I was walking home after work. It was hot, my shirt stuck to my skin. I wanted a drink, a shower, and air conditioning, not particularly in that order. We had been practicing for Parents’ Day for more than a month. The next day was “go time.” Everyone, me more than most, was tired and nervous.
As a coworker and I headed across the parking lot I heard my name. The Vice Principal was waving me over. I cringed. Beyond him, from the waiting area on the first floor of the administration building, I could hear teenage laughter. Give me a room, nay, a warehouse full of Grade 1 students and I’m a happy man. Teenagers? Ai ya, as we say in China.
The group, I learned, were visiting Grade 7, 8, and 9 students. They were visiting from Sichuan, from May’s earthquake ground zero.
They mobbed us when we arrived at their party: Twenty Sichuanese middle schoolers, twenty students from my own school, principals, various leaders, and the round little women that are present, cooking, at school events around the world. The TV cameras and newspaper photographers shot images. The students laughed and brought us food from the small buffet table set up in the corner. Durian, apples, zongzi were passed to my full hands with promises of deliciousness. A laughing young woman fed me dumplings from chopsticks, telling me to open wide.
They were typical teenagers, asking questions, telling jokes, laughing and smiling. Earthquake survivors? Maybe there school wasn’t affected. They were too happy.
My Vice Principal translated their Principal’s words. The main teaching building at their school was leveled in the quake. More than 240 people were trapped in the rubble for nine hours before being rescued. I didn’t ask how many were dead.
They were laughing and happy, because they were alive. And for little while, an evening party, a day at the beach, a trip to an amusement park, they could be teenagers and forget what they had experienced. I laughed with them while wanting to cry.
My thoughts of drinks, showers and air conditioning suddenly became unimportant.
((Stevo))
The strength of the young never stops amazing me.
Shawn Ws last blog post..A New Baby
Wow. I’m glad they have such a good outlook, if that were me I’d probably be hiding under a blanket.
Wanda Rizzutos last blog post..Kung Fu Panda
When I read the part about how you thought maybe their school wasn’t affected, my first thought was that they were happy to be alive. Survival comes with such a mixed bag of feelings.
And the young are so resilient.
Robins last blog post..Peek-a-boo
I usually find teenagers pretty scary, to be honest, especially in groups. But I really feel sorry for what these teens must have been through, and hope their families and towns can rebuild soon.
That’s fairly heartwrenching.
Shawn: They are resilient, aren’t they.
Wanda: Me too.
Robin: Yes, it is a mixed bagged. I wonder what they will think 6 months from now.
Truce: Me too.
Jackie: Yes, reminds me I do indeed have a heart.
Nice to read this, Stevo, even a year later. We had some kids in our city who had been displaced by the quake, but a couple of them were here because they lost their parents. The faces weren’t as happy but their resilience was just as strong. Great story and thanks for the link.
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