Bamboo does not fall｜Actually, it’s not that ridiculous!

Seeing someone on WeChat Moments reposting and criticizing the judge in this news, who finally helped the elderly person recover 700 yuan in wages after 5 years. To be honest, although the matter itself is very ironic, we really can’t put all the blame on the judge.

As for whether it’s funny to post this kind of thing?

Think again, even if it’s deleted later, isn’t it much more effective to post it than not to?

For example, a reporter was arrested. In fact, you might not have known about such a reporter before that day, or what he had done (many of the officials he reported have fallen)… But after he was arrested, you began to slowly learn about everything. This may be the most impactful report of that reporter’s life, and of course, the effect and influence are also the greatest.

So, some reports are not meant to be entertaining, but to keep the problem in the public eye.

I actually saw this matter on a short video platform yesterday, and naturally felt ironic and absurd, but at the same time, I also knew that if it were another place or another judge, they might prefer to deduct 700 yuan from somewhere else and give it back to the elderly person, rather than going through the steps of actual operation.

Why do I say that? The reason is simple: the cost of helping the elderly person recover this 700 yuan has already exceeded the 700 yuan itself. And when something is ‘completely legal’ but ‘extremely uneconomical’, it will automatically disappear from the priority of the system.

Filing a case requires cost, mediation requires manpower, and even the process of execution requires a lot of effort. In short, the cost-effectiveness is too low. So if it were another place or another court, they might either simply ignore it or pass the buck, or they might just deduct 700 yuan from somewhere else and give it to you.

Moreover, even if they take it seriously. 700 yuan is not enough to constitute a criminal risk, and the court can do very little for the contractor who owes wages.

On the contrary, the contractor has a ‘natural advantage’ in this regard: you can sue if you want, it’s not much anyway, just bet that the elderly person can’t afford to make a fuss.

You have to communicate with people from relevant departments multiple times, you have to run around the departments repeatedly, you have to wait and be delayed. If you encounter the kind of people who can receive more than 16 million bribes at the counter yesterday, and do things if you give money, and don’t do things if you don’t give money, the length of this delay will have to be multiplied several times… These problems are the source of confidence for those who dare to owe the wages of the common people.

So if you want to say that this matter is ironic and ridiculous, there must be a premise: when it is the worst situation in reality.

But is it now?

If it is not, or even the opposite, and we still have to vent all our emotions on the specific judge, it will instead obscure the real problem.

So the most important question to raise from this matter is not the court and the judge in the matter, but those courts and judges who are unwilling to focus on those low-level people who are owed wages because of cost-effectiveness and various obstacles.

In other words, for the 700 yuan of wage arrears, they are still acting as if they have won a battle, helping the elderly person get it back. But those who are owed tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, are the local courts and judges willing to use all means and methods to help them get their money back?

Many are unwilling. Some are because the person who owes wages has run away, some are because of bankruptcy, and others are doing property transfers, etc. Anyway, there are difficulties and obstacles, so the ones who give up exceed the ones who persist.

In the final analysis, putting more focus on the common people at the bottom and doing those seemingly insignificant small things is the quality that is very scarce at present. Helping someone recover 700 yuan of hard-earned money from 5 years ago, 700 is little, but compared to the news of Iran warning the United States, North Korea warning the United States, and the Houthi armed forces warning the United States every day, which is more meaningful?

Moreover, speaking of which, doesn’t Shandong Legal Daily realize that the act of helping the elderly person recover 700 yuan in wages after 5 years will not only fail to bring a good impression, but will also attract controversy and ridicule? I think they know it, as for why they still insist on posting it, it may be because, for the time being, this seemingly ironic situation is not actually ironic.

You laugh at them for only getting back 700 yuan, and not getting back the 700,000 yuan, or millions. But the problem is, how many courts and judges in reality can help the common people recover 700 yuan of wage arrears?

If it can be persisted to the end, it is often only this kind of ‘small justice’. Then, even if it seems ridiculous, it is actually very precious. And greater justice must also have this as a foundation.

If you can’t do small things well, and you still want to do big things? Similarly, they can’t help the common people get back 700 yuan, do you expect them to suddenly be able to help the latter get back 700,000 yuan?

Furthermore, we think it’s ironic and meaningless, but for the elderly person who finally got the 700 yuan in wage arrears, will he think so too? If the person involved doesn’t see it that way, at least it shows that this situation is more the better.