Humane lessons from Korean tragedy

A close neighbor is better than a kinsman afar. Unfortunately, this Chinese adage, which people have believed in for centuries, was forgotten by some irrational Chinese netizens after a South Korean ferry met with an accident on Wednesday. The multi-story ferry carrying 477 people, a majority of them high school students, on an overnight trip to Jejudo Island, sank off South Korea’s southern coast, leaving about 290 people missing — possibly trapped inside the vessel.

Chinese have always believed that a tragedy is a tragedy. Following that spirit, many Chinese netizens hope that the missing passengers will be rescued alive.

But some netizens, setting aside all human values, have asked: Why didn’t the almighty “Korean wave demigods” Kim Soo-hyun and Lee Min-ho rush to save the passengers? Worse, some others have said South Korea deserved it — in a response to a South Korean TV anchor’s irresponsible remarks on last July’s Asiana Airlines crash-landing in San Francisco (in which two Chinese passengers died) and South Korea’s “grabbing” of China’s cultural heritages. Such remarks have sparked a heated online debate, with many netizens criticizing their irresponsible counterparts for their cold-blooded comments.

How could the thoughtless netizens forget that ever since Flight MH370 went missing on March 8, the attention of people across China has been focused on the search operations, which have been joined by many countries? Don’t the people who have posted the reckless comments online know how the families of the 154 Chinese on board the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines plane have been feeling?

Just a week ago, a bus carrying 47 people, most of them primary school students, on a spring outing overturned killing eight students in Chengmai county, Hainan province. People across the country are still mourning the victims, with many urging the education authorities to tighten safety rules during spring outings. The South Korean ferry, too, was carrying 324 students and 14 school staff on an excursion.

All people have the same heart, goes another Chinese adage. People, irrespective of whether they are Chinese or South Korean, know the value of kinship and feel the same pain when they lose a dear one. So, some Chinese netizens’ insensitive “none of my business” attitude is a shame and deserves to be condemned.

Only people who know each other quarrel. You cannot possibly quarrel with someone you don’t know. The same applies to countries, especially neighboring countries, and there is nothing wrong with it.