With banners offering words of support held high above their heads, thousands of people waved their flags, chanting 'Go China, Go!' and 'Be Strong Shi Chuan!' in the middle of the Nan Jing Lu Pedestrian Strip. These salarymen, students, children, policemen, housewives, migrants, and even buskers stood together, in unison, to offer their support and hearts for the over 50,000 passed, the hundreds of thousands injured, the brave rescue workers, and the millions across China and the world who have been touched by and experienced the grief of this tragedy. This was not an organized event, least of all, a televised event, and what these people did might not even ever be seen or known about by those directly affected by the 512 Earthquake, but this mattered not, for thousands of miles away from the Disaster Zone, these men and women stood as one, together, to offer their love for all those in pain.

To me, what I saw was not 'Propoganda', nor anything even strictly 'Chinese', but an indication of the power of the Human Spirit; this natural desire born of emotion and love for your fellow person to help them in their times of need. This touched me in ways I can't express in words, only through imagery.

Through this tragedy and the scenes I saw that day, I learnt what it meant to not only be a 'Chinese', but what it meant to be a 'Human.' There comes a time where we, irrespective of race, background, gender, status, cease to be different from one another, and become united only as 'People'. In a time of grief, it's simple for life's heartaches to bring you down, but through the pain, sometimes the beauty of our world and its people can hit you in the most unexpected of ways during the most unexpected of times. And for that, I say 'Thank You' to these anonymous people. . .