Striving, Development, Independence!

Please remember this: It is happening...

Somewhere in a small virtual town in this WWW world. There lives a group of people, talking with each other and never to be strange to one another. Even for a

new one who has just joined in, it is so. An outsider may consider them funny

and abnormal, but they are still happy and full of great ambitions, because now

the Internet has provided a home for them. It is a home that without making a single step a Beijing woman is able to "see" a friend in Shanghai, or in a more faraway city like Urumqi. It is a home that boards all the "abnormal" people who

joined it, so every one of them became normal. They talk in there with their able parts. They learn in there with their able parts. They make fun in there with their able parts. They are all charming in their own ways because they are

using their able body parts to make life better.

Who are these people?

Most "outsiders" gave them a title, "the disabled."

And where is that place?

Right here at http://www.canjiren.org/bbs/plus_adv_get.asp?get=3196. It's also

got a name: Striving Forum.

It was founded by a young man and a few others in May 18, 2004. The young man,

who contracted the rigor rachitis in his late teenage years and went through many surgeries to prevent him from being confined to bed, has been mainly in charge

of the website since then. Now he can walk by sticks and is a responsible husband and father. His wife and five-year-old son are perfectly normal and healthy

.

Not only had he experienced the pains of his body; he had also gone through emotional disasters like disillusion, idleness, and hopelessness. Fortunately, his

difficult years crawled away in love and encouragement his wife gave him. He once felt very sorry for her, thinking that there wasn't much he could give her in

return. But this tough woman replied, "I am just willing to be your feet." And it was this simple remark that awoke him in a most powerful way. It dawned on

him that in a marriage like this sorrow wasn't going to help much when love did

the talking. Love can never be impaired.

His name is Shen Baolian.

I have been his moderator for almost two weeks now, in charge of an English learning column. Whenever my time allows me, I visit some other columns there as well and quite often get shocked by stories whose lines are so familiar. They share one single theme: Striving, Development, and Independence.

These three words are also true to the forum. In one year it has come a long way, from being little known to widely visited by many disabled people all over China. And yet it wishes to run much further down the road, to the overseas. A plan is being carried out. In three years it will spread its publicity out to other countries. An invisible bridge on this flat world will then be established

to transfer information, charity, friendship, and most importantly, a future of

independence to our Chinese impaired people!

On this national day for the challenged, we all should remember the three words.

Striving, Development, Independence.

Jenny

P. S., David, it's been a long time since you corrected my posts. Would you please tell me if there is any error in this? Thank you.