My husband bought a large and heavy piece of furniture at COSTCO. Pushing the shopping cart from the store to the parking lot was only a short distance of 30 meters, and it took less than 10 minutes from exiting the store to loading the item into the car. In this limited time and space, he received help from strangers twice, which left him, a man who had just settled in Canada from China, deeply moved. 51.CA
The first instance was when he was pushing the cart over a speed bump. With one hand on the cart and the other holding the furniture, it was difficult to manage both. At that moment, a passerby lent a hand to push the cart, allowing my husband to successfully get over this "hurdle"; the second instance was when loading the car. After opening the trunk and folding down the back seat, he struggled to lift the furniture into the car. To avoid damaging the leather of the back seat, he had to get inside the car to lift the furniture in, which was challenging due to the limited space. Just as he was struggling, another passerby offered assistance, and the furniture was finally in place.
Experiences like this, having encountered many and heard many, naturally led to the conclusion that Canada is a society where people are kind-hearted. Unlike the indecision in China over whether to perform acts of kindness, we here also engage in the trend of boldly expressing goodwill to others. This change can be seen in my husband's driving attitude. In China, he was often forced to "cut in by a centimeter" and had to frequently "signal left and turn right"; here, yielding to pedestrians and proactively leaving space for vehicles signaling to merge into traffic has become a habit. My husband humorously remarked, "Here, I have a strong impulse to do good deeds."
Why does this phenomenon of "oranges grown in the south are sweet, while those grown in the north are bitter" occur? To analyze the reasons behind the current phenomenon in China where many people "dare not help," we can look at the case of Peng Yu in Nanjing, which is a prime example. There are several reasons. Firstly, there is the issue of judicial fairness. From what we can see, this is a wrongful conviction; Peng Yu, who acted out of goodwill, was ordered to pay a significant amount in compensation.
In Canada, such situations are almost unheard of. Canadian law presumes the suspect is innocent until proven guilty, and to convict someone, evidence of the crime must be provided. This, of course, leads to some individuals who are almost universally recognized as criminals being unable to be convicted due to lack of evidence, but it greatly reduces the occurrence of wrongful convictions. Another crucial point is that Canadians view testifying for an event as their duty. If the Peng Yu case had occurred in Canada, the court would publicly solicit witness evidence, and it is highly likely that individuals who witnessed the incident would come forward to testify.
The intention of the authorities in the Peng Yu case may have been to maintain "harmony" by avoiding conflict, but they did not anticipate the significant disruption and disharmony it would cause in society. In this regard, Mr. Xi's statement that "so-called harmony is judicial fairness" is indeed incisive and hits the nail on the head.
Secondly, there is the state of society and the hearts of the people. The Cultural Revolution caused a thorough destruction in China, akin to a "complete change of heaven and earth." Peng Yu, as a do-gooder, found that the elderly lady not only did not express gratitude but instead repaid kindness with resentment; how could he bear it? The core of Chinese culture, as taught by Confucianism, emphasizes "self-cultivation" and "reverence," with teachings such as "there are deities three feet above your head" and "a drop of kindness should be repaid with a fountain of gratitude"; Buddhism emphasizes cause and effect, holding "do good and avoid evil" as a guiding principle. The contrast between the past and present is indeed poignant.
Lastly, there is the social security system. I remember when cars first became popular in China, if an accident occurred on the road, both parties would be furious and argue endlessly, even resorting to physical confrontation; now, when similar incidents occur, the parties involved mostly remain calm and handle the situation rationally. This change is primarily due to the fact that current car owners have insurance. Returning to the Peng Yu case, if the elderly lady had access to a comprehensive social security system, even if she had sustained serious injuries, her life afterward would not have been problematic, and she might not have made unfounded accusations.
