If you’ll allow yourself a quick moment of unabashedly sentimental feel-goodness, please turn your attention to this story out of Longmen Township in Sichuan province.
A Youku citizen journalist encountered an old couple walking down a mountain road in this earthquake-striken part of town on Monday at 9 am. The woman, hard of hearing, is 90 years old this year, while her husband is 88.
The couple has no home to return to — “just a tent,” says the husband. Asked if she was scared when the earthquake struck, the wife says, “Of course. How can we not be scared? I was almost buried by the earthquake. I can hardly walk anymore, must use this cane.”
The couple had just woken when the ground began to rumble. The wife crawled out from under rubble. “Were you hurt?” the young lady behind the camera asks. “No,” is the relpy.
And so, after telling their story, the two try to stand up to resume their short but difficult journey. The man gets to his feet first, and then has to help his wife. “If we can’t go, then we can’t go,” the woman says, struggling to gain her balance. She grasps her husband’s hand as they continue onward, each also grasping a bamboo cane. Very slowly they trudge ahead, toward their tent, and a family. They’re together, and that’s all that matters.
very sweet (:
but why didn’t the journalist help her stand up instead of filming?
Hope these people are taken care of by non profits and other aide. Must be so difficult to bear at this age.
OK, no fair! Forcing a tear or two to well up!! Stiff upper lip!!