A ready example that comes to mind is SARS crisis that has recently torn apart and ravaged most of China. Admittedly, it has cost us quite a lot. Some people suffered health damage and still some even lost their lives. And our economy suffers a temporary setback and a slowdown. However, we still have much to learn and are yet to exhaust listing legacies left by this crisis. Among them are:
First, we are more concerned than ever before with our health, and the environment we live in, and above all, the vulnerable medical system and practice we have so long cherished and regarded as matter of course ( have taken for granted ) . Also, we, all of sudden, realize otherwise not so obvious a truth that life is so infirm, feeble and precarious that if we somehow fail to take advantage of it right here and now, we may have no chance of even saying any words of love to our beloved, not to mention doing anything. Additionally, we tried and bettered and are still bettering our mechanism to respond to unexpected crises. These and other lessons and legacies brought about by blood, tear, toil and sweat are benefiting and continue to benefit us and generations of Chinese to come.
As a well-known ancient Chinese notion goes, the past lessons if not buried in oblivion are mentors for us all. If we can bear in mind sufferings and ordeals we have experienced, then those of our compatriots who had died did not die in vain and our sufferings will not go unrewarded.