Chapter 101 dredging and cane

Under the tall building where I live, there is a remnant of the moat. This moat was dredged 15 years ago, and cement walls were built on both sides of the moat, and a green belt formed by two rows of trees and two rows of shrubs was created. A view of Beijing.This moat not only constitutes the actual background of my daily life, but also often enters my novels, where it becomes the singing and crying space of my artistic imagination.My novellas "Cinderella by the Moat" and "Old Migrant Worker" with the theme of the experience of migrant workers from other places in Beijing all have the shadow of this moat.

Recently, the moat below us was first drained of water, and then a few tents were set up by the river, some migrant workers set up camp, and then many trucks and forklifts came and went to remove the silt from the bottom of the river. In order to clean up the pollution, the new soil brought in will be placed in the flattened river bed, and the damaged bank wall will also be repaired.The project of dredging the moat is non-stop day and night. Although the noise of trucks and forklifts is loud in the middle of the night, which affects the sleep of people in the building, and even affects the work of a "night owl" like me, the neighbors, my family and us I myself have no complaints.Two weeks have passed, the river has been leveled, the tents have been dismantled, and the migrant workers have been evacuated, just waiting to release the clear water and watch the blue waves, which is really refreshing!

However, before the water came, I looked down from the window of my house and couldn’t help being surprised—the migrant workers who dismantled the tents and retreated regarded them as useless things and all kinds of rubbish, including a dog that “completed its historical mission.” "The red plastic buckets were all thrown into the river channel repaired by them!I ran downstairs to the river and saw a migrant worker who seemed to have not yet left. I asked him, "How can we throw garbage into the river after dredging it so hard?" He said nonchalantly: " The water is going to be released soon, and once the water is flooded, you won’t be able to see anything.” At that time, I did have an urge to jump into the river channel to pick up the dirt, but there were so many discarded objects, and the distribution was more than ten to twenty meters long. , Without tools and containers, it is simply impossible to solve the problem.Heartbroken, I returned home with a sigh, determined to write an article, more or less, to take some responsibility for it.

I carefully studied the psychology of those migrant workers who took out the rubbish, and felt that they might not have deliberately destroyed or profaned anything.This reminds me of the cleaners on the Yangtze River when I took a boat tour in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River a few years ago, cleaning the deck very seriously. The facial expressions and body movements are all examples of dedication and hard work, but she The final move is to sweep all the garbage, most of which are single-use plastic lunch boxes, into the river.The migrant workers who threw rubbish into the riverbed they dredged were probably the same as the cleaners on the riverboat. They didn't realize how unreasonable their actions were.

I therefore decided to title my article "Dredging Ideas."Yes, the cleaners on the riverboat should first realize that keeping the Yangtze River clean is far more important than keeping the deck of a riverboat clean; the migrant workers who dredged the moat downstairs should not just do it to earn money. They should understand the meaning of environmental protection if they don’t pay some labor fees to do those jobs!Of course, it can also be traced to the leaders of the cleaners on the riverboat and the managers of the moat dredging project. They should first establish a general awareness of environmental protection, and they should dredge up good environmental protection concepts for the personnel employed by their leaders.

At this point in the article, a friend just came to visit. When I mentioned this matter, he was quite disapproving of my thoughts.He said, concepts and concepts, you are always superstitious about concepts. Taking environmental protection as an example, dredging concepts alone will not solve the problem, at least "the water in the distance cannot quench the thirst of the near." Concepts often require the continuous efforts of several generations; moreover, some people now knowingly commit crimes, such as the renovation project of Tiananmen Square, where there were people prying bricks to destroy the road before it was completed; another example is the renovation project of Tongzi River in the Forbidden City, The newly built fence will take off the cover for you; the tulip exhibition in Zhongshan Park, you have to step on the flowers to take "commemorative photos"... Many of these people are not ignorant of the principles and rules of environmental protection and public morality. , but he just doesn't care.I do my own way!I have seen all the examples he cited in recent newspapers, and I have witnessed many of them myself.Take the moat downstairs as an example, it has been half full now, and the red plastic bucket and some other rubbish have indeed been covered up, but I just saw a stylishly dressed, described man walking across the bridge. The lady who painted her eyebrows and lips did not hesitate to throw the soft packaging box after drinking into the moat that had just been dredged in a "cool" way. If she was stopped and asked if she had the concept of environmental protection, she might not be ignorant ...

How can this be done?I asked my friend for advice, and he asked me, you forgot, what we heard about rattan whips in Singapore?I was dumbfounded for a moment.In environmental protection - and not only environmental protection - and other public welfare matters, Singapore has strict laws to protect them. Violators may not only be fined and jailed, but also "served" by whipping.The torture whip was made of a local wild vine, which was already very tough and strong, and it had to be soaked in horse urine for many days.The Indian prison guard who executed the torture was tall and strong, and when he whipped the offender's buttocks, his skin and flesh were often bruised and he fainted on the spot.But if the court sentence is three whips, the prisoner will be sent to a well-equipped hospital for serious medical treatment. Once the buttocks are healed, he will be taken to the punishment place to be whipped again... Don't say that the whipped person will live for the rest of his life In this world, who dare not touch the laws again, even ordinary people who have heard of this "cane whip is ruthless", who would dare to be presumptuous by Meng Lang?As a result, Singapore has become a country of gardens, where the grass is green and the flowers are red, the water is clear and the air is refreshing. Don’t say that no one dares to throw waste into the rivers, lakes, streams and seas, but just throw things into the trash can, and turn around and walk away almost never happens.A few years ago, there was an American boy who graffitied other people's cars in Singapore. The Singapore court sentenced him to caning. Clinton interceded, but he still failed to save the American boy from blowing his ass.In order to further optimize the environment, Singapore even legislated to prohibit the sale and consumption of chewing gum, so some Westerners, especially Americans, ridiculed Singapore as a "beautiful prison".Singapore is a very Westernized country with a majority of the Chinese population, and it has fully joined the international cycle economically. Although I have been there more than once, I have a vivid impression, but I dare not say that I really understand it. .Is it true that in places where the ethnic Chinese live together, dredging concepts must go hand in hand with caning cane punishment, or even because the cane cane deterrence is more operable, it can better regulate the behavior of ordinary people?

The friend is gone, the article needs to be finished, and the heart is very heavy.How can words reach the rattan whip?My heart is not extinguished, but I still have to pray: Chinese people, if you want to be beautiful instead of "prison", please cherish and love yourself!This kind of self-cherishing and self-love cannot only be reflected in making yourself and your family rich and comfortable, and it is not necessarily measured by those concepts that are grand and loud and often lack operability.In my opinion, we might as well start by loving the specific trees, flowers and plants, large and small waters around us, and those specific and subtle facilities in our shared space!