There is a noodle store (刀削麵) close by to where we stayed. On one day when we were having lunch with the field workers, there came a little boy and his father, sitting just behind us. The father was yelling SiChuan dialogue and the boy, with his head down, was standing there and his body shaking in the cold. Obviously the father is blaming the boy ... For some reasons the boy only wore a sweater and it was damp. The father was really loud and caught the attentions of other people either on the street or in the store. We have no idea what the father was yelling about and why he was so angry. This is a very typical Chinese family "internal issue" that outsiders shouldn't bother (各家自掃門前雪). I had the same thought in the beginning and frankly I didn't plan to do anything about it. It lasted for a while and the situation didn't seem to be resolving by itself. I went over and see if I can be of any help while our team lead and a field worker started to talk to the father. The boy's sweater and pants were all damp. Some of us made the guess that he was in great fear and peed while standing. I had no idea about what had happened but one thing for sure was the boy must be very upset and scared. He didn't say anything during the whole time. I finally bought him a 波板糖 while another team member bought him a new set of pants. One team member actually went over to the child and tried to comfort him and she discovered some scraped areas behind the boy's left ear. She started to treat him with medications and hug him from the back. This picture reminded me of how Jesus healed people by touching them, even in the situation when those people were not "touchable" (leprosy). I was so touched by the compassion of that team member and how genuine it is. I would have never thought of giving the boy a hug or buying him clothes or other necessities. I guess many of the people in the noodle store were also shocked by what we did. Just like myself, many Chinese people grow up in a society that provokes 不要多管閒事. We are so OK about bad things happening as long as they don't happen to us. This kind of mentality is like genetic characteristics that got carried over from generations to generations. Thanks to the sister that brought up this fact that if we don't do something to break the chain, these types of things are going to happen again and again. This "culture" is bad. This is not godly and not pleasing to God. It strike me that how true it is in the scripture Roman 1:19-25 which talks about sinners. Thank God for showing me His love through this wonderful sister. I was so slow to love and to observe the needs of others. I wish I can be more compassionate!
Finally we figured out that the boy was caught by his dad skipping classes and playing with other
children in the river. Definitely the boy hasn't been a good kid. However I think there is a better way to encourage and motivate a child to get on to the right track. Again it all boils down to a social problem which has a scope big enough that we are not able to address or to resolve. May God have mercy and heal this place.There are other beautiful moments - including those moments we spent with the kids ^_^... and those moments when laughter and tears encourage each other, when some SiChuan words and sentences finally make sense to us, when the locals know how to sing "God is so good" (in English!) and when our hearts beat for Jesus ... maybe the beauty of life is just found in these simple moments when our hearts echo with that of God ^.^
