75.about freedom and mistakes

回复Colby College的申请补充文，就名言作文。
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“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”

Recently, Xiao Zhijun, a migrant worker in Beijing from the poor Central China has become the hottest topic on the internet. His refusal to sign on the operation permission left the hospital unable to do anything to save his ill and pregnant wife. He insisted that as long as his wife’s ailment was treated, she could give birth to her boy naturally, yet the result was the lost of 2 lives. Almost every blog has a latest comment labeled with his name overnight. People rebuked him as ignorant, cruel, shortsighted, insane, and even murderous.

Yet, with these blames, what will become of him? On the internet where every one has the right of free speech, most showed disgust for his “fatuity”. Only a few people seem to calm down and reflect on the full story. A question has long been settled in my mind. How will “freedom” influence those who have made a mistake if freedom actually alienates them?

Facing the media, Xiao said he has once heard from others that an operation costs 5,000 RMB. When asked if he had money at that time, he said his money is still in the employer’s pocket. He and his wife married because he saved her and gave his money to her when she was about to jump into the river for not getting her pay. In the hospital a patient was so eager for his signature that she said, “if you sign, I will give you 10,000!” Xiao later said he never thought it was true. In addition, he said women in his hometown all give birth to their kids by themselves.

We see far more than merely ignorance or “murderous intention” of a farmer. Arrears of wage for migrant workers, rooted impression of expensive Chinese hospitals, deceit and consequent distrust in each other…these were all what led to the tragedy. Yet the majority chose to blame. Group censure on the poor uneducated farmer has made him start cursing back on us and the hospital. He has been isolated by the majority, treated like this man is unhuman.

Just in the afternoon I talked with our Chinese teacher about released criminals. Currently, most of them are not able to earn a new life and later commit crimes again because the society was too afraid to give them any chances. My teacher said one of his friends as a factory manager began recruiting released criminals and he called his business friends to join too. Numerous lives were saved. In another story Zheng Chengzhen, a 60-year-old man was praised by the society for accommodating over 400 young homeless children, but in his early years he was an absolute beggar and a cheat. Every mistake has a cause, and every mistake has a turning effect. With enough tolerance, many will be saved. If the “liberal” new China cannot allow for a mistake, freedom is no longer freedom, but lost just like in the “BRAVE NEW WORLD”.

Today, Dec 8th, is the 13th anniversary of Kelamayi Fire in Xinjiang, China. During the fire, a teacher’s shout “leaders go first” let over 300 kids die waiting in the fire for “leaders” to escape. It was a huge mistake, almost unforgivable, but the press chose to first block the news. In China, people easily alienate the government and turn enthusiastic. Power’s overturn by unsatisfied people has repeated for over 20 centuries. Immediate news can readily provoke the majority of people. Months later, the “leaders” were punished and the block was canceled. Today most of us can calmly commemorate the victims and reflect on the fire, but we still see people cursing on the government on online forums. If a community never tolerates a mistake, freedom to them may be a fuse, from which a fire of people would start.