Witnessing the Unthinkable

I cannot let go of what I saw tonight. Outside of our apartment complex is a long row of dilapidated housing that is part of old Shanghai. Initially, we thought it would be great to have the best of both worlds- western housing among local people- but tonight I have never wanted to be further away from this place.

As we walked down the street, we heard terrifying cries come from within one of the shops, and then a man dragging and hitting a child (I would say around 3-4 years old). Within seconds, he had the child out of his pants, in the freezing air, and it became apparent that he was being “punished” for wetting his pants. This man continues to hit the child as he is pulling off his pants- the hits seem to get harder and harder as the boy’s pant-less body braces for each blow. It seems as if he is trying to get the boy to pee on a building between each hit he gives to the child. Finally, a woman (I believe it was the child’s mother) pushes the man aside. The man, not embarrassed in the slightest, but actually seeming more angry that he was interrupted, walks away. The mother turns the boy to the intersection of the road (he is obviously still shaken) and he pees a small trickle from his tiny penis. The mother then whips up his pants, becomes stern, and begins to yell at the child once more. She shakes him a bit, continues to talk to him in this horrible tone, and takes him away.

I stand, frozen, in-shock, and helpless. A’kos wants to step in, but chooses not to when he sees the woman intervene. What absolutely amazed me were 2 things: one, how paralyzing a situation like this can be, and two, the only people shocked by this behavior were A’kos and myself. Almost everyone around us continued what they were doing with complete disregard for the abuse we were witnessing.

There is something bigger going on here- from what I have seen, there is less value for the collective lives of people in this country. Everyday I come close to being hit by a car or a scooter, I constantly get elbowed or pushed in line, and there is a complete lack of respect for other people’s space. My ears take constant assault- I have never heard so much horn honking, disgusting spitting, and aggressive yelling within inches of my ears, that it has caused me to rethink all of my assumptions of this culture. But aside from my personal discomfort, what I saw tonight reached a new level. I know that I cannot be sheltered from what is happening outside of the western world, nor do I want to be. I crave to understand other cultures and to know a world different to what I have always known. Yet, there is a point when it is no longer a cultural issue, but a human rights issue. I firmly believe that no human should be physically assaulted by another human, whether one thinks they have the marital or parental rights to do so. I am fully aware of the many people in the world that do not agree with this concept, and for them, I hope the same physical assault is given to them, based on proportion of body size.

I must reiterate- what I saw tonight was not a spanking, but a full beating- pure hate in the man’s eyes, to the point where all of the child’s energy went from crying to trying to withstand the blows he was receiving. No child should have to endure this. No human should ever be allowed to do this to another.