Dear Mystery White Man on Roosevelt Road, Section Two whom I spotted moments ago:
What are you doing wandering around the Guting area obviously drunk at 22:45 at night? The kids waiting outside Club Wax sure were amused by your weaving and stumbling. I was amused, too, because you seemed to be trying to catch up to a group of 台客 (Tai ke) up in front of you, until you stopped in front of the Hi Life. I stopped to watch, wondering if you were going to puke on some poor bloke’s scooter, but instead, you shocked me by taking out some keys and getting ready to ride one.
I sure hope you got home okay, but what the hell are you doing riding a scooter while drunk? You’re in your 40s (or had some bad times in your 30s), wearing a blue parka and sporting short blond hair. You should know better.
I wanted to stop and talk to you and ask if you were okay, but who am I to assume that you speak English (especially while drunk)? And besides, when I thought about it, if you’re on your scooter, you’re probably going to injure yourself more than others. In retrospect, I should have forced you into a taxi or the 捷運 (jieyun - MRT) which you were directly outside of. Shame on me.
To all else - is taking care of drunk and dumb foreigners my business? Since this guy probably spoke English, I may have been the best equipped person around to help him. He wasn’t some tourist. He was some guy dumb enough to drive drunk on a scooter! Grr. Many Taiwanese people would assume he’s my friend just because we’re both 外國人.
I dunno, but at 11pm-1am that area usually is teaming with cops.
Of course being a foreigner and all, they might not care.
It wasn’t me though, I’m at home and completely sober.
For now.
Absolutely not. Furthermore, as a woman it is dangerous for you to approach a drunken men on the street. Hell, it’s potentially dangerous for anyone.
I’ve saved a few drunks over the years from walking straight into oncoming traffic but I wouldn’t tell someone I didn’t know not to get on his scooter. Not under the circumstances you described.
There was really nothing for you to do. That happens.
My almost ex husband was run over by a drunk on a scooter. His back was broken. He did survive, but with tremendous pain at first, and now constant pain that he’ll live with for the rest of his life. And we were married just over a month at the time. Besides severly cutting into our favorite newly-wed activities, I was afraid for a while that he’d be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Just married and suddenly faced with caring for my severly handicapped husband was terrifying. Thank God it didn’t happen that way, but it could have. I think the driver had a broken leg. He was very Tai Ke and obviously had nothing. His mother offerd us a can of milk powder.
Drunken driving is NOT a joke, no matter what you’re driving. My mother’s legs and pelvis were crushed when she was struck by a car when she was only 14 years old. The driver of the car sped off with presumably no injuries to himself. Niether of the drunks had any real problems compared to the people they injured. You don’t have to kill someone to take away their lives, or quality of life. And the person you strike is only your primary victim, but you make victums of everyone close to them, as well. I could go on, but I guess I’m kinda ranting in someone else’s thread.
Its easy for everyone to say how dumb he is (and I’m not arguing with that), but we’ve all done stupid things in our, some of them life threatening. I do think its important that people look out for each other. Its one thing I don’t like about Taiwan. Strangers don’t care for each other…
I love a lot of aspects of living in Taiwan, but the thing that probably gets to me the most, and gets me down sometimes, is the lack of care for community and strangers. I miss living in a society where it’s a rule, rather than incidental, that strangers will come up to you to ask you if you’re ok if it seems like you need help. Or where if a tree falls onto a road, a bunch of people will gather right away to remove it, not drive/walk around it because it’s not their problem if someone else gets hurt.
arion, in this particular case, though, I would have struggled with it, too. It’s not a clear case of helping a stranger in need, imo.
It’s funny SAF thinks you’re a woman. Must be because you’re so caring.
[quote=“tash”]Tyc00n, that’s exactly what I wanted to say.
I love a lot of aspects of living in Taiwan, but the thing that probably gets to me, and gets me down sometimes, the most is the lack of care for community and strangers. I miss living in a society where it’s a rule, rather than incidental, that strangers will come up to you to ask you if you’re ok if it seems like you need help. Or where if a tree falls onto a road, a bunch of people will gather right away to remove it, not drive/walk around it because it’s not their problem if someone else gets hurt.
arion, in this particular case, though, I would have struggled with it, too. It’s not a clear case of helping a stranger in need, imo.
It’s funny SAF thinks arion is a woman. Must be because he’s so caring. [/quote]
[quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“tash”]Tyc00n, that’s exactly what I wanted to say.
I love a lot of aspects of living in Taiwan, but the thing that probably gets to me, and gets me down sometimes, the most is the lack of care for community and strangers. I miss living in a society where it’s a rule, rather than incidental, that strangers will come up to you to ask you if you’re ok if it seems like you need help. Or where if a tree falls onto a road, a bunch of people will gather right away to remove it, not drive/walk around it because it’s not their problem if someone else gets hurt.
arion, in this particular case, though, I would have struggled with it, too. It’s not a clear case of helping a stranger in need, imo.
It’s funny SAF thinks arion is a woman. Must be because he’s so caring. [/quote]
And what hypotetical society would that be?[/quote]
One would be where I grew up, nothing hypothetical about it.
[quote=“the chief”][quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“tash”]Tyc00n, that’s exactly what I wanted to say.
I love a lot of aspects of living in Taiwan, but the thing that probably gets to me, and gets me down sometimes, the most is the lack of care for community and strangers. I miss living in a society where it’s a rule, rather than incidental, that strangers will come up to you to ask you if you’re ok if it seems like you need help. Or where if a tree falls onto a road, a bunch of people will gather right away to remove it, not drive/walk around it because it’s not their problem if someone else gets hurt.
arion, in this particular case, though, I would have struggled with it, too. It’s not a clear case of helping a stranger in need, imo.
It’s funny SAF thinks arion is a woman. Must be because he’s so caring. [/quote]
And what hypotetical society would that be?[/quote]
One would be where I grew up, nothing hypothetical about it.[/quote]
Me too. People are like that in Mexico, in Texas, and in Louisiana.
Oh yeah. And in Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma (though not so much), and a few other states I’ve lived in.
This is the first place I have found where they are not.
But lately I’ve found something strange.
Those Mormons are the nicest people EVER. I usually lie and say I’m still practicing… seems they will try to convert other Christians but they leave me as a Jew. Hahaha.
[quote=“tash”]I miss living in a society where it’s a rule, rather than incidental, that strangers will come up to you to ask you if you’re ok if it seems like you need help. Or where if a tree falls onto a road, a bunch of people will gather right away to remove it, not drive/walk around it because it’s not their problem if someone else gets hurt.
[/quote]
It exists where I grew up - when we had severe flooding last summer, everyone in the family gathered together to help my grandparents deal with the damage. It didn’t stop at the family, though, because the pastor of their church, my father’s friends (and my father’s been dead going on eighteen years - they still came), and all kinds of other people from the town came by to help, bring us food, or provide other support. That happened all over the area until things were as taken care of as they could be. I don’t know if it would happen here so much.
[quote=“housecat”]My almost ex husband was run over by a drunk on a scooter. His back was broken. He did survive, but with tremendous pain at first, and now constant pain that he’ll live with for the rest of his life. And we were married just over a month at the time. Besides severly cutting into our favorite newly-wed activities, I was afraid for a while that he’d be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Just married and suddenly faced with caring for my severly handicapped husband was terrifying. Thank God it didn’t happen that way, but it could have. I think the driver had a broken leg. He was very Tai Ke and obviously had nothing. His mother offerd us a can of milk powder.
Drunken driving is NOT a joke, no matter what you’re driving. My mother’s legs and pelvis were crushed when she was struck by a car when she was only 14 years old. The driver of the car sped off with presumably no injuries to himself. Niether of the drunks had any real problems compared to the people they injured. You don’t have to kill someone to take away their lives, or quality of life. And the person you strike is only your primary victim, but you make victums of everyone close to them, as well. I could go on, but I guess I’m kinda ranting in someone else’s thread.[/quote]
Yes, no joking about anything ever is the best policy. Life is just too awful.
BTW: I know several people in wheel chairs (like dear old mum) who lead happy lives. I guess we have different perspectives.
In Australia we have the best surf lifesavers in the world. They aren’t paid, but they give up their time to ensure the rest of the community is safe. There are also countless organizations that take of people (St. Vinnies, Salvation Army etc), animals (RSPCA) and the environment (Greenpeace etc).
In road side accidents, people stop and help. If I was put in a position where I had to use CPR, I would… and I hope that someone would do the same for me.
Society in general in Australia attempts to take care of those less fortunate. We have a very good security net for people that lose their jobs, single mums etc.
When you see as many beggars on the street in Taiwan as you do, and then you realise that Taiwan has the worlds 3rd largest surplus of $200 billion +, doesn’t it strike you as strange that the living standards for poor people, neglected animals, and the environment are so low?
