A brave new world rises from the rubble

My daughter belongs to the younger generation known as the "post-1980 kids". A journalist, she went to the earthquake-hit areas in Sichuan a few days ago.

I will never forget the moment just before she boarded her flight at the airport. She never experienced a natural calamity of such magnitude in her young life until now or faced so stern a test of her mettle, which is why she could not help feeling somewhat nervous. As her parents we were worried just as naturally and, unlike when she went on previous reporting trips elsewhere, I saw her off at the airport this time.

It was time for boarding. She held my hands in hers and stared at me with teary eyes as if making sure her father's image was securely stored in her heart.