The Death of Xiao Yueyue
Can We Call Back our Souls?
Reflections by Songhe Wang
Art by Vivian Dong
When we are young, we stop and visit with others. We do not have the coldness disease.
Not long ago, Dr. Zhihe Wang wrote an article in JJB entitled 中国式道德疗法 GO. In the article he said that people can have two kinds of illnesses: one is physical; the other is mental. The mental one is harder to cure in some ways. He suggested that one of the best cures for the latter is to establish good relations with people around, including family members, neighbors and friends so that your mind will be at balance and peace.
Here what I would like to add: We human beings have come down with a third illness; perhaps the worst, because it calls the very nature and quality of our humanity into question: that is conscience or soul disease. And one of the symptoms of this illness is coldness to each other. Because of the coldness in our blood, our society can’t function humanly; thus, some lives are taken too early. The story of the two-year-old girl named Xiao Yueyue is a case in point.
Redently Xiao Yueyue was hit by two cars while she was playing in the street. Eighteen people walked by her and didn’t do anything. So she left this world like a flower that would never blossom. You can learn more about this story in another article on JJB by Vivian Dong. GO.
As a human being and a member of the community -- mainland China -- that Xiao Yueyue once belonged to, her death brought great shame to me, for her death made me realize how cold and spiritually sick we are. Without conscience and soul a human being is like a walking skeleton.
Here what I would like to add: We human beings have come down with a third illness; perhaps the worst, because it calls the very nature and quality of our humanity into question: that is conscience or soul disease. And one of the symptoms of this illness is coldness to each other. Because of the coldness in our blood, our society can’t function humanly; thus, some lives are taken too early. The story of the two-year-old girl named Xiao Yueyue is a case in point.
Redently Xiao Yueyue was hit by two cars while she was playing in the street. Eighteen people walked by her and didn’t do anything. So she left this world like a flower that would never blossom. You can learn more about this story in another article on JJB by Vivian Dong. GO.
As a human being and a member of the community -- mainland China -- that Xiao Yueyue once belonged to, her death brought great shame to me, for her death made me realize how cold and spiritually sick we are. Without conscience and soul a human being is like a walking skeleton.
When we are older, we have caught the coldness disease. We don't stop for others.
How can we cure this “Coldness Disease”; how can we assure that a similar event won’t happen again?
I think, first, each of us should ask:”Do we still have a conscience or soul?”. If the answer is no, then “What has taken it away?”
I have asked some of my friends this question. They think that these days people pay so much attention to material things, such as big houses and bank accounts, expensive cars and fancy clothes, that they forget who they are, and they forget to nourish their conscience or soul with sincere respect and love for others, especially those in weak positions in society. They don’t know that coldness can be contagious: that a similar thing can happen to their child, that they can share the same fate.
And they forget that even if something like this will not happen to them, that each person has dignity. Each person deserves respect. Like the street cleaner who pulled Yueyue from the street, we must act to help others without regard for consequences. This is a core teaching of the many world religions. We love others, not because we will be rewarded for that love, but because other people suffer, too, and deserve our respect.
In other words, we are not mere bystanders of such an event. On the contrary; we will be its victims in the near future if we don’t do something to stop the coldness. Indeed we are victims already, because in not loving them…in walking around as if we were isolated cubes of ice…we are not really living. We are only surviving. If we go on like this, our souls will desert us completely, and the coldness disease will spread and become incurable. Our society will become a frozen desert, a tundra.
So it is time for us to call back our souls. And I think one of the best medicines for this problem is sincere respect and love for each other. Only when we live in a world full of respect and love, can we have confidence to overcome deadly social illnesses, can we gain balance and peace inwardly, can we enjoy longevity. Otherwise, many innocent lives will be cut short, like Xiao Yueyue.
How can we find this medicine? If it is not in our medicine chest at home, where can we buy it? Can we borrow some from our friends? From our neighbors? If they don’t have it either, where can it be purchased? Can we go to the street cleaner? Might she lend us some? Vivian Dong says she had the cleanest heart in the city. Jesus said something like this, too. He said that in order to find love we must turn to the humble people, the poorer people, for so often their hearts possess a purity – and a capacity for spontaneous love – that our hearts lack. One thing is clear. We must find our teachers and let them be our pharmacists. We must learn from them. They will not be driving in shiny cars. They will not be in the big houses. They will be in the smaller places of life, where even if the weather is cold, we find a warm heart.
I think, first, each of us should ask:”Do we still have a conscience or soul?”. If the answer is no, then “What has taken it away?”
I have asked some of my friends this question. They think that these days people pay so much attention to material things, such as big houses and bank accounts, expensive cars and fancy clothes, that they forget who they are, and they forget to nourish their conscience or soul with sincere respect and love for others, especially those in weak positions in society. They don’t know that coldness can be contagious: that a similar thing can happen to their child, that they can share the same fate.
And they forget that even if something like this will not happen to them, that each person has dignity. Each person deserves respect. Like the street cleaner who pulled Yueyue from the street, we must act to help others without regard for consequences. This is a core teaching of the many world religions. We love others, not because we will be rewarded for that love, but because other people suffer, too, and deserve our respect.
In other words, we are not mere bystanders of such an event. On the contrary; we will be its victims in the near future if we don’t do something to stop the coldness. Indeed we are victims already, because in not loving them…in walking around as if we were isolated cubes of ice…we are not really living. We are only surviving. If we go on like this, our souls will desert us completely, and the coldness disease will spread and become incurable. Our society will become a frozen desert, a tundra.
So it is time for us to call back our souls. And I think one of the best medicines for this problem is sincere respect and love for each other. Only when we live in a world full of respect and love, can we have confidence to overcome deadly social illnesses, can we gain balance and peace inwardly, can we enjoy longevity. Otherwise, many innocent lives will be cut short, like Xiao Yueyue.
How can we find this medicine? If it is not in our medicine chest at home, where can we buy it? Can we borrow some from our friends? From our neighbors? If they don’t have it either, where can it be purchased? Can we go to the street cleaner? Might she lend us some? Vivian Dong says she had the cleanest heart in the city. Jesus said something like this, too. He said that in order to find love we must turn to the humble people, the poorer people, for so often their hearts possess a purity – and a capacity for spontaneous love – that our hearts lack. One thing is clear. We must find our teachers and let them be our pharmacists. We must learn from them. They will not be driving in shiny cars. They will not be in the big houses. They will be in the smaller places of life, where even if the weather is cold, we find a warm heart.
