Thirty two years ago, I was biking to school in Wuhan. Out of nowhere came a crowd of young people wearing headbands and T-shirts. They were chanting slogans I couldn’t understand and singing songs I never heard of. A box was passed around and people put cash into it. For train tickets to Beijing they said, but I still didn’t want to part with my lunch money. A few days later, many of them lie dead in the largest public square in the world. Their final resting place was the gate of heavenly peace – Tiananmen.

Present day, two hundred and fifteen children were secretly buried near the Kamloops residential schools. Two hundred fifteen little souls never got a chance in life. Two hundred fifteen graduations would never be celebrated. Two hundred fifteen first kisses, first dates, weddings, birthdays, retirements are all forcefully taken away from the world. We are only invited to their funerals.

Different times, different continents, different circumstances, same story. Young bright souls were taken from us and our world becomes darker and grayer. What is the root of all of this evil? It is the notion of “I AM BETTER THAN THOU.”

This hierarchical worldview is deeply rooted in our culture. We see humans better than animals. Whites better than coloured. Rich better than poor. Smart better than dumb. Beautiful better than ugly. Fast better than slow. Clean better than dirty. Etc. etc. What if one day we just let it be? What if we rise above judgements? What if we live the cosmic truth: that we all are just stardusts collecting starlight so we can shine for a brief moment in time?

Live and let live. We often say the ends will justify the means. How about making the MEANS the end? Maybe the journey is MORE important than the destination. Maybe what you do IS who you are? So if you don’t enjoy abducting hundreds of helpless aboriginal children from their homes and killing them softly with your so called LOVE, maybe you should stop. If you don’t enjoy the sounds of human skulls being crushed underneath tank treads you should stop driving. If you don’t love the blood splatters from women and children as you fire into them at point blank you should just drop the gun.

Buddha says “If you know you are not on the right road, stop immediately.” Why walk aimlessly if you are lost? Some say if 75% of the population are vaccinated then we are safe. What if 75% of us all decided that we are only going to do things that are aligned with our souls? Will we be safe from this pandemic of killing our children for our beliefs?

I don’t have all the answers. I’m simply a boy sitting here wishing I donated my lunch money to my brothers’ and sisters’ last rally. All my life I have been trying to figure out what drove them to Beijing and go lie in front of tanks. If I can obtain even a fraction of their passion for life at eve of death, I will not have lived in vein. During my brief co-existence with the brave warriors my soul was full. In later years, I often dreamed that I was walking with them again, singing my little heart out in the eternal sun, marching for freedom, equality and universal love.

May peace come to all those who perished at the hands of cruelty. May we all become wiser, gentler and more loving beings. May we weather every storm in each other’s arms and shed every tear in each other’s embrace. May we know how blessed we are to have one another and not taking each other for granted. EVER AGAIN!

Meegwech. (I see and acknowledge you, thank you).

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Published by ZEN WANG

Nuclear Project Engineer turned Filmmaker. View all posts by ZEN WANG