Recently, according to media reports, three children died in a fire in Pingguo City, Baise City, Guangxi, which is regrettable.
From WeChat public account
There was also a recent incident where a man was hit and killed by a car, which made me think about the difference between adult deaths and child deaths. Do children have death awareness? After looking through some Douban comments combined with my own experience, I think there is. When I was 12 years old, I realized the horror of death, and some people felt this way when they were 7 or 8 years old, and even had the idea of "solve yourself first" so as not to leave when you are old and you can't bear it. It can be seen that children are aware of death. They will also be very painful when they die, although this pain is often associated with the elderly in the hospital bed. It is also sad to feel death in this way when his consciousness of death is not yet mature, if it were not so, they may be able to feel it slowly in the rest of their lives, but unfortunately they cannot.
Derived from Douban
What is the attitude of children towards death? In 1948, psychologist Maria Nagy was the first to discover the association between children's age and understanding of death. The study points to three distinct phases:
1. Children between the ages of three and five tend to deny that death is the end of a person, and they will think that the deceased is just going on a trip and will return.
2. In the second stage between the ages of five and nine, children understand that death is the end of life, but reject the relevant knowledge. They also think that if they are smart enough, they can cheat death and avoid it.
3. In the third stage of nine to ten years of age, children understand that death is inevitable and that everyone dies, and they themselves are no exception.
This research is a bit "old", I have not found the latest research results, but it is enough to show that children's attitude towards death is gradually "rationalized" with age. Some of the three children who died should have been able to feel that death is irreversible, and showed a look of fear when facing the flames, showing fear of burns, fear of death. In addition, the younger child can only feel the pain of the skin, and does not fear death, which he does not have in his mind.
And what about adult attitudes towards death? Fear is the feeling of most people, and not being afraid of death is a mission and a requirement for soldiers, and people who can actually do this, firefighters, people who fight gangsters, will be called noble people, and this character is very rare. It is different for the elderly, who know that their life will eventually stop and will come soon, so they become open-minded about many things, and their fear of death does not change, and they are a little more calm.
The report also indicates that the three children may have "played with fire and set themselves on fire". Similar to "curiosity kills cats". They were curious about the flame or the appearance of the flame in the home, so they started to make it, but they didn't expect to kill themselves. This can be said to be an act of exploration, an exploration of the unknown, an exploration of life experience, which can be said to be "child-specific" because they are not aware of the danger. It is very likely that an adult will not make such a dangerous attempt, not only limited to playing with fire at home, but also abandoning his professional field to do another "risky" thing, or doing something that requires someone to do but is very dangerous, only a small number of people do it, they maintain children's curiosity and courage to explore, and it may be necessary for life, which is necessary for human beings.
In addition, their "playing with fire and self-immolation" type of death is a pure death, what does it mean? Like extreme sports enthusiasts, they may die of their hobbies, which are "ego", a purely subjective act, without a trace of impurities, it can be said that they are ideal. The same is true of these children, who simply dig into the world for their curiosity, and accidents inevitably occur, which is subjective and pure. Unlike death from old age, death from illness, death by others, etc., this pure death is not worth advocating, it belongs to people who love certain dangers, including children who have a strong curiosity about the world.
Is staying up late and dying suddenly a pure death? This depends on the situation, staying up late for their hobbies, scientific research, etc., death is pure, sudden death for overtime is regrettable, their life seems to not belong to them anymore, how can they talk about pure fragmentation? Is it pure to die suddenly because of the hobby of going to an Internet café and staying up late playing games? As I have already explained, pure death is not worth advocating, and love of life is the main theme of life, so it is a purely subjective interpretation, but for the deceased, it no longer means much.
This death of curiosity in children is a metaphor for human development. The development of human beings in these centuries is due to the sacrifices made by some people and the social environment provided by thousands of nameless people, these people explore the world with pure curiosity, they may "play with fire", but they will be remembered by us as the key figures of human development. Ordinary life, whether brave to explore, or mixed reputation, is worth choosing.