What do Yao Jiaxin and bullet train have in common?
Both of them kill.
Both of them ruin others’ families.
Both of them reflect our government’s inability to take care of people’s hurt feelings, especially the broken hearts of the victims’ families, as long as its reactions in the first few hours after the terrible things happened are taken into account.
But those are the easy answers.
What’s the tough answer? Or more importantly, what’s the tough question?
After Yao and bullet train, have the government learnt their lessons? Will they remember?
Most important of all, we, as a people, WILL WE REMEMBER?
The other day I was talking with 真红 about Yao’s case. I said 50 years later when we look back, we probably might marvel at by how enormous a mark Yao would have left on our legal system and its history.
真红 is a guy with insight which sees through the fog covering recent event, then goes back to any point in the past thousands of years, and always comes around and manages to pull out something buried in dust which nonetheless sheds enormous light on the case in question.
Probably because he knows too well the caprice of history and the usual failure of our wishful thinking, as to Yao, his reply was, “Nah, maybe. But it’s the job of the future historians. If they deem it significant, then it is. Anyway, who knows? At least we don’t have a say.”
True or false of the question “Will Yao and bullet trains be remembered for ever?” is one thing, while the importance of the question is whole another.
As teacher, we know one thing for sure: the fact that our students are not happy in our classes always makes us better. There are several reasons that make a teaching and learning process unsatisfying for the students. And usually it’s the teachers’ fault, like:
We might be too carried away with our personal interests, ignoring the students’ needs.
We might put all our attention to what happens in the classroom, forgetting students have to fend off all the problems and self doubt all by themselves after class, and that kind of feeling sucks.
We might…
The list can go on and on. And sometimes the worst thing happens: we get fired by the students. But the very fact that we might be fired if we don’t pay attention to every detail in the classroom and even the change of expression in the face of the students makes a constant and healthy reminder for every teacher: You need to learn and remember. That makes sure we come out of each teaching disaster only stronger and better, of course for our students.
Only if that's the same case when it comes to the dynamics of our public relationship.
We the people are not happy. Some are really generous when dishing out pointing-fingers. But playing the victim card is easy. To avoid being forced to play again is hard.
If the whole country were a classroom, how well our government does his job would be much more important than how well a teacher does his job. But is there a reminder for our government, which buzzes like hell every time someone's not happy?
Probably not.
Do they need to learn and remember?
Not necessarily.
Can they get better and better after each and every public disaster?
You've already known the answer.
So what do Yao Jiaxin and bullet trains have in common?
The answer is:
The outrage caused and the excitement aroused by them will no doubt fade.
But when dust has settled, even a long long time later, we, as a people, need to remember.
We, as a people, have to be the constant reminder of our government that how pissed off we could be should they drop the ball.
Not just for now.
Blowup.药家鑫和高铁的共同点
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书名: 大开眼界
作者: [加蓬] 马尔科姆·格拉德威尔
出版社: 中信出版社
原作名: What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
副标题: 用另一双眼睛看透这疯狂世界、奇妙生活和美丽人生
译者: 李巧云 | 顾淑馨
出版年: 2014-5
页数: 360
定价: 42
装帧: 精装
丛书: 格拉德威尔经典系列
ISBN: 9787508644233