as if she was bowing ceremoniously, but her body was crushed and deformed by the building. A story of love that transcends the physical being. This is one story of the quake in Sichuan - China that will continue to live in one’s heart and will always remind one to treasure those around one; one will never know when these people may be taken away from one’s life.

“Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.” — David Grayson

My Dear Baby, If You Can Live Through This, You Must Remember That I Love You

When the rescuers found her, she was already dead, crushed by the collapsed building. They could see her through the debris, on her knees with hands flat on the ground, holding up her body. It was almost as if she was bowing ceremoniously, but her body was misshapen, crushed by the building. Rescuers reached a hand in to check that she was dead, shouting and using a stick to lightly knock on the bricks, waiting for a reply or some sign of life from her that never came. When the group turned their attention towards the next pile of debris, the team leader suddenly rushed back, shouting, “Over here, hurry!” He once again stopped in front of her body, trying his best to reach a hand in to feel the ground sheltered by her torso, shouting, “There’s someone here, a child, still alive!”

The rescuers worked to move the debris carefully, finding her child sheltered beneath her torso. A baby, about four months old, wrapped in a red blanket stitched with yellow flowers. Sheltered by his mother’s body, he was unscathed. They carried him out from the debris, sound asleep, his sleeping face warming the hearts of everyone at the scene in the face of death.

A doctor rushed over, undoing the blanket to check for signs of injury on the baby. He found a handphone stuffed under the blanket, and instinctively glanced at the screen. There was a message on the screen, “My darling child, if you live through this, please remember that I love you.” Despite having seen death countless times, tears rolled down the doctor’s face. The handphone was passed around, evoking tears from everyone at the scene.