When Hungry, a Cheat Feels as Bad as a Professor

When Hungry, a Cheat Feels as Bad as a Professor

Xue Mo

People in this era have no idea what love is. They seem to be indifferent to anything around them. How miserable! Yesterday, I went to a university and one student there asked me, “Master Xue Mo, what should I do if a beggar asked me for some money? You know, I want to give him some out of sympathy, but he might be a professional cheat, who gets rich by taking advantage of my kindness. Master, what do you think of this phenomenon?” I told him a story I’d heard of. I’ve told it several times, but it makes a good point. So, I still want to share it with you here.

Once, some writers were invited to a big city and I was one of them. When I got there, I found all local newspapers were hyping a piece of news. It said there was a woman who disguised herself as being pregnant, begging for money around. It warned citizens to beware of that woman. Then, a follow-up report wrote: some reporters with a sense of righteousness asked the police to take that woman to the hospital for a pregnancy test. It turned out that she had been pregnant for eight months.        Again, the newspapers continued their story: the woman has swindled us out of money in the street even at the cost of getting pregnant. The moment I saw the news, I wondered what on earth these people are thinking about. No matter what kind of woman she is, now she’s been pregnant for eight months. When she staggers towards you and reaches out her hand for a coin, hoping simply to give some more nutrition to her unborn baby, how can you refuse her? What’s so big about giving her a coin or two? Even if she’s a cheat, has she really cheated you? I asked the college student yesterday, “Have you ever thought why this pregnant woman chose to cheat us? Doesn’t she want to be a writer or a professor?” Of course, she does. She even wishes to be a governmental employee. But she can’t. Why? She probably didn’t have the chance to receive good education when she was young.

Liangzhou has a population of more than 2 million people. My hometown Wuwei is a famous historical and cultural city. It used to be an important town on the Silk Road and was well-known at home and abroad for its splendid culture. Among other things, the Bronze Galloping Horse, the symbol of China’s national tourism, was excavated in Wuwei. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, this region has provided millions of war horses for the central plains of China. The ancient legend has it that “horses from Liangzhou are galloping across the world.” Today, a top university in China such as Fudan reserves only one or two places for students from this region. Only the best among the best can go to Fudan University. The cut-off scores of Fudan University for students from this region are several hundred scores higher than those for Shanghai students. The same is true of Peking University. Can you imagine under what circumstances our students study and live? I’ll show you. There is a school in Minqin County. Many students there don’t go home for lunch because their homes are far from the school and there is a desert in between. At noon, they eat steamed bun they brought from home in the morning. Steamed bun is also their supper. They study in the classroom until ten p.m. and then go home in the darkness. They know that’s the only chance for them to change their fate. This possibility makes them work a thousand times harder than students in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing. If they don’t get high marks, they can’t go to prestigious universities. Why am I taking the trouble to say all this? Because that pregnant woman is very likely to be one of those who haven’t got the chance to receive good education. Indeed, every beggar you meet may be one of them.

You see, the resources of our country are relatively limited. When the country pours large resources into big cities, small cities in the west only get a small share. The more big cities get, the less will be left for the west. The greater possibility of success people of the east have, the less likely that children of the west will succeed. What would happen if they don’t receive good education? When grown up, they will probably lose dignity, because they don’t know what dignity is. When a person is tormented by hunger, there is no room for dignity. Dignity appears only when one’s stomach is full. As the old saying goes, “wealth enables men to be courteous.” It is a luxury for the hungry to talk about dignity.

Therefore, I told that student that, if ten beggars asked me for money and only one were really starving, I would give each some coins in case I missed the one really in need. I would do this because I don’t want the hungry beggar to remain hungry. I wouldn’t care whether he is a cheat or not. There are cheats in my hometown too. Once, my son told me that several men said they wanted to borrow some money from me and they promised to pay me back soon. I told my son to give them the money. He asked if they would return the money as they promised. My answer was negative. But I knew they were really in need. They turned to me because they had no money and couldn’t get any from other people. I am a writer. In their eyes, a writer is a noble person. As long as they could get some food from elsewhere to relieve their hunger, they wouldn’t think of cheating me. The fact that they turned to me indicates that their hunger had grown intolerable. So, I gave them the money. I know, when hungry, a cheat feels as bad as a professor.

Our age has degraded to such a degree that some media reports call on citizens to help curb begging by stopping giving money to beggars. Let’s look at the US instead. In some of the western cities, I doubt if people will say this to Bill Gates, “Hey, stop your philanthropic work. You have encouraged laziness and dependence. Because of your charity, people are not going to work.” No, this won’t happen in Western society. In their society, those in need can lead a decent life on welfare alone or with the help of charitable assistance, whether or not they are lazybones or cheats, or whether or not they are in good health. Some people would complain, “Look at him! He has a sound body, but he’s pestering me for money.” I would say it’s a blessing that they are still healthy when they are reduced to beggars. Why shouldn’t we bless them? Wouldn’t it be too miserable that a person is both a beggar and in poor health?

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骗子和教授饿肚子的滋味是一样的

雪漠

这个时代因为大家都不知道爱，所以显得非常冷漠。冷漠到什么地步？冷漠到昨天我去一个大学的时候，一个孩子问我：“雪漠老师，当我们面对一个乞丐的时候，我应该怎么办？我想给他钱吧，他很可能是一个骗子，很可能是一个职业的乞丐。他会利用我给他的这一份善良，去得到很多财富。雪漠老师你如何看待这种状况？”我给他讲了一个我曾遇到的故事，这个故事我已经讲过几遍了，但是这个故事我仍然觉得非常的好，仍然想把这个故事分享给大家。

有一次，某个大城市邀请了一些作家。我作为被邀请的作家去了那儿。第一天去的时候，他们所有的报纸都在炒作一个新闻。上面说，有一个女人伪装成孕妇，挺着大肚子，要骗人民的钱，希望大家不要上当。第二条新闻就是一些有正义感的记者，请了派出所的人把孕妇带到了医院去检查，然后发现这个孕妇已经怀孕八个月了。于是，报纸上这样报道：这个女人不惜让自己变成孕妇来骗我们的钱。当时我就问这个世界上有这样的逻辑吗？无论她是怎样的人，但一个怀着八个月身孕的母亲，她挺着大肚子步履蹒跚地向你伸出手，希望你给她一个硬币，给肚子里的孩子增加一点营养的时候，我们给她一个硬币又有什么了不起？就算她骗了我的钱。但她真的骗了我的钱么？昨天我就这样问这个大学里面的孩子，这个孕妇为什么要骗我们大家的钱呢？她难道不想当一个作家吗？她难道不想当一个教授吗？她当然更想当一个国家公务员。但是她当不了。为什么？因为她可能小的时候，没有机会受到那么好的教育。

凉州有200多万人口。我的家乡武威市是历史文化名城，是丝绸之路的重镇。曾名扬天下，产生过非常辉煌的文化，国家旅游标志铜奔马就是出土在我的家乡。从东汉唐朝开始，那块土地就为我们中原大地提供了数以百万计的战马。史称“凉州大马，横行天下”今天，像复旦这样的大学，每年最多给我们那块土地上的学生一、二个入学名额。那块土地上最好最好的孩子才有可能进入复旦大学。他们进入复旦大学的录取分数线，要高于上海的同学几百分以上。他们进北京大学的分数线要高于北京的孩子几百分之上。他们是什么样的教育环境呢？我告诉大家，民勤有所学校，很多孩子因为离家很远，因为中间隔着沙漠，他们中午不能回家吃饭，只吃点自己带的馒头，晚上还是吃点馒头，然后上晚自习到十点多才回家。因为，这是他们改变命运的唯一的机会。就是这样一种机会，他们要比上海、北京等大城市的孩子，要付出千百倍的努力。取不到那么高的分数就进不了名牌大学。我为什么说这种话呢？因为那个孕妇可能就是这其中的一个。每一个向你乞讨的人，可能就是这群没有得到良好教育的人之一。

大家想一想，一个国家的资源是相对固定的。当国家把大量的投资投向大城市的时候，西部的那些小城只会得到其中的一小点。国家对大城市的投入越多，西部很可能得到的越少。那么，我们东部人成功可能性越高，西部就可能有更多的孩子得不到这种成功。当他们受不到很好教育的时候会怎么办？长大的时候，他也许可能没有了尊严。因为他不知道什么是尊严。当一个人饿着肚子的时候谈不到尊严的。尊严是在填饱肚子之后才可能出现的，“仓廪实而知礼义”。吃不饱肚子的人谈尊严太奢侈了。

所以，我告诉那个孩子，如果十个人向我伸手，其中九个是骗子，只有一个是饿着肚子的人，我为了不错过这个饿着肚子的人，我会同时给十个人硬币。仅仅是为了不要让他们中间真正饿肚子的人饿肚子。即使他是一个骗子。我的家乡也曾有几个骗子，他们通过我的儿子问我借钱，然后说过一段时间还钱给我。我让我的儿子给他们。儿子问我他们会不会还钱？我说不会。但是他们真的是饿着肚子。当他饿着肚子，在别处骗不到钱的时候，他才来向我伸手。我是一个作家，在他们眼中作家是非常的崇高。他们只要能够从别处得到一些温饱的食物，就不会来骗我。当他来骗我的时候，已经是他饿得受不了的时候了，所以我叫儿子给他们钱。因为一个骗子饿肚子和一个教授饿肚子的滋味是一样。

这个时代已经到了什么地步呢？甚至一些媒体上也呼吁大家不要再助长这种乞讨之风，不要给这些乞丐钱。我们换一个视角想一下，在美国西方的一些城市里，会不会有一些人说，比尔•盖茨你再不要搞慈善了，你的慈善助长了懒惰的风气，你的慈善基金、你的慈善行为会让许许多多人不再去工作了。西方没有这样的文化，不管他是不是懒惰，那个民族、那块土地都会给他一份能够体面地活着的救济金和一种慈善的保障。而不是去看他是不是身体健康，是不是骗子。有人说他身体那么健康却向我乞讨，我说这是应该祝福他的。他乞讨的时候身体还依然健康，我们应该祝福他。我们不要让一个乞讨的人变得不健康，那不是更悲惨了吗？

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