The language of kindness is dying out
By admin on 2014-12-22

Public brawls have become more common all over China recently. The close-up scenes of fights in Hong Kong crime and kung fu films and Hollywood blockbusters have come to reality.

During a recent sports competition in Southwest China's Chongqing, a basketball race with a slogan of "friendship first and competition second" gradually became a mass of boxing and kicking. The sports game instantly changed into a huge brawl.
The trigger was simple – Opposing players had some body contacts and it started small squabbles.

Then, when a player in one team was replaced, someone in the cheering squad of the other team shouted "Beat them!" Several men immediately responded by ganging up to attack people on the other team. A violent farce thus unfolded, and "fi ghting first, competition second" became the order of the day.

Chongqing is not the only place for abusive violence.

In June at a club in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, two waiters were both in love with their superior – a beautiful girl. The two decided to solve the confl ict through the old means of dueling. The fight was close, but there was no clear winner. Both thus called on friends and swore to defeat the other.

Recently in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, a netizen kindly saved a cat beaten byhis neighbor. But he was attacked bymore than 20 men called in by his neighbor. They also enter his apartment and destroy it.

Last week in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, three guys having a late supper were beaten up by a gang in a case of mistaken identity.

In Xuancheng, Anhui Province, some people were attacked by thugs hired by bus companies for taking taxis instead of the bus. When each member is a potential victim of a public brawl and everyone feels insecure, doesn't society need to reflect on this issue?

"Don't hit or swear at people"and "Don't o. end and harm others" are basic rules clearly written in every elementary school textbooks. "Man's nature at birth is good" and "Peacefulness is prized" – these maxims can be uttered by three-year-old boys without hesitation.

China has been a courteous country since ancient times. People in the traditional society stressed helping others, and wrote that "The highest good is like water, both essential and adaptable."

They believed that kindness was the essence of the spiritual world, and a golden chain linking the entire society. Goodness and righteousness were constantly stretched. However, in today's China, these rules have become empty slogans.

Many people believe that since the beginning of reforming and openingup, living standards have greatly improved, but people have lost their sincerity and goodness.

During the wave of commercialization, some Chinese have become excessively obsessed with materialism, and lost the poised and calm nature of traditional Chinese society.

In this era, characterized by rapidly falling traditional values and money worship, largely caused by Westernization, many people hustle around, thoughtless of each other.

On subways, in restaurants, and beside the roads, we can see red-faced people quarreling with each other over trivial issues. Brawls can break out any time for any reason.

In this society, when the traditional culture is fading and a new and complete set of values haven't been established, how can one expect people to learn friendship, goodness, tolerance, understanding, cooperation and a sense of care for others?

These things we teach our children are actually ignored and even satirized in the world of adults. The cultural atmosphere of goodness hasn't been fostered in this society yet.

Therefore, once a conflict begins, people think about quarreling and fighting, rather than friendly and peaceful solutions. More dreadfully, such a tendency of violence has even spread into campus, leaving scars on both the bodies and hearts of young students.

These incidents have sounded the alarm that China should not wait any more to compensate for the lack of a real education in goodness.

Mark Twain once said, "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

Sadly, such a language is currently facing a severe crisis in China.