Yesterday I happened to see a news report online. The title itself was shocking enough to catch my eyes: The mother-in-law carrying her grandson killed herself and the 11-month child by jumping down from the sixth floor. The case is still being investigated, but many neighbors said, when asked by journalists, that there had been disagreements and quarrels between the mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law.

As an outsider, maybe we cannot judge who should undertake the responsibility for the tragedy. Maybe we can never find a magical solution to the longstanding conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. What was unusual about this case is that two lives were lost, which is extremely rare.

I will never understand why the mother-in-law should carry her grandson when she tried to commit suicide. It was unwise enough to solve the problem by killing yourself, and if you stopped at that, we might have some sympathy for you. However, you will never be forgiven for the cruel act of taking an 11 month child to die with you. I don’t know what was going on in your mind at that critical moment. Neither do I know what kind of life you had been leading. The 11 month child, your own grandson, was innocent by whatever standards. How could you do such an inhumane act? You were not only irresponsible for your own life but lacked the basic respect for life, especially others’ life.

This incident set me thinking a lot. I just can’t help wondering when we Chinese begin to fully realize how precious life is. As we all know, life is invaluable and thus priceless. We each can only have one life. Once lost, it can never be retrieved. I was saddened each time I heard of this kind of tragedies in the news coverage. Again and again I was shocked by their rash decisions to end their lives in such an irresponsible manner.

Life can be hard or unfair, but being alive itself is a kind of happiness. It’s not easy to bring up a child, and this child bears a lot of expectations of the parents, all the people around and the nation as well. To some degree, your life doesn’t belong to you only, but all the people who have contributed to your rearing and education. Human life is actually very fragile like a delicate vase. Nobody knows for sure when it might break into pieces, for there’re so many uncertainties. So let’s respect the right of life, and cherish life right now!