Originally posted by ShutterBug:
[b]BUS DRIVER BASHING: TWO VIEWS
Lesson from Chinese fable?
By Tiah Kiang Choon
May 16, 2007
I REMEMBER a fable from ancient China from a library book I read in
my younger days.
It came to mind after I read that report on the junior college
student who beat up a bus driver.
The fable was about this boy from a poor village in China who, at a
young age, started beating up people and animals.
When villagers complained to his mother, what she did was to smile
at the boy and told him not to do it again.
In his teens, he started harassing young girls and breaking into
houses to steal. When he was caught, all his mother did was to
apologise to others on his behalf.
One day, he stole jewels that were meant for the emperor. It was a
capital offence, so he was to be executed.
At the execution, he told his mother he wanted to suckle at her
breast one last time, but proceeded to bite off her nipple
instead.
The man screamed: 'I am in this state today, because you never
disciplined me at all. You never made me pay for my mistakes. Now I
am paying for them, and so shall you!'
With that, he was executed.
I remember I was rather grossed-out at the tale, but I never forgot
its lesson.
And it was why I was so upset when I read about the boy in school
uniform who reportedly punched a bus driver when he and his girl
friend were stopped from getting off the public bus.
They had earlier refused to let the driver confiscate the girl's
Ez-link card, which was suspected to be stolen or lost.
My initial reaction was one of embarrassment when I saw which
school the boy is from.
I was from Chinese High School which, together with Hwa Chong
Junior College, is now Hwa Chong Institution - the boy's
school.
Then I started getting annoyed when I read that the boy called his
father crying when he realised the police had been called.
FORGIVENESS
If the boy felt 'man enough' to 'defend' his girlfriend and beat up
someone over it, why wasn't he 'man enough' to face the
consequences of what he had done?
When the bus driver drove into the terminal, the boy's father was
waiting there to apologise, and to the amazement of many, the
father knelt in front of the bus driver to seek forgiveness for his
son.
At this part of the report, I gave up and flung the papers down in
disgust.
I am not sure whose backbone was missing there - the father's or
the son's.
Is there a lesson from this incident staring us in the face?
What was the father thinking? Did the father think he was helping
his son?
What was the boy thinking as he saw his father kneeling there,
giving up his self-respect, begging on his behalf?
As I discussed the issue with my parents, my father said flatly to
me: 'If you ever do that, don't expect me to kneel for you. You do
something wrong, you face up to it.'
I'm not going to argue with him.
The behaviour of the father disturbed me, as I wondered about
parents like him who would fall to their knees for their children's
bad behaviour.
We need to send out a message that no matter who you are, which
school you are from, who your parents are and what they do, you
alone have to face the consequences of your wrongdoing.
But it is tragic that we are thrown back to feudal times, where
such sacrifice of dignity is needed so that someone else may get
off for wrongdoing.
The writer, 22, is a second-year political science
undergraduate.
[/b]
You will be surprise what parent will do to protect their
child.
