Freedom and Chaos

My friend Javier from Mexico and I had lunch today at the vegetarian restaurant near campus. I like Javier a lot. He is thoughtful and because he is older (he's got a wife and kids back home), we can share our deep thoughts about living in Taiwan. I think his English is probably not so great, because I have to speak Spanish with him. So, today at lunch, I think my Spanish improved by about 26% over the course of an hour and a half lunch consisting of various fake meats.

We both like a lot of things about Taiwanese society. Like the fact that, for the most part, you are safe, even walking at night. When I am on the subway, I am not worried about my wallet, even when the train is packed. When I put my bag down for a second and look away while I am waiting for my bus, I don't worry whether someone is going to steal it.

The other night, Javier saw someone walking by the river near school. At 11 o'clock at night. You can't do that in Mexico, because people will think you are bad and you are doing something illegal. You might get killed.

When I came back to the States after living in Taiwan for nine months, that is one of the things I noticed. People's shit is always being broken into or stolen in the U.S. You've always got to keep an eye out.

One time, I went to do my laundry and left my back porch open by accident. When I came back, I found that most of my CD collection was stolen. I found a whopper (that's a burger from Burger King, that the thief had abandoned) on my porch. Someone had jumped the railing and took my CDs. Unbelievable.

The other thing that both Javier and I agreed upon, that is true in both Mexico and in the States, is that there is a plethora of drugs floating around, and that definitely has an influence on society. To me, it sounds like most Taiwanese people learn about drugs (we're talking illegal drugs, folks) from the paper and movies.

But for us folks in the U.S. and Mexico, if you aren't living in a small-ass country bumpkin town (and even then you're not assured), you're going to know someone who is doing drugs, or someone who knows someone who is doing drugs. You're going to have a friend at work who used to be a drug addict and now is clean. Or, maybe that "bad" kid who smoked cigarettes in the parking lot at school, well, you found out he died when you were 24.

You go to the local drugstore or pizza place, and you look at the guy at the register and maybe it seems like he's a little off. He's not retarded, he just smokes a lot of weed.

Whether you know it or not, drugs pervade America. People at the highest level of the corporate world are coming home and snorting coke. On the weekends, their employees are going to clubs and doing ecstasy.

Marijuana (weed) is so pervasive, and I would say it is abused. Where I come from, in California, there are people who are using weed to get away from reality. (Um, I think people are doing this in other states, too.) They smoke it first thing in the morning every morning. They are spaced out. They are angry. They are inconsistent and apathetic.

Drugs aren't a simple topic to discuss. A question we might want to ask is this, whether or not drugs are pervasive, why do people take them? What are they escaping from? What are the conditions that lead people to have no desire to drug themselves?

Of course, I know that drugs are a problem in Taiwan, but I don't think you can compare the situation with the States.

Taiwan does a pretty good job of protecting its kids from the dangers of drugs. It seems that they are not that plentiful, and the society provides support for them, like an extended family and a safe living environment. It also helps that they are about six times busier than American kids of their age, preparing for their all-important high school and university entrance exams. They leave for school at seven in the morning and come back home from their cram school at ten at night.

I quoted someone who said that because the United States is the freest of countries, that it also means that there is more fucked-up shit going on there. I like freedom, and I see how in some ways, people in Taiwan, because of their more conservative culture, lack some of the freedom of expression we enjoy in the States. I think this is why my Taiwanese friend Gene says she would like to leave Taiwan.

I think she would probably want to come back here, though, later.

One of the things I also like about living in Taiwan is that gives me a new perspective on things that we're used to taking for granted, things like "society" and "freedom". You travel and you see that these concepts change from place to place. And most people don't question them at all.

Javier and I could have talked for a few more hours. We were finished with our fake chickens, the waitress cleared our plates and then we said adios.