Impressions from China - Tragedy

Limbless children.

Lifeless bodies.

Devastated buildings.

Agonized faces of people crying for their lost loved ones.

A small hand in a death grip clutching a pen amidst a pile of rubble.

These pictures we have been inundated with in the last week. It is fortunate that many have rallied to provide help to the survivors unlike in another country where people are dying because of politics.

Yesterday, for three minutes in the afternoon, one week after the Sichuan earthquake struck, China came to a standstill as a sign of mourning for those lost. Traffic stopped, horns blared & sirens sounded as everyone bowed their heads in silence. It is amazing (& heartwarming) that amidst this push-and-shove (literally) society, such empathy and sensitivity can still be seen.

Local TV, however, has taken openness & transparency to an extreme level. It almost seems like propaganda to me when for almost 24 hours a day, pictures of rescue workers are shown on almost every local TV channel, & TV cameras & reporters enter medical tents to show patients being treated. What's happened to privacy for the patients?