20130906人間菩提 ~刻苦勤學‧遍灑愛心Showing Gratitude by Giving with Love
“Tzu Chi helped me, so I want to help others like Tzu Chi volunteers do”
Seeing the footage of the girl and the young man, those of you children who are present here should truly count your blessings. The young man in the footage is from Zimbabwe and now studies in South Africa. And the girl is a student of our vocational high school in Indonesia. Both of them can also be said to be very blessed.
The young man comes from Zimbabwe where many people live in poverty. After moving to South Africa, he lived in very harsh conditions. Despite that, he studied very hard and was eventually admitted to college here. See how he makes do with what’s offered to him. In order to receive an education, he endured much hardship, but he held on.
Fortunately, he encountered Tzu Chi volunteers and they provided him with tuition aids so he can go to college. He’s very grateful. So, even though he is busy with school, he still makes time to volunteer with Tzu Chi to help the needy.
See how he makes use of his free time to volunteer and help those in need. He’s far from well-off but he lives of himself as a way to thank our volunteers for their love. He really has self-respect, and that’s why he’s able to give back. He even finds time to give of himself. This is how he expresses his gratitude to those who’ve helped him. So, people who have self-respect and give to repay others will always be loved and cherished.
Look at the girl in Indonesia. She used to live in s shack along the Angke River, running around barefoot. But now, she is in high school. With Tzu Chi’s help, many locals are living a better life as we not only built houses for them, but school built schools for children.
“I’m very grateful to Master Cheng Yen for helping everyone here with wisdom and sincerity. Now my family and I have a much better life.”
Compared to them, all of you children present are very blessed. So, you should cherish what you have, be grateful, and give back by serving. You should also be grateful to your parents and study hard. Please don’t idle away your time. We need to seize time as impermanence may strike anytime.
Take Japan for example. A few days ago, on the news, we saw two typhoons on the sea and both were heading north. Although they didn’t affect Taiwan, one of the, Typhoon Toraji, made landfall in Japan two days ago. Apart from the typhoon, a tornado also caused devastation in Japan, damaging many buildings there. Yesterday, Tzu Chi volunteers in Japan already went to survey the disaster situation.
Also, an earthquake hit the Izu Island off Japan. Luckily, there was no threat of a tsunami. But Typhoon Toraji has brought heavy rainfall to Japan.
In the face of disasters, people are helpless. When there is a disaster, people will suffer. So, we must be cautious with our actions and take care to do recycling work. Disasters bring devastation to the Earth. But, if we don’t recycle, we’ll bring more harm to the environment. So, we mustn’t litter to keep gutters from being blocked. Moreover, we should use water permeable paving materials instead of cement or asphalt.
The Earth has been wounded not only because climate conditions have become erratic, but also because we haven’t taken good care of our surrounding environment.
We also see Chile. Over a week ago, a rare snow fell in Chile’s Atacama Desert. As every Tzu Chi volunteer is aware that erratic climate conditions have much to do with people’s ways of life, they’ve been promoting vegetarianism worldwide, including in Chile, where our volunteers prepared vegetarian dishes for everyone to enjoy on Aug 10.
Also, on Aug 1, Tzu Chi volunteers held a free clinic in Chile. See how Dr. Gao also travelled there from Argentina to offer his support. At the free clinic, he also shared with everyone how to stay healthy in both body and mind. This is how Tzu Chi volunteers worldwide work to care for people’s health and minds.
Indeed, all of us can help one another like this to make our society a better place.
See how our volunteers help children in need to get an education so they can become useful members of society in the future. This is how people can help one another. Indeed, everyone can help others. When we have self-respect and also work to benefit others, we’ll be loved by everyone. Only such a life is filled with values.
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