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Text: Ling'er said
Editor|Ling'er said
On a summer afternoon, the wild and dazzling sun bakes the world very hot. Near the Jiexin Garden of Liguo Jixiang Garden Community, Hongxing West Road, Jining City, a sixty-year-old aunt is sitting in the shade of a tree to take a break, holding a bundle of brooms in both hands, and dustpans and other cleaning tools are scattered beside her.
She was wearing a red vest of a sanitation worker printed with the words "urban beautician", and her clothes were tightly attached to her body due to the penetration of sweat, revealing a sense of energy.
Auntie's face was covered with ravines, and under the exposure of the sun, her whole face was tanned to a dark reddish-brown. When I opened my eyes, fine beads of sweat poured out of my forehead and ran down my cheeks. The aunt squinted, gasping for breath in small gulps, and could not hide her tired expression even in the shade of the tree.
At this moment, a middle-aged man wearing the same sanitation uniform walked briskly towards the aunt. The two seemed to have an argument over the content of the work, and the aunt's deep voice began to rise, and her words were mixed with dialects, sounding very excited. As the tone of the two sides became more and more intense, the aunt suddenly stood up, raised her hand and pointed at the other party and glared angrily, her fists were clenched tightly, and the whole person was trembling.
In a tense atmosphere, the aunt stumbled suddenly, leaned back as soon as her legs were weak, and fell heavily to the ground. She lay on her side on the pavement, her eyes closed, her face even more pale, and her hair disheveled. The aunt began to wail in a low voice, and her crying was heartbreaking, and it made people's hearts break when they heard it:
"My old bones... What a life... Every day until this age... It's too hard..."
Just when everyone was at a loss, a passer-by had already taken out his mobile phone and had a full view of this scene. Soon, this video went viral on the Internet, with the title "An aunt in Jining, Shandong fainted from heat stroke and was severely reprimanded by the leader and fainted", which instantly aroused the indignation and condemnation of netizens.
"The sanitation workers are so pitiful, they work in the scorching heat every day, but the wages are so low! How can the urban management department treat them like this?" Even if I had a heat stroke, I was even beaten down by the leader, this is too much, I feel distressed when I look at it!" This aunt looks at least sixty or seventy years old, but it's miserable, it's too boring for people in the city to do this kind of work at an age..."
There was a lot of pain on the Internet. Everyone fiercely bombarded and abused the practices of the Jining urban management department, questioning whether there were serious problems with their authority and management. Many netizens lamented the difficult situation of the sanitation workers and called for more understanding and respect.
The matter was in a uproar, and the Jining City Administration finally responded to the matter. After investigation, they denied the information spread on the Internet and restored the true course of the incident:
It turned out that the aunt's name was Zhang Shuzhen, 68 years old this year, who lived near the community and suffered from various geriatric diseases such as high blood pressure. Despite her advanced age, she still works for a sanitation company, earning only about 1,600 yuan a month.
In the morning of the same day, Zhang Shuzhen cleaned up the road section of the community as usual. It was too hot, so she rested in the shade of a tree. At this time, Master Wang, the company's sanitation captain, came over and felt that the road where Zhang Shuzhen was located was still relatively dirty, so he asked her to continue cleaning immediately.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Shuzhen was very dissatisfied with Master Wang's work assignment. She thinks that the workload is too much, and her old bones are already beyond her strength. As a result, the two sides had a fierce argument and quarrel over the issue of work arrangement, and Zhang Shuzhen was suddenly agitated, and then fainted to the ground.
The urban management department said that the aunt was not in a coma because of the stern "reprimand" of the leader, but because she was too emotional when arguing with others, and she suffered from geriatric diseases such as high blood pressure, which led to the sudden onset of other illnesses and became unconscious. The wailing cry in the video is often a common expression of the elderly when they are emotional.
After the incident, Master Wang immediately called the emergency number, and at the same time rushed Zhang Shuzhen's family to the scene. After a hospital examination, Zhang Shuzhen was fine, and her family also said that she only had an "old problem" due to long-term fatigue and too much excitement. At present, she has returned home to rest and is in stable condition.
At the root of this, Zhang Shuzhen's situation is not unique. According to some data, the average age of sanitation workers in Jining is over 55 years old, and many are even over 60 years old. The reason for this is mainly due to the poor working environment and low income of the sanitation industry, and young people are generally reluctant to engage in it. The main force of this group is the elderly, who come from modest families and have no other livelihood skills.
It can be said that this has become a common dilemma in modern urban management, full of helplessness. How do you strike a balance between urban sanitation and caring for sanitation workers? Such a problem not only tests the wisdom of urban fine management, but also requires each of us to empathize with empathy.
It is true that urban environmental hygiene is a matter of appearance and public health. If there is too much filth and debris on the roads and public areas, it will inevitably lead to the whole city facing greater security hazards and infectious diseases. For both public and private, keeping the city clean does have its necessity and rigid requirements.
But at the same time, it is not difficult for us to find that the huge labor to achieve urban cleanliness is often borne by the most basic sanitation workers. They have to work in the scorching heat and cold every day, carrying heavy loads, cumbersome operations, and enduring the cold eyes or contempt of passers-by. The income is much lower than that of manual labor of the same intensity, and most of them can barely make ends meet.
Take Zhang Shuzhen as an example, at the age of 68, suffering from a variety of geriatric diseases, she should be the "mascot" of her family, living a free and easy old age, but she has to work under the scorching sun.
This job, which has a monthly salary of only 1,600 yuan, is undoubtedly a helpless move for her to maintain her livelihood. Does the family have any other sources of income to depend on? Is my wife alive or not? Do you also share the burden of supporting the next generation? All this can be imagined by our imagination. This old woman in her twilight years was originally in her old age, but she still had to work hard and sweat like an ox and a horse, and the hardships of her fate can be seen from this.
Of course, Zhang Shuzhen is not an isolated case. In Jining, across the country and around the world, a similar situation can undoubtedly be seen everywhere. Sanitation workers often represent the fate of the most grassroots workers in the process of urban modernization.
They are one of the least valued and respected professions, and the worst treated. However, without their dedication, a clean and comfortable city life would not be possible.
In the face of this situation, should we reflect on it? Is there a practice in urban management that pursues efficiency goals too much and ignores humanistic care? Is there an unequal distribution between the low income and social status of sanitation workers and the dividends of economic development? Is the traditional virtue of respecting the elders and teachers in our society gradually lost?
If each of us can have more empathy and more humanistic care, we may be able to bring more understanding, respect and warmth to this group.
Take the case of Zhang Shuzhen as an example, if it was not an indifferent bystander who was present at that time, but more enthusiastic citizens with empathy hearts; If the sanitation captain could communicate and deal with the matter in a more humane way, instead of taking a strong attitude and criticizing, the outcome of the matter may be very different. Anything is possible, but the key is how much love does each of us have?
Overall, the incident illustrates some of the problems in modern urban management and public perception. On the surface, it is just a small quarrel, but in fact, it implies concern and cold thoughts for a special group. As a member of the public, we want our cities to become cleaner and better, but we should also think about who is paying for them.
What kind of respect and humanity do they deserve? Only by striking a balance between narrow self-interest and fraternity can our cities be the cornerstone of long-term peace and stability.
Let us actively pay attention to this group, speak for them, and create a humanistic atmosphere of more understanding and tolerance among people, so that everyone, regardless of status, rich or poor, can live with dignity and happiness. Only in this way can our cities truly radiate the light of civilization.