Beijing Cycle home

Riding home I came upon an altercation on the sidewalk
A common occurence you would see a pair of people
who were hammering out an argument with at times animated gesturing
It was putonghua they spoke

I joined the ring surrounding them
Three deep as I leaned onto the shoulders of two comrades in the front of me
Others came adding to this throng and as I turned my head from side to side sround us I could see
This growing ring of comrades had now reached a width of 6 or 7

I asked the one in front what the topic was about
He said tongzhi, this means comrade, One man had thrown three matches on the street
The other one demanded that he pick them up and place them in a bin which he did 
Then further demand was made to criticize himself
to recognize his action was
transgression and the two began to shout

Why should I critcize myself for doing something natural?
In China we have sweepers to
perform this function
To clean the streets to sweep the paths their job is Sanitation
Back and forth they argued
The offender said it was his
right  The defender of socialist integrity insisting that such
behaviour was anti-social

Often so it was the case with just such a predicament
A third party not known to either one emerged to moderate the situation
To prevent a verbal disagreement
not develop to fisted altercation
Now and then a shout from the ring with opinion on their argument

It was socialist China you see
Oh what a sight to witness
That such ideological debate
was playing our before my very eyes
Attention to the Rights and Wrongs of socialist behaviour
made me think about my own
Actions Thoughts to realize
That even the smallest things
I do project            Affecting those around me

~Pearcemelville