OPINION> Commentary
Runner Fan has right to survive
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-25 07:45

"Runner Fan", the controversial Sichuan teacher who lost his job because he ran out of the classroom leaving his students behind during the May 12 quake, should be given a chance to survive, says an article in the Changjiang Daily. The following is an excerpt:

It is reported Fan Meizhong has been re-employed by a privately-run educational institute in Beijing. It is good that he has found a new job. After all, he has a big family to support. He might have made a mistake that seemed to many unforgivable, but his aged mother and his young children should not be made to suffer. Allowing Fan to have a new job is the basic moral care that a civilized society can offer him. This has nothing to do with his virtue, but with his right to survive.

However, many people argue that he does not deserve to have such a teaching job. Such an attitude seems too radical. To err is human. Forgiving those who have made mistakes might be the only way to realize the harmony of the soul, even the harmony of society.

Some may argue that he had to pay a price for his wrong deed. But it may also be said if Fan is denied a chance to survive, we are doing something immoral in the name of morality.

(China Daily 12/25/2008 page8)