CHINESE HIT-AND-RUN TODDLER DIES

CHINESE TODDLER DIES AFTER DOUBLE
HIT-AND-RUN THAT SPARKED OUTRAGE

(Reuters) - A two-year-old Chinese girl run over by two different vehicles and ignored by passersby died on Friday, state media said, in a case which ignited public uproar over what some called a moral numbness seeping through society.  Both drivers who ran over the girl have been arrested, but Internet users have decried the apathy of the people who left her for dead, after graphic footage from a security camera of the incident went viral.  The surveillance video from the October 13 hit-and-run, aired by a television station, shows the girl run over by a van, which drives off leaving her to bleed on a narrow street.  More than a dozen people over the next seven minutes walk or drive past the girl on bicycles and she is run over by a second truck.  A woman then pulls the girl to the side of the street before her mother, a migrant worker, rushes into the frame.

 Wang Yue died of brain failure more than a week after the accident in Foshan in the far southern province of Guangdong.   China’s economic boom and the growing disparity between the rich and poor have made changing social values a contentious topic, with some lamenting what they see as materialism replacing morals.  “Now people have become so selfish. So many people walked by but no one helped her because they didn’t want to get into trouble,” said Yang Yaying, a 21-year-old Beijing resident.  Wang’s death quickly became the most talked about topic on China’s popular Twitter-like microblog service, Sina’s Weibo.  The provincial Communist Party chief, Wang Yang, urged “searching reflection” on the incident.  “Take active and effective steps to raise the moral standards of the entire society,” he told a meeting of province officials.

Chinese toddler Yue Yue who was ignored by 18 passers-by after she was the victim of a hit-and-run has died from her injuries.  Closed-circuit television footage of 18 people walking past her body without helping her has ignited outrage both inside China and worldwide.  It is possible that she could have survived the initial accident if one of the early passers-by had come to her aid. The world needs more compassionate attitude towards others, and cultivate Vaishnavas’ feelings, who are “para dukha dukhī” and suffer when they see the sufferings of others.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us to balance our lives; to understand that we are eternal spirit souls while honoring material nature and cultivating feelings of compassion for the body, mind and soul of ourselves and others. A genuine spiritualist accepts the suffering of others as his or her own and finds joy in other people’s happiness. A genuine spiritualist feels compassion for all living beings-humans as well as animals and other species- because he realizes that everyone is a sacred part of God, who is the father and mother of all living entities. Thus a spiritualist extends love and compassion to all, without egoistic, selfish conditions. … We should all try to do our part however little or big it may be. A compassionate heart also extends to those apparently fortunate people with wealth, health and success, who forgetful of their eternal nature are being consumed by time, on the road to death.

Śrīla Radhanath Swami Mahārāja :
“Nature - Love It Or Fear It?”
http://radhanathswami.com/events/nature-love-it-or-fear-it
http://www.radhanath-swami.net/  -  http://radhanathswami.info/