Ling Ruiming has never imagined his long-held dream of traveling around the world would come true especially after the 86-year-old engineer was diagnosed with terminal cancer three months ago.
But thanks to a micro blog his granddaughter Ling Yifan, a young cartoonist, posted on Sina Weibo, Ling Ruiming finally "fulfilled his dream" in a matter of days, something that's being seen as nothing but a miracle.
The miraculous journey started as Ling Yifan, a 29-year-old Beijing girl, posted a request on her micro blog with a portrait of her grandfather on May 12, asking people to print it out and take a photo alongside it wherever they are.
"My grandpa is sick with few days left," she wrote. "All he wanted to do for the rest of his life is to travel around the world. I want him to 'see' more of the world in his last days. Could you please do him a favor of taking him around the world by taking a photo with his portrait at your place? It's like he'll be going there by himself. "
This microblog has aroused the attention of many netizens. Within just three days, tens of thousands of photos had flooded in and the microblog had been forwarded around 89,000 times as of May 14. From the Thames in London, the Berlin Wall in Germany and New York City in the US to the Antarctic Peninsula, people have been sending back their best wishes and photos with the portrait.
Ling's microblog has struck a responsive chord in the hearts of tens of thousands of netizens. "It made me think of my own grandfather," one netizen called Luxingkong xiao M said; "he left me in 1994. Send my best wishes from to Grandpa and pray for the miracle to come ". Cui Xiaodan, who is studying at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, scanned Ling Ruiming's portrait into a picture she took while she was at Chicago University in the United States. "The love relay is inspiring, and I wish to be part of it," she said.
Love makes the world go around, and it is also the resonance of love that bounds the tens of thousands of people around the world together. Let's enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime journey with Grandpa Ling and experience the great kindness and enthusiasm from netizens around the world. Feel free to leave your wishes>>> |