Tales from Aunt Ming Zhu (Part 10B): Humanity, Loving Care and Affection

Xiao Mei

PureInsight | January 2, 2006

[PureInsight.org]
[Continued from Part 1]

Second woman: An elderly woman whom I had never met before

An elderly woman had once treated my younger brother and me so kindly. Yet I don't even know her name.

That was after my mother had passed away. I had left home to attend high school, and I took my younger brother with me so he could continue his education. He was very intelligent. He was only seven years old at that time and was already in the third grade. The girls in my dorm were all very nice and they allowed him to stay with me in my dorm. We managed to live through all the difficulties during the next 2 or 3 years. When he started the middle school, we were in big trouble.

My brother's middle school was far away. It took one hour to walk from my school to his. So he couldn't stay with me in my dorm anymore. Unfortunately that year his school wouldn't accept any boarding students. I didn't know what to do. Where could my brother stay? I carried his luggage and he carried his school bag, and we went together to his school. But no matter how I explained the situation about our family to the school administrators, they refused to help us. An elderly worker who was in charge of ringing the school bell every day overheard our problem and told me, "Let me tell you how to get to the house of a family who lives very close to the school. The elderly lady of the house is very kind. You go and ask her for help. I am sure she will help you." So I followed his direction and went to the house to give it a try.

It was the house of a farming family and it had a large courtyard. After I went inside the house, I saw an old lady sitting on the bed, smoking a pipe. She was kind of chubby and looked very kindhearted. My brother and I bowed to her and she asked us what was going on. I told her everything. I asked if she would let my brother board at her place so he could eat and sleep there. I promised I would pay her every month. The elderly lady heard our story and looked sad. Although we didn't know each other, she felt very sorry for us and said, "It's so sad. You kids have no mother and yet you are still very determined to succeed in life. The older sister takes care of the younger brother. I will take care of your brother. He can stay here, but don't talk about money. I will just cook for one more person and add one more pair of chopsticks." She let us sit on the bed. She took my brother's hands and patted him head, saying: "Listen to my words from now on. Come back home after the school is finished everyday" With her help, my brother was finally able to attend the middle-school. I felt a huge burden had lifted from my heart. On the way back to my school, I felt so happy and thought to myself, "That old lady has such a kind heart!"

My brother ended up staying at the old lady's house for two months. The school officials finally did something about his situation. They made an exception and allowed him to board at the school. I was young and also busy with my studies, so I never went back to see the elderly lady and thank her again. I don't even know her name. But her compassion and kindness has inspired me throughout my life. If her spirit could hear, I would like to use this story to send my heart-felt gratitude to her.

Third woman: my obstetrician

I met her at the hospital when I had complications during my first pregnancy. It was 1960. I was in bad health and had donated blood to save another person's life. As a result, I had a very difficult pregnancy, and was hospitalized three times.

My obstetrician's family name was Zhao. As soon as I was hospitalized for the second time, she told me, "This time you need to stay in the hospital a little longer. Don't just leave before you fully recover. Otherwise, you will have to come back again like you are doing now." I was very surprised by how well she knew about my condition, even though she had so many patients.

I stayed in a big hospital room in the maternity ward, and there were twenty to thirty patients in the room. Some women were expecting their first babies, some women had given birth before, some women were about to deliver their babies, and others were experiencing severe complications with their pregnancies just like I was. Most of those women who had already delivered babies were able to give birth vaginally without complications. But some women had difficult births, and some had caesarian sections. Every day Dr. Zhao took a group of doctors and nurses to perform check-ups on the patients. The smell of blood and pus in the room was very strong and nauseating. But Dr. Zhao always carefully examined every patient. After she finished examining the patient, she would give detailed instructions to other doctors and nurses on how to care for the patient. I observed what she did carefully. It was my first pregnancy, and I was very nervous about having a baby. I was moved by how good Dr. Zhao was to all her patients. I could see other patients felt the same way as it did.

I also noticed how happy and excited she was as she brought a new life into this world. She made me feel so warm and happy inside. I also came to love all the new babies and at the same time realized my responsibility as a mother-to-be. Each time when a new mother left the hospital with her newborn, Dr. Zhao would change clothes for the new baby, wrap the baby up, hold the baby, and walk with the mother all the way to the front door of the hospital. She would remind every first-time mother over and over again things that she should look out for after leaving the hospital, especially how to take care of the newborn's umbilical cord. Later on, I myself went to work in the hospital. But I have never met another doctor like her. All the patients called her "big sister." Actually she was not that old. She was only in her 40s. But because she was so nice to others, people called her "big sister." She was very tall and elegant, but she was single.

I didn't listen to her advice and left the hospital too early. Soon I had to return to the hospital. However, Dr. Zhao wasn't there anymore. She had committed suicide two days earlier. You can't imagine how sad I was. All the patients in the room and all the mothers she had helped out before were very sad, and some wept loudly. No one understood why such a good person would choose to leave the world in such a way.

Everyone made inquiries secretly, and the truth finally got revealed. When Dr. Zhao was young, a high-ranking Communist Party official became interested in her and wanted to take her as his second wife, but she refused. Her refusal brought her endless disasters throughout her life. Whenever the evil CCP started a political movement, she would get in trouble. She would get humiliated in public and forced to write essays to confess her "crimes." That official had held a grudge against her and used the political movements as excuses to seek revenge against her. Before her death, she was facing endless rounds of interrogations. She couldn't bear the immense pressure anymore, and had no choice but to leaving this world.

She left a short suicide note behind. It said, "My death is due to suicide and has nothing to do with anybody else. Please do not try to save my life because I have taken cyanide." Even before her death, she was still considerate of others and didn't want to cause trouble for anyone else.

The head of the hospital came to our room several times and tried to stop everyone from crying. He said, "She has chosen to remove herself from the people. She was against the Party, and her action was a betrayal of the Party. You have to keep your distance from her." But no matter what he said, people couldn't stop remembering her because everyone knew clearly what kind of person Dr. Zhao was. She loved the new lives so much and cared about the mothers so much. How could she not have treasured her own life? When I went to work at the same hospital, many years had passed, and yet people were still talking about her and remembering how wonderful she was.

In the process of recalling those three women, I shed a lot of tears. I wish all of their spirits in heaven could see what is happening in this world now, see the end to the evil spirit of CCP, see the kindness and beauty of traditional virtues returning to our land, and see the Buddha-Fa being spread widely, saving sentient beings and guiding peoples' hearts toward goodness.

Translated from: http://zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/10/23/34312.html

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