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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 22, 2003

On What Do We Rely to Defeat SARS?

From reports on the epidemic situation published every day we have seen that although the situation remains grim, the incidence of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has tended to come down slowly nationwide.


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From reports on the epidemic situation published every day we have seen that although the situation remains grim, the incidence of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has tended to come down slowly nationwide. I often think to myself: What do we rely on to have achieved results of the battle, and what will we continue to rely upon to combat SARS until we defeat it finally?

As a matter of fact, the answer is just around us.

The many things I heard and saw over the past few days have filled my eyes with tears. In Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang, after a residential building was isolated, the community personnel in service of the dwellers were divided into three groups to provide help. In this "besieged city", the telephones and handsets of many households rang from time to time, wishes and best regards sent in from outside had melted ice and snow. An unnamed nurse in Sichuan Province gave a phone call to the Beijing-based Ditan Hospital which receives and treats SARS patients, saying "I know how to use an respirator and know English, if you promise me I will come as soon as possible.".

This disaster has come all of a sudden. SARS is real tiger, a really man-eating animal which has broken in in a fury. Flower-like elder and younger sisters have withered away and kindhearted compatriots are groaning. Hospital nurses seemed to have grown up and become intelligent overnight; in public places people have become civilized and friendly, the estrangement of neighbors living in tube-shaped apartments has been defused; cadres have shown more concern for the masses who, in turn, have become more considerate of the cadres. Disaster has made people become more united and more of one-hearted.

The story of ceding apples to others in water-short Shangganling Mountain is not strange to people, but today such stories are innumerable. When thermometers were distributed to personnel in our work unit, it was not enough for everybody to have one. First, precedence was given out of courtesy among departments, then, among Party members or Youth League members and then among old and new comrades. When some other work units gave preventive injections, cadres yielded the chance to the masses, full-time workers to temporary workers, and office workers to those often on duty in the streets, people of various trades and professions convey their love for others through their actual deeds.

In the face of disaster, our society is in good order. Let's see old aunts wearing armbands on duty in the neighborhood, volunteers raising buntings to help direct traffic, hygienic workers spraying disinfectant fluid and salesclerks in facial masks persisting in selling goods. People may feel that in our big community family, it is very hard to concretely define who are in the front and who are in the rear. Although we can't clearly see the faces of people, many of them are Party members and Youth League members wearing badges. When the acquaintances and not acquaintances brush past, they make gestures and wish each other to take good care of themselves. Complaints and grievances have decreased, sympathy and gratitude have increased. What is rare and commendable is that the styles of thinking and work of Party committees and governments at various levels have been notably improved, they respect science and knowledge and exhibit a high sense of responsibility and devotion to work.

What do we rely on to defeat SARS? Originally it should be a grand temple fair on May Day in our hometown, nostalgia prompted me to dial many long-distance phone calls on that day. I learned from the phone call that the temple fair was temporarily cancelled, chairman of the village committee and township head guarded the entrance, my "bare-footed doctor" uncle was out to pay home visits, and my old retired father was also out to distribute leaflets. People should think over these questions: Who have concocted the Chinese medicine isatis roots for you? Where did the multi-layer facial masks you are wearing come from? Why the prices of the milk, eggs and vegetables you eat remain as usual? Why are there the security personnel and policemen you find in the community when you return home?

Life is precious to every body. "I want to go out to see people not wearing masks and revealing faces!" I want to see the flowers of May, can you help me, Doctor? This is not only the call of SARS patients, but also all people's longing for life! The epoch we are living in is not the age in which people drilled wood to make fire, counted time by the use of a copper clepsydra (water clock) and kept records by tying knots. We have built the Xiaotangshan Hospital within a very short time, developed an intelligent thermometer, produced protective gloves and decoded the genetic illustrative plates of SARS virus. We have set up an escape-proof net for an encirclement suppression of SARS.

Dear sisters and brothers and fellow countrymen! The day when SARS run wild will eventually be over, air and fresh flowers are waiting for us to appreciate and ripening wheat is waiting for us to savor, the vast expanse of land is waiting for us to take in a deep breath!

By People's Daily Online


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