1 in 50

"This snow storm is a catastrophe, and we see it only once every 50 years. Give us some help."

I have all my sympathy for any humble Chinese worker being caught up in the middle of a rail station and says such a thing. But, for a government, I shall think twice.

Why, this cry for help sounds just too familiar. When did we last hear a similar one ? "We see this flood once every 50 years." "This is the worst drought in the last 50 years." What else is possible ? Tsunami, earthquake, storm, influenza epidemic ... If you cannot name 50 items, look up a dictionary. If you can, alas, we are expecting some kind of natural disaster every year !

We hear all too often certain intelligent person blaming his failure to unexpected poor luck. With time, I learn that most of the people struck by repeated unfortunate happenings usually have problems themselves.

PS. I set off to write about the duty of a government. Well, you’d better read the masterpiece of Huang Zongxi (黃宗羲): 明夷待訪錄.