The Muddy Playground

On the first day of the school year, the playground is a sea of mud. The principal says, “The inspection team is coming. Spread some coal cinders around to cover it up.” The vice principal replies, “You’ve been principal for eight years, and you still can’t get a playground fixed.” Chen Xiao, a special-post teacher, arrives at this rural school with a box of books, only to be humiliated in front of everyone on her very first day. A student skips school and asks her, “Teacher, what’s the point of being alive?” She has no answer. The playground is finally repaired, but less than three months later, it’s a mess again. Yet the old gatekeeper says, “Some things are still better done than left undone.”