Chinese George Costanza

I usually avoid reposting links that have already been picked up by huge link websites like Digg, but I’m doing it anyway.

In an act of moral foolhardiness, Fan Meizhong set out on a blog his guiding principle: in matters of life and death, it’s every man for himself.

When the quake struck, rather than overseeing an orderly evacuation, he said he just shouted “Stay calm, it’s an earthquake!” and ran for it without looking back to see if his pupils were following.

“I ran towards the stairs so fast that I stumbled and fell as I went. When I reached the centre of the football pitch, I found I was the first to escape. None of my pupils was with me,” wrote the man now known across China as ‘Runner Fan’.

[...]

His explanation was simple. “I have a very strong sense of self-preservation,” he said. “I have never been a brave man and I’m only really concerned about myself.”

Sounds like Mr. Meizhong is a student of the George Costanza school of survival.