Thursday, May 15, 2008

Their Grief is Incomparable

JUYUAN, China — The bodies are everywhere. Some are zipped inside white vinyl bags and strewn on the floor. Others have been covered in a favorite blanket or dressed in new clothes. There are so many bodies that undertakers want to cremate them in groups. They are all children.

“Our grief is incomparable,” said Li Ping, 39, eyes rimmed red, as he and his wife slowly, carefully pulled a pair of pink pajamas over the bruised, naked body of their 8-year-old daughter, Ke. “We got married late, and had a child late. She is our only child.”

The earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on Monday has so far claimed more than 19,000 lives across China, and thousands more people remain missing or trapped beneath rubble. But the awful scene at this local morgue is a sad reminder that too many of the dead are children in a country where most families are allowed to have only one.

you can read the rest of this New York Times story here. Then please pray for the Chinese people as they continue their rescue and recovery efforts. Many of them are parents...just like us.

1 comment:

The Gang's Momma! said...

Thank you for posting this - it's beautiful and sad. It's heartbreaking for all of us who have part of our heart in China right now. The images and the stories are ripping through us in the adoption community right now. They are us in more ways than we can imagine. And the long term implications on all sides of this tragedy cannot even be fathomed right now . . .