It comes to the second day of the summer camp. That afternoon, Mr. Zang Yingnian, an internationally well-known social activist, gave a lecture on smoking cessation. The lecture, prompted by questions from students., included topics such as the obstructions on health caused by smoking, effective ways to give up smoking, and the discrepancies between the tobacco companies’ slogan, smoking is harmful for one’s health, and their actual deeds. Also during his lecture, Mr. Zang shared his experience of quitting smoking. Meanwhile, team members completed questionnaires which aimed at learning about undergraduates’ opinions on Corporation Social Responsibility.
At the climax of his lecture, Mr. Zang made a conclusion explaining the concept of social responsibility and the requirements of fulfilling it. First, the young generation needs to have the willingness, ability and opportunity. More importantly is the ability to innovate. Young people should comprehend the change of the world, which is the resource and power behind innovation. Mr. Zang thought people of different social status should hold different responsibilities. For example, the intelligentsia had the obligation to fulfill social responsibility because their ability to get necessary resources, and to thoroughly explore social problems. .
This lecture concluded with the thought-provoking words of Mr. Zang. What impressed us most was his explanation of harmonious society. Mr. Zang considered harmonious society in Chinese eyes, as “the golden mean”raised by Mencius. In other words, the idea that harmony brings prosperity. r However, Europeans understand it in another way. They think that the more people there are helping strangers without requiring return, the more harmonious society is. By this definition, current China has not become a harmonious society yet.
Chinese shows its indifference in many aspects. Taking smoking cessation as an example, anti-smoking campaigns have faced many obstacles in China. Externally there is a lack of government support. Internally we see Chinese egoism as an obstacle. The Chinese need a purpose which is beneficial to them, in order to take action. When seeing others smoke, we can oftentimes choose to ignore it unless those smokers in some way affect us. Many cannot find a reason to persuade a stranger not to smoke, because it is none of our business. This evidence exactly proves our egoism.
Campers had their own opinions on this topic. They thought in regard to anti-smoking campaigns, hard power, such as laws and regulations, do not lie in their essence, but that soft power, people’s faith in their ability to quit smoking, was extremely critical. When solving problems, we need to resolve the issue fundamentally, not to act superficially and to make up the records. We need to harbor love for the whole community and its members, rather than doing things just for our own benefits. |
