Just be Speechless and Go Home?

On a rare clear Sunday afternoon, we walked along the lake trail we discovered last time and saw flocks of mallards resting on tree stumps in the water. Still wondering if we should bring some bread next time, the ducks fluttered and jumped to the shore, and it turned out that a young mother was handing out food on the shore. Her daughter watched from a stroller as her mother fed the ducks. The sunlight filtering through the mottled shadows of the trees made for perhaps the most serene scene in life.

We hurried past and saw that the girl’s neck was bent, and her mother helped her up from time to time, but soon her head was lowered again. But there was no sadness on the mother’s face, and she happily scattered the food in her hands. The ducks, waddling and reaching for food, seem to cure everything.

I am reminded of the brother and sister Shi Tiesheng once wrote about, also in a beautiful park on a sunny Sunday. The young girl was bullied because of her mental deficiency, and her big brother rode desperately to protect her, and then took her home without saying a word. The author said, almost in despair, “Being speechless is right. If God had given this little girl both the beautiful and the retarded, only being speechless and going home would be right.”

This statement may be impeccable from a realistic point of view, but If the disadvantaged groups are treated unfairly and they can only hold their breath and conclude that “there is no justice when it comes to fate,” then we may forever live in an unjust world.