201507011珍惜生命‧知福造福 To Cherish Life by Appreciating and Creating Blessings
I am grateful that the recent typhoon passed by Taiwan long distance away, but two Coast Guard officers sustained injuries from a huge wave pushed up by typhoon on a wharf while on duty there to safeguard pedestrians. They were sent to a hospital for treatment. Tzu Chi volunteers already visited them in the hospital to express care and sympathy.
Every time when a typhoon is approaching, people should take good care of their own safety. Typhoons always bring heavy rain and strong wind. We may be safe and well inside our home, but we should know that workers are outside in the stormy weather for emergency repairs of roads and power system or protecting the public safety.
Many workers are on special duty on typhoon day. People should take good care of themselves to avoid causing unfortunate due to natural disasters or manmade crises. In our day to day life, there is a large group of behind the scene emergency workers dedicating themselves silently without us being aware of them.
We must be really grateful toward them and always maintain this gratitude. Of course, medical personnel, guardians of people’s life and health, also need to rescue lives and safeguard patients in typhoon weather. We need to always be grateful to all those who protect our society. Look at the powder explosion incident.
Medical personnel work very hard to save the lives of the burn patients. They feel the pain of the patients and the anxiety and worries of their families. To bear such pain and anxiety is a heavy burden to them. At the same time, they also bear very heavy responsibilities to save lives. We saw how hard doctors and nurses work.
To protect patients from hypothermia, such as during dressing changes or in surgery for skin graft, the temperature in the room has to be elevated. When the temperature in the operation room is raised, as doctors stand there performing surgery, they get very hot and uncomfortable. Yet, they still have to bear with it for as long as the surgery lasts.
This is how the medical team sacrifices themselves to help the patients. Do the families waiting outside the operating room know this? Doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists are all working hard at every second to help patients fighting for their life. We also see more patients slowly recovering and have moved out of the intensive care unit.
This makes the medical personnel very happy. For patients to get well enough to move out of the intensive care unit is the best way to repay medical personnel. They are very grateful. However, I heard of a third year medical student, Mr. Su, who was also one of the severe burn patients from the powder explosion incident.
Yesterday, doctors had done their best but failed to save his life. His parents understood that their son’s injury was too severe and could not be saved and that the medical personnel has already tried their best. The parents decided to donate their son’s organs. He was a medical student whose goal was to save people’s lives.
Although he was no longer able to do so as the doctors, his parents still hoped that his organs could help others in need and donated his heart, liver, kidneys and along with other organs. All in all, his parents realized that it was time to let go. The medical personnel had indeed tried everything they could to save him.
We ought to praise the medical personnel for their continuing dedication to safeguard the patient's with constant care, day and night. Since Mr. Su could not be saved, to enable his organs to save other people’s lives is also a meritorious deed. His parents must be in deep grief but they are worthy of praises. His parents hope to complete their son’s wish of saving life.
They are brave and wise parents worthy of praises. Life is full of suffering. We saw in a news that in Bangladesh, a used clothes distribution caused a stampede where many people died. Come to think about it, all they want was some used clothes. We can see how poor and desperate they are.
Yet, many people we see always think that they lack one more piece of cloth in their closet and shop at consignment stores every day. Those newly purchased clothes are hanged among a variety of clothes until they can’t fit anymore into closets. We also see a lady buying pairs after pairs of shoes until her shoe closet is all full.
The whole wall of shoes is hers. Now, she become a Tzu Chi volunteer and repent for ignorant she used to be. Look, for all the shoes she bought, she only has two feet and can wear a pair of shoes at a time. Yet, she used to shop at shoe stores every day. Look at her past history that was living a deluded life. Fortunately, she encountered the Buddha’s teachings, which awakened her from her delusions.
Now, not only does she repent for her wastefulness, she’s also creating blessings. Now, she participates in recycling and turns recyclables into arts and crafts to educate her children. She’s doing this to make up for her past wastefulness and to teach her children to cherish material goods. We can live our life differently and still be very happy and be at ease and teach our children to live in this way.
All in all, her transformation is amazing. Many things in life are very difficult to imagine. We have to be more mindful in understanding the wonders of the Buddha’s teachings.
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