Morality is a two-way affair

A young man who didn't offer his seat to a woman carrying her child on a bus in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, was slapped by her husband, sparking a heated online debate. The youth's action (or non-action) did go against social morality, but did he deserve to be slapped? says an article in Beijing Times. Excerpts:

Morality is all about consciousness. It needs friendly communication and mutual understanding for a person to fulfill his/her social and moral obligations. It also needs a patient reminder from bus conductors and fellow passengers, or even an encouraging look or a "thank you", to make a person yield his/her seat to another.

But resorting to violence to teach somebody a moral "lesson" for not yielding a seat to another passenger is a breach of law.

It is important to draw up a code of conduct to make people fulfill their social and moral obligations. Refusing to yield a seat to a fellow passenger in need is a moral flaw that can be used as a negative example to educate people.

But no one has the right to assume the moral high ground and use violence to teach people to behave in the right way.

Morality doesn't give an individual the right to judge others. Egoism or egotism will not only hurt good Samaritans' feelings, but also pollute the moral environment.

Some recent incidents on buses have raised several questions. Faced with a complicated social reality and moral choices, our duty is to devise more benign moral rules. And we have to provide a more civilized environment for people's moral development.

(China Daily 08/29/2012 page9)