Ye Mei-xiu (葉美秀) lived with her family in Taiping, which ironically means "City of Peace," in Taichung County. When her home was toppled by the great quake, she was forced to move into one of the shelters established by the Tzu Chi Foundation. She was accompanied by her husband and her 10-day-old son, Wu Cheng-yang (吳承洋).

Each morning, Ye stood in a long line of survivors waiting to receive breakfast for her family. It wasn't long before the sight of the emaciated mother carrying a newborn infant attracted the attention of Tzu Chi volunteers. Because it is a Chinese custom to provide a new mother with specially-made nutritious food for one month, the volunteers kindly found a "bedroom" for Ye and her family and began delivering nutritious meals to them. Soon, many volunteers in the shelter were devoted to caring for the family.

Ye told the volunteers that her oldest son, aged seven, had been seriously scalded by hot water from a thermos overturned by the quake. The volunteers promised the worried mother they would visit the young boy in the hospital every day and keep her informed of his condition.

Tzu Chi volunteer Pan Mei-lan (潘梅蘭) demonstrated tremendous love and compassion toward Ye and her family during this very difficult time. She went to great lengths to make sure that both the mother and the infant were properly fed each day. A warm familial feeling soon developed among the two women and the baby boy. Although Ye and her family moved away from the shelter a year later, the bond of friendship persisted. They never met physically again, but they never stopped missing one another.

In April 2006, Ye and Cheng-yang were invited to share their experiences of Tzu Chi's charitable activities at a tea party at the Tzu Chi Taichung branch office. The tea party, in which Pan was also involved, was part of a larger celebration commemorating Tzu Chi's 40th anniversary. After such a long separation, the reunion between the two friends was happy indeed. Pan was delighted to see how Cheng-yang had grown into a lovely seven-year-old boy.

Naturally, Ye had told her son the touching story of how Pan cared for them in the shelter seven years ago. As the picture on the opposite page shows, Cheng-yang, now in kindergarten, gave Pan a big kiss on her cheek after they were introduced. A poster in the background of this photograph shows Pan dressed in her Tzu Chi uniform and Ye watching over Cheng-yang wrapped in swaddling clothes. It is hard to believe that seven years have passed between the times these two pictures were taken.

Watching the warm interaction between Cheng-yang and Pan, Ye was moved to tears of gratitude. "I originally knew very little about Tzu Chi. The terrible earthquake gave me the opportunity to become acquainted with the volunteers. Their warm love is still with me to this day." Little Cheng-yang chimed in, "I hope I can become a student at the Tzu Chi University when I grow up."

This story shows how passionate Tzu Chi volunteers are about helping the needy every day. It may be easy for ordinary people to demonstrate enthusiasm for serving others, but it is difficult to maintain that attitude over a long period of time. That's why Master Cheng Yen frequently reminds her followers to always bear the "moment of enthusiasm" in mind, so that the transient moment of passionate service can be transformed into an eternity of practice.

The Master serves as our role model in this approach. When she took refuge with Master Yin Shun in 1963, he gave her a succinct instruction: "Be committed to Buddhism and all living beings." Regarding this instruction, Master Cheng Yen remarked, "It took my master only a couple of seconds to utter this short phrase, but I have spent the last four decades doing my best to attain it."

The ability of Master Cheng Yen and her followers to constantly maintain their enthusiasm moves me very deeply. I hope it moves you as well.