Four Generations: Water Buffalo Movie
Yesterday afternoon our teacher wanted to share a short film titled “4 Generations” The Water Buffalo movie about the gift of giving and how blogs can simply be informative and a way of creative gift-giving. We collaborated as a group on Google Documents with my partners Cynthia and Bryan and I was almost in tears when we saw a film that was created by a violinist named Robert Thomson or “Bob”. The man was reading a blog by Philip Greenspun who posted comments on how a water buffalo prize was falsely awarded. Amongst his blog comments was a pianist living in China who said he would ask Chinese people living in the area of Chuxiong if they thought it was a great idea. They agreed it was the best gift anyone could give for it would take a lot of time to cultivate the fields they live in. With the help of a water buffalo, it would help minimize physical labor but the cost would be pricey. It was said that a water buffalo goes for roughly 4,000 RNB which is equivalent to $510 dollars in the United States. In reality, that is not that expensive but poverty in China is unrealistic, it would take a whole year for the average working Chinese person to afford the animal. Greenspun was so enthusiastic about changing the life of someone in need that he asked the men if they would carry out the task if he gave the money. The violinist, or Bob, agreed to help purchase the animal and he would plan on giving it to a poor and needy family in China. Robert and his crew managed to record the footage and continuously show what they were doing along the way. The video was thought provoking and it gave its viewers a feeling of appreciation. Watching the look on the face of the family that received the gift was beautiful, it made my eyes swell up, seeing this was inspiring. They were so respectful and in such surprise to receive such a wonderful gift. You can read commentary on Karl Fische’s page, in which he was touched by the movie that he linked it, he thanks Robert Thomson for crediting and producing the movie. Viewing Karl Fisch’s You can read the original post on Greenspun’s page, if you scroll down to the comments, you can read the conversation between the two.
“If you want to buy a water buffalo for a family in need here in Yunnan, China, we could easily help you. I could make a video and take pictures of the process for you.” - Bob
Hands down, this was by far the best heart-felt donation I have ever heard of. To see so many people interested in helping out and coming to realize how fortunate we are in life. We live life way better than the majority of chinese people do. If we all helped out in small portion, we, as a whole could provide all the help necessary.
Water Buffalo by Notashamed
Here you can be linked to watch the movie:
Via: Video Blog
