Yueyue and Christians

It did take a while for me to rethink over some of the issues on those three events. I could not settle down long enough to clear my mind thinking about them. Let me tackle them one at a time.

First one was about Yueyue, a Chinese toddler who was run over by a truck and was left for a long time with no one helping and then run over again by another truck. She eventually died. An old lady came to her aid only to be accused later by others that she helped only for money and fame. Josh Tapper of Toronto Star tried to give some backgrounds to help understand in an article.

The Globe and Mail columnist, Gary Mason, wrote about those cases in which we saw many in North America doing the same as those bystanders in China. Of course, the point Mr. Mason made was that we have enough of our own incidences and are as guilty in similar circumstances.

Indeed, Jesus even told the parable of Good Samaritan (Luke 10:28-38) to make the point about who the good neighbour was.

My struggle was not whether the help should have been given or not. The accident—yes, it was an accident and not something that was planned by anyone—ended in a tragic way. Finger pointing aside, self-reflections aside, also my personal view of right and wrong aside, I have been thinking about how we do not seem to miss the little girl in our collective mea culpa and in our attempt to reveal sins of others in order to point accusatory fingers away from us. Let me explain.

The closed circuit camera video that outraged so many galvanized China and beyond and many people wrote, reported and analyized in much the same way Mr. Tapper and Mr. Mason have done. Yes, some have gone further in judging and condemning those who did not help. Yet in all these reports, blogs and writings Yueyue appeared as an act in drama through which people raised their voices. Reading through all of them did not let us come to know her at all. She was a victim at the most and soon became anonymous again.

After she died, the spot light moved on; everyone including those who vented turned back to their daily tasks. She has disappeared back into the anonymity from which she appeared ever so briefly. That is, she no longer existed in the same way she did not exist before the accident took her life.

For a brief moment when she appeared before us until she breathed last, we could have been her neighbour. We could have loved her. We could have made her a precious little girl. Instead, sadly she became a cause celebre for those who were outraged at bystanders for some; a reason to reflect for those who were analytical on human indifferences and/or fears; and an evidence of this cruel world for those who were victims of principalities and powers.

I have been struggling on how we could have been ones who would bring God’s love and presence leading to life as she faced death. I think about how I could have meaningfully loved Yueyue as her neighbour sharing pains, suffering and be there in spirit as she breathed last. I also wonder about ways I as a Christian could have loved her parents who were in deep grief and guilt.