PureInsight | November 21, 2005
[PureInsight.org] Early this morning, Aunt Ming Zhu called: "Xiao Mei, I have told you two stories the other day, but I didn't see the second one in the website. Did you save it for yourself?"
"Ouch! What a mess! I forgot about it." I felt embarrassed.
"Have you been very busy recently?" Aunt asked.
"Yes, yes. I have been a little busy. I was busying watching a series of soap operas." I felt embarrassed to tell her the reason why I was busy. Here is the belated true story Aunt Ming Zhu personally experienced:
It happened during the late seventies or early eighties. I was working in a hospital doing equipment maintenance. I usually walked to work because I lived a short distance from my work place. One day, I was knocked over unexpectedly and flew more than ten meters at a cross roads not too far from our hospital. I ended up lying in the middle of the road. Everyone was on the way to work, and many of my colleagues saw what had happened. Some of them carried me to the hospital, and some of them stayed to watch the person who had hit me and make sure she didn't slip away. After examining me, the doctors found that my second vertebra was fractured. The condition could cause the lower part of my body to become paralyzed. At the time I felt my legs were numb, but I could still walk. But after I got home, I went to lay on the bed, and realized that I couldn't move my legs anymore. Since my husband worked away from home and our four children would need someone to care for, I asked my husband's work place to send a telegram to him and ask him to immediately come home. My condition got worse when my husband arrived home. I could neither turn my body nor stand up. He had to take care of everything at home and couldn't return to work.
The person who had hit me was a teenaged girl from out-of-town visiting her sister. The girl came to keep her sister company because her brother-in-law was in prison for committing a crime. The girl had many younger brothers and sisters at home. That morning when the accident happened, she was using her brother-in-law's bicycle to practice riding the bicycle and lost control on the slippery road. Her parents heard the news of the accident and took the train to come to see me. They realized how seriously I was hurt and felt very bad. They didn't know what to do. They decided to give me some money as compensation.
When I found out what they had planned to do, I told them earnestly: "Don't do that. You and I are total strangers and we don't have anything against each other. It is clear that your daughter hit me by accident and she is very scared now. I know you have some difficulty yourself and your oldest daughter is having problems as well. You also have so many children to care for. Don't worry about me."
Their friend who had come with them to visit me said, "Your injury is very serious. To put it bluntly, the rest of your life could be… How could we not make compensation?"
Frankly, I had considered my future. It was possible that I might be paralyzed and could never be able to stand up again. Even so, I had accepted the situation. I told them. "I have considered that. I was injured on my way to work. It could be considered as injury suffered on the job. Even if I can't work any more, I can still depend on labor insurance for support. The cost of my treatment will be taken cared of by my work unit. You don't have to pay for my medical treatment. If I used your money to buy food, I don't think I would be able to swallow it. You have many children and only one income. How can I take your money to buy food? Anyhow, I couldn't possibly take your money. Besides, I am very fortunate I didn't get run over by a car when I was lying in the middle of road or I could be dead. Let's end this here. What happens next to me will have nothing to do with you. Go home and live your own lives." After listening to what I have said, they were so touched that they couldn't help shedding tears.
At this time, their friend suggested: "Since you don't want any money, let the girl come and help take care of you."
"There is no need to do that."
"You keep refusing their offer, and they won't be able to live with their own consciences. Don't you see that they are almost kneeling on the floor begging you to accept the girl's help?" Their friend said anxiously.
I thought I should give them an opportunity to express their kind feeling. I had a colleague at work. His family had been using Chinese medicine to treat traumatic injuries for generations. After he heard I had been hurt, he had put together a prescription, personally delivered the medicine to me, and refused to accept any money for it. I told the girl's parents, "A colleague of mine gave me some Chinese medicine and refused to accept money. How about if you guys give him some money and we will call it even?"
They went to see my colleague and told them what I wanted to do. My colleague said, "My friend is such a good person. She is now so seriously injured and yet she still won't accept any money from you as compensation. How can I take your money? Besides, I didn't want any money from her for the medicine I gave her. She always treated us very nicely."
"You must accept our money. Otherwise, we will feel uneasy."
"Fine. Just give me 60 yuan (translator's note, US $1=8.3 Yuan). You have really met a good person in my colleague. If this had happened to other people, you would be spending at least 20,000 yuan to settle the debt you owe her."
After about six months, my condition gradually became normal and I could go to work again. Something was even more miraculous. Before the accident, I had suffered from terrible back pain. After I recovered from the accident, my old back pain was gone. This misfortune turned out to be a blessing in the end. People around me all said it was the heaven blessing good person.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/10/8/34145.html
