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The words “it is not mine,” certainly don’t sound like a noteworthy remark. But this is what a migrant worker said when he was interviewed about the 100,000 yuan ($14,700) that his son picked from among a pile of waste. His son thought the banknotes were fake and burned some of them. He gave the more than 95,000 yuan left to the police.
In sharp contrast, local police in Beijing’s suburban Liangxiang, Fangshan district, where the migrant worker stays, have received numerous phone calls from people claiming ownership of the money. None of them have turned out to be the real owner.
Xu Cheng, the migrant worker from Central China’s Henan province, said that he had never seen so much money in his life. “I would be a liar if I said that such a big sum of money did not appeal to me,” Xu said. “With it, I would be able to build a two-story house for my two sons in my hometown. I could do a lot of things, but it is not mine.”
Yes, “it is not mine” is such a simple sentence. But behind it is the basic principle that a person with morals must observe. Those who want to claim the money as their own fail to abide by this principle. So do officials who have showed no scruples in abusing their power for illegal gains.
Xu has received little education and earned little more than 1,000 yuan a month by transporting construction materials for those who decorate their homes. With such a meager income, his family of six is living a life from hand to mouth. He is in the worst need of money to provide his wife and four children with a better and more decent life. Yet, he knows where the basic line is, at least on the question of money.
Many of those who covet the money may be more educated than Xu and may not be in such need of money as Xu is. But they don’t know where the line is.
This is the issue that should provide food for thought.
