OPINION> Commentary
The value of life
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-08 07:27

One suicide and three attempted ones that left two seriously injured, all by middle school students in Shanghai last week, cast a gloom over an otherwise happy beginning of a new semester there.

The tragedies took place even as the Ministry of Education and China Central Television jointly organized the first lesson on TV about personal safety for students last Monday, the first day of the new semester.

Such tragedies suggest that this first lesson is more than necessary. Not only should kids be taught how to protect themselves in times of emergency, they should also be made aware of the value of life.

One student was prevented from plunging to his death from his school building. He said he just could not accept the fact of not being able to go up to a higher grade with his classmates, and thus considered life meaningless. Another 12-year-old boy who jumped off a building to his death was said to have been a good student, and no one could say why he chose to end his life.

Obviously, their inner worlds faced serious complications. But when they chose to take their own lives, their irresponsible choice was clearly the result of a lack of adequate understanding of the value of life.

The ancient sage Confucius stressed that one must protect even one's hair and skin from being hurt as a mark of filial piety. What he meant was that the sense of responsibility for one's parents was important as far as the value of life was concerned.

When we talk about the aspiration of making contributions to our motherland, we are referring to values that constitute the nobler part of the meaning of life.

And when idealism is held in reverence, it actually suggests that the value of life should be far beyond the concern for personal interest.

Undoubtedly, those kids who chose to take their own lives were obsessed only with their own frustrations that they could not overcome. If they had a little concern for their parents, for their parents' expectations of them or for their own potential contributions to this world in the future, they would not have gone that far.

Setbacks or sufferings are supposed to help kids develop their sense of responsibility and thus help them better understand the value of life.

Too much attention and care from their parents and grandparents have made most of the only children self-centered. Many have taken it for granted that they deserve to be taken care of by others in whatever way they want. They expect to have their problems solved by their parents or someone else.

With such a false sense of entitlement, they fail to grasp the tough reality of life. They suffer from the illusion that their life should be nothing but plain sailing. Whenever the illusion is broken, they can hardly muster enough courage to face life as it is.

So a hotline is indeed necessary to help those kids who find it hard to accept the tough reality of life. But parents and teachers also need to take lessons from the tragedies. They need to know that life should not always be sugar-coated for kids; they should be made to taste the bitter side too as early as possible.

(China Daily 09/08/2008 page4)