“It’s not the elderly who can’t be helped

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“It’s not the elderly who can’t be helped. In a country with a 5,000-year-old civilization and a tradition of propriety that dates back 3,000 years, the question of whether to help those who have fallen becomes an issue – a truly astonishing sight. “It isn’t the elderly who cannot be helped, but rather the imbalance in the rule of law, which fails to enforce justice and promote goodness in a timely manner. Just like the \"Should we help or not\" case in Huainan, with its repeated reversals and continuous inquiries even after the police released their investigation findings, this is sufficient to prove that what people question is not the character of the elderly in general, but rather the fairness of the current legal system. Against the backdrop of the long-established principle that one should be considered innocent until proven guilty, it is astonishing that the Huainan police, based on inconclusive evidence, \"presumed\" the sequence of events surrounding the collision and held the college student who helped the victim primarily responsible. The public outcry triggered by this incident has been significant, yet the local police have not provided a detailed chain of evidence or an official explanation. Citing Yuan Dachen, the university student involved, from his Weibo post, it was learned that the police’s on-the-spot explanation was: “We collected evidence from various sources; I was the closest to the elderly person. Although he was sick and staggered while walking, it’s impossible for him to have fallen on his own – there must have been an external force at play; in other words, it must have been my rear wheel that came into contact with the elderly person…” Such hasty “reasoning” to determine a case with such significant social impact left even the party involved unconvinced, and Yuan Dachen has requested a review of the case. Bicycles are wider at the front and narrower at the back; a handlebar that’s nearly a meter wide can get through, while a rear wheel just a few centimeters wide can knock down an elderly person – so how much must this person be swaying? ! ——Based on common sense, such collisions are extremely rare, and strict physical evidence should be used to make a determination; otherwise, it will inevitably lead to another trust crisis resulting from a disregard for the public’s intelligence. Also, what is the basis for the police assigning the elderly a “secondary responsibility”? ——Was it an elderly person who illegally entered the lane? In that case, the violator should bear full responsibility! Is even staggering while walking considered a fault? Won’t those elderly people with mobility issues who go out on the streets all bear a \"original sin\"? The witness testimonies in this case are contradictory; some say there was a collision while others claim there wasn’t, and it’s likely that the scene, which happened in an instant, couldn’t be seen clearly. Under such circumstances, it’s probably not advisable to rely on eyewitness accounts any longer; instead, solid physical evidence should be collected. Of course, this is quite difficult: there are no core surveillance footage, and no signs of bruises or injuries were found after the person was taken to the hospital... But despite the difficulties, every effort must be made to investigate. With modern technology available, it’s possible to conduct forensic examinations on the pants and bicycle; if not a single thread in the pants is broken yet the person still falls, that seems to go against basic principles of mechanics. Don’t say it’s not worth it – small matters have now turned into big issues, and they determine the choices people will make in the future. Whether it’s \"everyone should help those in need\" or \"cherish life and stay away from the elderly\" depends on a single decision. How many vulnerable elders might this ruling send to hell? Most members of the public believe that when testimonies are inconsistent and no physical evidence can be found, the principle of \"innocent until proven guilty\" should be applied. Concepts such as \"being the one closest to the elderly\" are neither rigorous nor in line with the spirit of modern rule of law, and will undoubtedly become targets that undermine credibility. It’s not a problem if there are some elderly people who cannot be helped; as long as the law can ensure that the truth is revealed, and it’s not necessary to catch all the bad people, as long as no innocent person is wronged, then people will be willing to offer their help again. What truly makes people feel that there’s nothing that can be done is not the elderly, but rather the flawed rule of law at the grassroots level.