Letters and Blogs

Save us from siren and noise pollution

Yesterday, I heard a police car siren on the streets of our city again. But no accident had taken place or nobody had fallen ill and needed to be rushed to hospital. In fact, there was no emergency of any kind. The piercing sound came from a fast-moving police jeep, piloting the motorcade of some VIP. The siren kept hammering people's eardrum because the policemen could see nothing except the officials they were escorting.

Police cars with siren blaring have become a common sight on the country's streets in recent years. I wonder why police have to cause noise pollution, and why people have accepted it as normal.

I don't want to get into a debate on whether senior officials deserve this kind of protection, but the authorities should be aware that it paints a negative image of policemen.

A society is judged by its politeness and civic sense. It seems policemen, who are there to serve the public, don't measure up to these social qualities. The key reason why they behave the way they do is the bureaucratic behavior of our administration. It has become deep-rooted in our society.

If we are to reach the goal of a harmonious society, we have to give up such bureaucratic behaviors.

David Yiu

Via e-mail

Teach kids the real value of money

Last weekend, I saw a mother and her son in a bank. The woman was trying to help the 10-year-old kid open a new account, and deposited 300,000 yuan under his name so he could "practice" money management skills. That came to me as a big surprise.

As would have been expected, the little boy didn't understand the worth of that huge amount, moved around his mother and looked anxious to leave the bank.

The casual attitude toward money both of the mother and the son reminded me of my own experience several years ago. As a teenaged girl, I once decided to donate some money for children living in poor areas. I managed to donate 100 yuan, but that cost me my pocket money for two months. Fortunately, the kid won't have go through an experience similar to mine.

Three hundred thousand yuan is a huge amount. One may need to work for years to collect it. The boy is lucky to have been born into an affluent family, and his parents' wealth can fetch him all the comforts of life.

But I doubt whether it is a good idea to put such a huge amount at the disposal of a kid who doesn't have even the basic concept of money. He may regard the money as a toy and not be able to truly appreciate the effort that went into earning it.

I think that rich parents should teach their offspring the value of money before making them "practice" money management skills.

Liang

Via e-mail

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(China Daily 05/22/2009 page9)