Westerners greet each other by asking "What's the weather like today?" while Chinese people greet each other by asking, “Have you had your meal?” Throughout China’s long history, food was always a big concern for the Chinese people, talking about the weather is so empty and isn't worth mentioning.
However, for today’s Chinese people, perhaps "what's the weather like today" has become a topic of concern and discussion.
Because of the haze that has surrounded us, no matter whether you are in the north or east of China, even if it is known as the "paradise on earth" of Suzhou and Hangzhou, from time to time there is fog. Fog is not only a local problem, roughly it covers more than 10 provinces and hundreds of millions of people.
A lot of science has proven that the harmful substances in the haze can cause cancer and shorten humans’ lifespan, especially children and the elderly. This is the “eyes” of truth shown in variety of media and social networking sites.
Simply said, the "smog" is to kill and the fog will kill not the only one person but "a group of people" which will turn into "a large group of people" and then into hundreds of thousands of people, including you, me, and the people around you and me.
It is fair to say that the haze is one of the era’s most challenging crisis.
However, instead of being tense and defensive, we have become too easygoing to the point that there is a numbness that comes after fear. We talk about it like a joke. Like, “Anyway, the haze is coming. It will come and go with the wind and it no relationship with me.”
This is especially prominent in public comments: haze come, what to do, experts recommend the following, how not to supervise the environmental protection department, how not to create new environmental protection system, how not to participate in environmental protection and what is environmental protection? How do you cook tremella lotus seed soup best, or what fruit clears lungs the most, and these are the topics transferred on social media the most. This is Chinese traditional character, regardless the public, but of home.
On the other hand, facing the fog haze, people also put on a happy attitude. Ordinary had a "funny" sort of attitude make smog into jokes and even some official are also like this. In April 2014, Wang Anshun, the mayor of Beijing, signed a "written pledge to fulfill a military order." However, in January of this year, he said it was "a joke." Perhaps it can be forgiven for ordinary people but can no one expect him to care about the more than 2,000 ordinary people in Beijing?
After all, this is a big public topic and it involves hundreds & thousands of lives. The common people want officials to come out from "the ostrich," which is not to fear, not to escape or shuffle, but be serious and responsible through their governance that will solve the problem step by step. The voice revealed on one WeChat public comments, on December 1, "Mayor, we do not want your head," "we don't care who heads what we need is a good breath."
And, the author thought that firstly we should have a rational attitude instead of a "demonized" attitude.
There’s the root of haze, it’s nothing but the past few decades’ economy development at the cost of natural and environmental development. Chinese people think that money, material wealth, and industrialization can solve it all but now, we have come to a new stage and it is lucky for China and its offspring.
And the fog issue is not unprecedented. In the last century, London has suffered heavy fog, while today's London is one of the world's ten biggest urban environmental protection activists. At the 2012 Olympics, the world could see their environmental wisdom.
The analysis of decades of the history of China and hundreds of years of human history, the development of humanity, and detours must learn to experience and return to human nature. Then it will experience metamorphosis and become updated.
However, this process is to face, to reflect, to change, and rebirth and that is the spirit of what we want the most, especially in the face of fog problem.
In fact, everyone knows the fog haze is bad but only a few people are really serious about it. "There are now if not tomorrow” is our biggest enemy against the haze.
This is a kind of "ostrich" attitude.
Mentioned above, the generation of fog is related to the economic model. Like a lot of feelings, in fact, the economic model is each person's way to make money. So how did everyone make money in the past few decades? Most of the atmosphere is a mercenary individual utilitarianism. Want to earn more money? Pork with water, milk added melamine, Fried dough sticks with waste oil. It doesn’t matter because I earn more money. Or plant sewage directly into the river, exhaust gas emission in the sky, all sorts of can't convert industrial waste also everywhere.
The social environment is broken and each person's heart becomes corrupted. Soon, no one will help the falling old man, professor will become "a beast," hidden rules will shock us, and now all kinds of "strange” things are considered normal.
Where does the haze come from? It is not from outside, but from our inner evil. It is each person's evil behavior that gave birth to the "fog."
We cannot cover our SINS. The only way out is to solve it, not be afraid, not escape, not shuffle, and to be responsible for yourself and others in the future.
To tell the truth, the release of the Pandora's box has been done through us. The release of the monster in a bottle is our doing and we cannot blame others as we have a copy of everyone.
Now, in the face of it, our attitude is "collective numbness." Compared to pioneer Lu Xun’s tough love, in the past 100 years, Chinese people's spiritual attitude didn't progress much. This is especially sad.
Only when people have collective awakening, positive our SINS, dispel our numbness, repentance and awakening, will we find the real way out. As the core of the Christian doctrine of salvation tells us, how to start to save? God had given His grace. We only know the sin and with a determination to solve crimes to taste the grace to change.
Today, in the face of fog, so do we. Thus, we, our children, our society and the nation will have hope.
