For the past several days, I have watched with interest, profound sorrow and admiration China's response to the devastation caused by the earthquake in Sichuan Province. The quick reaction of the Chinese government, in sharp contrast to the sad situation in Myanmar, has shown what governments can do when they have the interests of the people at heart and the foresight to act promptly. Please continue the good work.

I have also seen the tremendous efforts being made by survivors and others to come to the aid of their fellow countrymen when they are in need. The blood drives, monetary donations, and donations of food, bedding, clothing, etc. are a great testament to the spirit of the people to come together when needed. This reminds me that despite the rhetoric contained in much of the news media, and the pronouncements of various politicians, we really are not that much different from one another. We work hard and do our best to establish and maintain our vision of the "good life," whatever that means to each of us.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families, especially to those of the many school children who fell victim to this great disaster. We can only hope their loss will be an incentive to make changes in building standards to help prevent future catastrophes of this sort. Every new school that is built using the most modern of earthquake standards will be a memorial to those children who have lost their lives. Perhaps even a memorial at the coming Olympics and an encouragement to your athletes to do well in remembrance of those who died and will never get their chance to compete would be in order.

As an individual, I cannot do much in support of the victims, but I will do what I can. I will continue to support my Chinese friends and do my best to facilitate good understanding between our peoples and our countries.

With great sympathy and hope.

Doug Patience

AOL.com

I am a faithful reader of China Today, and have been for three years. I was extremely gratified to read the “China and the Olympics” section of the May 2008 issue. It inspired me to write a poem for China Today.

Sacred Fire Forever

One world is the harmonious one,

One dream is the magnificent one.

The sacred fire will light up the world,

Born to win, an inspiration tomankind.

Character is what we are in the dark,

The Olympic Games need victories to mark.

We strive to attain a great goal,

To take part is to play a majorrole.

Our life flowers will never fade,

Our undertaking to succeed must be made.

Yue Deping

Anshan. Liaoning

China

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