the question of value

It's probably not right, but i want to cackle a little at the recent debate on "Running Fan", the teacher who fled his classroom, leaving his students behind on the day of the 512 earthquake in Sichuan.

Running Fan said, "in the fleeting moment of life and death, i could only consider sacrificing myself for my daughter, I would not care about other people, even if it were my mother..."
and then he was bombarded for not upholding the Chinese values as an educator should, amidst the many heroic stories that got to the media, stories celebrating self-sacrificing quake victims who gave no second thought to saving the helpless children.

Is Running Fan immoral? Or simply being honest? To me, his much defensive comment is unsurprising and not new at all. Certainly there are tons of people out there who would behave exactly the same way and say exactly the same words he did.

What's interesting and worth the debate, is in questioning whether the Chinese value of self-sacrifice still holds strong with the country's people, or with the Chinese race.

I'm reminded of a past friend of mine when i was studying in Canada. One of his weird mantras: 人不为己，天诛地灭。or simply put, every man for himself. He's not an unkind man, but he sticks by his views. Although I said nothing to him then, I couldn't bring myself to agreeing with his perspective. And I wonder if it's because I'm a true Chinese at heart, and he's not. He had almost the same family background and upbringing as I had -- Traditional parents who were devout buddhists, family's not filthy rich but able to live comfortably and send their children to study abroad. So why the difference? Is he born that way or is he just being practical and honest? Or, is he just trying to be different?

There are extremely kind people and there are those who live only for themselves. And then there are those out there like me, who will only know when the time comes for us to prove ourselves and the values we so loudly advocate.

What is so important to the economy nowadays - the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility masked under the desire to better brand a corporate image - places considerable doubt on the real value of goodwill and self-sacrifice.

But while society gets shaped by increasing economic wealth, at least we know that millions of Chinese out there are still fighting to uphold the values they have so strongly believed in since the days of Confucius.