"At the moment of life and death, I would only consider sacrificing myself for my daughter. For others, even my mother, I wouldn't care in such a situation." Recently, this "confession" by Fan Meizhong, a teacher at a middle school in Sichuan who graduated from Peking University, has caused a huge stir on the Tianya forum after the earthquake. Many netizens believe that it's instinctual for teachers to run first during an earthquake, which is not wrong. However, Fan Meizhong's self-confession with an air of smugness is indeed unwise.
The viewpoint of netizen "Wuyue Sanren" represents the majority opinion: What Mr. Fan did cannot be said to be wrong, and explaining his actions is also fine. But by saying it out loud and being so smug about it, even though the bottom line of freedom of speech restrains many people's impulse to criticize him, it's still an exceptionally foolish thing.
Event Replay: The Earthquake Happened, the Teacher Ran First
On May 22, Fan Meizhong wrote an article on the Tianya forum titled "That Moment of Earth-shaking - A Personal Account of the '5ยท12' Wenchuan Earthquake," detailing everything he did during the earthquake and his subsequent psychological journey.
According to the description, Fan Meizhong was teaching Chinese at Guangya School in Dujiangyan, Sichuan when the desks shook slightly. Based on some experience with earthquakes, Fan thought it was a minor one, so he told the students not to panic. However, before he could finish speaking, the teaching building began to shake violently.