Disaster is a mirror to test humanity.
Zhao Zhijiang
"In that moment of life-and-death decision, only for my daughter would I consider sacrificing myself. For others, even my mother, I wouldn't care in such a situation." Recently, after the earthquake, Fan Meizhong, a teacher at a middle school in Sichuan who graduated from Peking University, made this "confession" on a forum, which caused an uproar. Many netizens believed that it was instinctive for teachers to run first during an earthquake and there was nothing wrong with that. However, Fan Meizhong's "self-satisfied" confession was considered unwise. (May 25, New Express)
"That Moment the Earth Shook," was the title of Fan Meizhong's post. In that earth-shaking moment, some stood up and demonstrated nobility, while others fled and remained in their mediocrity. Without a doubt, Fan Meizhong belongs to the latter group.
Fan Meizhong's actions may not be considered a mistake. After all, expecting everyone to become fearless heroes is clearly unrealistic. The reason why Fan Meizhong is difficult for people to accept is not because he chose mediocrity, but rather because of his excessive interpretation of mediocrity afterward and his disdain for nobility — if others did it, it was their voluntary choice, and there was nothing noble about it! If you didn't do it, it was your freedom, and you weren't wrong! Putting others before oneself and sacrifice are choices, but they aren't virtues! From a cost-benefit perspective, running away saves one person at a time!
It should be noted that when others made the choice to sacrifice, they might not have had time to consider whether their actions were virtuous. They just reacted instinctively, much like Fan Meizhong's choice to escape. These two different choices reflect two different value systems and completely opposite understandings of the importance of personal and others' lives. Based on the belief that life is above everything, in the eyes of those who sacrificed, other people's lives are as precious as their own, so they are worth defending at any cost. In Fan Meizhong's view, his own life is clearly far more valuable than others'. As long as he can ensure his own safety, all other lives, including even his mother's, are dispensable. According to Fan Meizhong's explanation, when aftershocks continued and dangers were everywhere, all rescue teams going in might have been wrong — they might not only fail to save anyone, but even risk more lives. Simple human emotions and traditional virtues become meaningless before Fan Meizhong's cold personal perspective, and all this is simply because Fan Meizhong himself chose to escape. What a terrifying kind of "clarity" this is, and what an unbearable sadness?
In moments of life-and-death decisions, just as those who flee don't consider being criticized as mediocre afterward, those who sacrifice themselves also don't think about being praised as noble. Nobility and virtue are merely evaluations made by people afterward. Since they are noble and virtuous, obviously not everyone can practice them. But through such praise and promotion, even if one person can gain beneficial inspiration from it, it still seems extremely meritorious. Fan Meizhong's excuses and shifting of responsibility are obviously just a personal point of view, but in life-and-death situations, if even one person gets misled, it seems unforgivable. You can choose mediocrity, but please don't denigrate nobility, especially since Fan Meizhong is a "soul engineer" of humanity.
As a practitioner of innovative educational concepts, Fan Meizhong once saw himself as a victim of traditional education. However, looking at this incident alone, Fan Meizhong is clearly a failure of school education. After so many years of education, how could Fan Meizhong still not understand the truth that every life is equally important? In critical moments, how could he still not realize that saving others doesn't necessarily mean sacrificing oneself? Taking his own escape as an example, why didn't he even leave a word of warning for the students? After deep reflection, why hasn't he learned to "aspire to what he cannot reach," but instead keeps beautifying his less-than-honorable behavior? When Fan Meizhong bitterly complains about being a victim of traditional education, the principle upheld by traditional education, "One becomes a teacher when he has high learning, and a model when he has integrity," finds no embodiment in him. When Fan Meizhong spares no effort in innovating educational methods, without the humanistic core of "those who love others will always be loved in return," how much success can he really achieve?