刻薄

Police to female driver:

"Excuse me ma'am? You didn't think we give pretty women tickets?
Well, you are right, we don't. Now, sign here."

I don't intend to be overly critical, but I was a bit nonplussed by this choice bit of decoration at a park in Tainan::

Your tax money at work! Nothing but the best for your public parks!!

前幾天到臺南，首先到孔廟拜一拜儒童菩薩。不遠處就是國立臺灣文學館；原為日據時臺灣州廳，幾年前改成文學館。舊屋新用的設計、構想、佈置等等，無不讓我稱讚。只可惜來往人不多。我在文學館一再想，尤其在現在臺灣文化水平日日劇落，為甚麼臺北沒有這種文化氣息濃厚的場所，給我們北部的人薰陶？

在臺南三天兩夜，就到文學館兩次，因為第二天晚上有莊淑文鋼琴演奏。真享受！

~好在五月一日，莊淑文在臺北巴赫廳演奏，曲目一樣。~

但話又說回來，臺南的發展有些蹊蹺。五步一廟，十步一教堂，可是就是看不到公車站牌！幾乎都在成大、臺南車站一帶，照理公車應該很多，可是在臺南三天，總共看到四台公車，其中一台是高雄市的，一台是空車。計程車很難招，所坐的計程車，都小小、舊舊、髒髒，裏面的煙味濃到如果坐長程，只怕目的地尚未到達，先因為吸二手煙而得癌症。交通，這麼重要的生活問題不處理，很奇怪。

民國六十年代初，我到臺南中山公園一遊，看大家晚上在那兒乘涼、散步，印象很深，所以這次一定要再去看看。從前輕鬆、悠閒的氣氛不再：這頭下棋賭錢的人大吵架，那頭跳國標舞的音響震耳，再走過去就是唱卡拉OK，我很快就逃回成大校園。不過，值得一提的是，中山公園是我第一次看到公園水池開放垂釣！這個麼，不便說甚麼…

We spent the weekend in Tainan. Our first stop was the Confucius Temple, and then we went to the nearby Taiwan Museum of Literature. The building dates back to the Japanese Occupation, but has been renovated thoroughly, imaginatively, and elegantly. Our second night in Tainan we went back to hear a piano recital by Chuang Shu Wen, returned from Germany. The piano is not my favorite instrument, but Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Chopin, what a treat!

But a strange thing about Tainan is that, unlike most places in Taiwan, public transportation is almost unavailable. Tainan has a population of about 770,000; in the three days we spent around the train station, the center of transportation, I saw a total of four buses, and one was empty. Contrast that with, for example, 中壢Chungli, with a population of about 366,000. On the train back to Taipei, zipping through Chungli, I saw four buses.

In most places in Taiwan, when you want to go somewhere, you stick out your hand and flag a passing taxi. Taxis in Tainan are very difficult to find, and the ones we took were small, old, dirty, and reeked terribly of tobacco smoke.

On Sunday afternoon (April 25), near the northern end of Taiwan's North 2 Freeway, a piece of earth just picked up and moved itself, burying a couple hundred meters of freeway, along with three cars and four people.

I do not understand the geological forces involved, but from the photo, you can see that even though the terrain is not steep, the whole section of the surface of the earth just moved over, trees and all. The whole event took only about five seconds.

This being Taiwan, right wing DPP partisans immediately blamed the disaster on President Ma and the KMT, saying that heaven and earth cannot tolerate the governing party.

However, earlier this month in Tehran, the Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi said, "Many women who do not dress modestly...lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes."

Americans are scientifically minded. One Jennifer McCreight decided to make a scientific experiment: on Monday, April 26, women would dress as immodestly as they desired, to see if they really did increase the number of earthquakes. The event, which she named Boobquake, did not generate seismic activity, although apparently hospitals were packed with young men suffering from strained eyes.

在臺灣荒郊野外走了幾十年，今天終于首次看到野生環頸雉…從高鐵接駁車看到的。在臺南下車，離站兩分鐘，路側空田中就有兩隻環頸雉。真是美麗。真是開心能看到。真是沒想到在這種情境下看到的！！

After decades of trampling all over the wilderness of Taiwan, for the very first time today, I saw a wild ring-necked pheasant. We just got off the high speed rail in Tainan, and were taking the shuttle bus in to the city, when two minutes away from the station, we spotted a pair of them standing by the road in an empty lot. One of the last places I would have expected to see them!

April is their mating season, so maybe he was taking her out to see the sights.

小部落裏鄒族太太整理薑、談八八水災。她說，「都是產業種檳榔、種茶，把我們祖先的地搞壞了。大樹的根很深，可以抓地，可是產業要種檳榔，大樹都砍掉了。沒有大樹的根抓地，颱風來就崩掉了。」

「能不能種別的？」

「有，我們種竹子，有竹筍。去年筍子一斤二十一塊，今天聽說四十五塊，可是我們種竹子的地被沖走，剩下不多，所以雖然價錢好，可是也沒錢賺。」

「這裏應該可以種椪柑、橘子之類。」

「他們現在只想種檳榔。利潤高嘛。」

「說不定這裏可以種蘋果。梨山可以種的話，這裏也可以。」

「有是有，有人種幾棵自己吃，也很好吃，可以只有那幾棵。」

「應該可以行得通。這樣一直種檳榔不是辦法。有很多東西可以種。需要種樹，讓樹根抓地。」

「是啊，我們怎樣也要想辦法。不然下次颱風來，一樣會土石流。可是產業很大，我們能怎麼辦？不過還是要想辦法。還是要活下去，不然怎麼辦？」

A lady of the Tsou tribe sorting ginger in a hamlet, discussing last year's landslides. She said, "It's all these corporations planting betel palms, planting tea, they've ruined our ancestors' land. The big trees had deep roots that held the soil, but the corporations wanted to plant betel palms, so they cut down all the big trees. Without the big trees' roots holding the soil, when typhoon Morakot came, all the land slid away."

"Can something else be planted?"

"Yes, we plant bamboo, and there are bamboo shoots. Last year bamboo shoots sold NT$21 the jin, and I hear this year it's NT$45 the jin. But all our land with bamboo slid away in landslides, and there's not much left, so even if the price is good, I can't make any money on that." (1 jin is about 600 grams; NT$21 is about 75 cents US)

"You should be able to plant citrus trees here."

"They don't want to plant anything but betel palms. They get bigger profits that way."

"Maybe you could plant apple trees here. If they can grow apples in Lishan, you can do it here."

"There are some apple trees, some people planted them for their own use. They taste good, but there are only a few trees."

"That should be a solution. They can't just keep growing betel palms. There are a lot of things they could plant. You need big trees, with roots to hold the land in place."

"Yes, we have to think of something. Otherwise, next time a typhoon comes, it'll be landslides all over again. But the corporations are big, what can we do? But we have to get along somehow. After all, we have to keep living. What else can you do?"

山上遇到一位鄒人坐路邊用開山刀削木。我問他作甚麼？他說是作杵。用的是龍眼木，耐用又不裂。

我看了一回，問，「我們烏來泰雅的杵比較大~~比這個大多了。」

他笑笑，說，「這是迷你杵。」

In the mountains, I came across a Tsou tribesman sitting by the road carving a pestle. I said, “The pestles the Tayal in Wulai use are much larger.”

He smiled and said, “This is a mini-pestle.”

我到阿里山來吉儲蓄合作社，一位警察正在存款，也幫另一位警察存款。一個鄒族祖母帶著孫女也等著存錢。

警察：「一個月存兩千，不存就花掉，所以現在派出所所有警察都加入合作社。」

負責人Nguia女士跟我說：「從前，有一個原住民，很窮很窮，所以他想到銀行借錢。可是呢，要借錢，銀行跟他要抵押品，可是他需要借錢，就是因為他很窮，他沒有土地，甚麼也沒有，所以銀行不借錢給他。他跟神父說，銀行是給有錢人開的，你沒錢的話，銀行才不要你。銀行不是為沒錢的人開的。所以他跟神父商量，他們要想辦法為沒錢的人開銀行，所以儲蓄合作社就是這樣來的。

「我們放款給沒錢的人，都是小筆，利息很低。我們雖然是小小的儲蓄合作社，可是我們放出去的貸款有一千五百萬。我們的老闆就是我們的社員，社員就是老闆，都不是一些有錢人。每一個存一千、兩千，一個人最多只能存到五十萬，多的話我們不要。我們不要很有錢的人插手，不然他們哪一天急需要錢，抽走，我們可能撐不住。

「我們社員自己分紅。我是唯一的職員，月薪兩萬，不能再加，因為我們是非營利事業。可是因為我把多出來的錢都存起來，我每一年都帶我的兒子、女兒出國。我們下次要去荷蘭，因為我有朋友在那裡。」

警察回來，說，「黃警員拿六千二叫我存，怎麼簿子裏記六千一？」

Nguia說，「因為他現在加入社員。」Nguia轉過去問鄒婦，「加入社員費用多少錢？」鄒婦大聲唱：「一百元！」Nguia對警察說，「對了！六千二減一百多少？」警察說，「六千一。」Nguia說，「那就對囉！你回去跟黃警員說，他不及格！不及格！」警察速速退，上機車回派出所，咘咘咘咘。

Nguia繼續：「我都叫我們部落的人加入社員，教他們怎樣理財，因為我們原住民最弱的，就是理財。叫原住民打獵、在山上討生活，我們很行，可是不要叫原住民理財，因為這方面我們最弱。所以我要叫大家怎樣理財。本來我也不會，可是我找很多很厚的書來看，從頭看到尾，很累呢！可是現在我也會了。

「我們部落的人不喜歡上班，大多沒有固定收入，所以我叫部落的人，一有錢，趕快來存。多一個人存錢就少一個喝死的。」

「你看，我們開了三年，去年是全省第六名，今年我們是全省第四名！全省啊！多少個儲蓄合作社，來吉是第四名！」

圖：今年元月時，合作社還沒概好~ The Pnguu Savings Cooperative is in a small prefabricated building on stilts. When I took this photo in January, it was still under construction.

Last week when I dropped in the Pnguu Savings Cooperative, in a small aborigine village, a policeman was depositing some cash, and making a deposit for another policeman. A grandmother of the local Tsou tribe was waiting with her little granddaughter to make a deposit.

The policeman told me, "I save one or two thousand NT a month. If I didn't save it, I would just spend it. All of the police in the precinct house are members of this Co-op." (NT$1,000 is about US$32.)

The manager, an aborigine lady named Nguia, told me, "Once a very poor aborigine wanted to borrow money from a bank. But since he wanted to borrow money, the bank wanted collateral, but he wanted to borrow money because he was so poor. He didn't have land, he didn’t have anything, so the bank wouldn’t lend him money. He told the priest, Banks are for rich people, if you don't have any money, the bank doesn't want to have anything to do with you; banks are not for poor people. So he and the priest got together to work out something to help poor people, and that is how savings cooperatives were founded.

"We make loans to people who don't have much money. The loans are all small amounts, and the interest is very low. Even though we are just a small savings cooperative, we have loaned money to total of NT$150,000,000. Our bosses are our members, our members are our bosses. None of us are rich people. Our members save a thousand or two. Nobody can deposit more than NT$500,000, because we don't want big deposits. We don't want to get rich people involved, because if they suddenly needed all their money, we might not be able to stay in business.

"Our members share the profits. I am the only paid employee. I get NT$20,00 a month, and I can never get a raise, because we are a non-profit organization. But because I save whatever I don't spend, every year I take my son and my daughter for a trip abroad. Our next destination is Holland, because I have a friend there.”

The policeman came back, and said, "Officer Huang gave me NT$6,200 to deposit, how come it says only NT$6,100 in his passbook?"

Nguia said, "For his membership." She turned to the Tsou grandmother and asked, "What is the fee for membership?" The grandmother said, "NT$100!" Nguia said, "That's right! You go back and tell Officer Huang, he flunks! He flunks!" The officer quickly left the cooperative, jumped on his motorcycle, and headed back to the police station, putt putt putt.

Nguia continued. "I tell all the people in the tribe to join the cooperative, and I teach them how to manage money, because if there's one thing we aborigines are really lousy at, it's managing money. You want aborigines to hunt or to live off the land, we're really good at that, but don't ask us to manage money, because we're really lousy at that. So I want to teach everybody how to manage their money. I didn't know how to do that either, but I got a lot of big, thick books to read, and I read them all from cover to cover, that was a real chore! But now I know how to do it.

"Aborigines don't like to be tied down to a job, so most of us don't have a steady income, so I tell the aborigines, if you get your hands on some money, make a deposit as soon as possible! One more person making a savings deposit means one less person drinking himself to death.

"See? Our cooperative is three years old. Last year we were rated sixth in all of Taiwan, and this year we were rated fourth. All of Taiwan! Of all the savings cooperatives, Pnguu was rated fourth!”

Lately I have been writing much about my visits to the Tsou tribal land in the mountains in south-central Taiwan. Sabiy has been assigned to do Dance Movement Therapy weekly for a small elementary school in the mountains (total enrollment, grades one through six: 27 pupils). I go along to do the heavy lifting and help where I can. While she is busy, I wander about the mountains, and I learn what I can of the Tsou language so I can teach it as best I can to Sabiy, for use in her sessions with the children. They speak Mandarin, but should be encouraged to keep alive their ancient, complex, subtle language.

The mountains in the area were devastated last August by Typhoon Morakot, with heavy rainfall causing landslides that buried villages and obliterate roads, bridges, and buildings. People in the city have long since forgotten about the disaster and moved on to more important topics, such as who the actress of the month is dating, how long this week’s model’s false eyelashes are, and the ever vital topics of soap operas and video games. It is hard to comprehend the scope of the disaster, but it should be remembered that the culprit was not the typhoon, but rather, the roads wantonly chopped into the mountains, and careless cultivation of betel palms and tea, especially betel palms (technically, they are areca palm trees). The original forests of huge trees with deep, landholding roots have been razed and replaced with betel palms ~ to what avail? To produce social ills for all, bad health for their users, and most important, healthy profits for the investors who buy up cheap land from the locals. Betel nuts are a mildly stimulating narcotic that cause cancer of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, and stomach, plus bad breath, red spit, and really disgusting, rotting red teeth. Simple, fatal fact: betel palm roots do not grow deep and do not hold soil.

When Typhoon Morakot dumped all that rain on the mountains, the soil did not hold, and sliding was extensive. How extensive? On the way to the school we cross a bridge, over a hundred paces from side to side; the road surface sits right on colossal boulders and you can see that the surface of the bridge has been cleaned of debris that covered it. The first time I went, I asked, "Why did they build a bridge here? Why didn't they just pave the road over the boulders?" Locals protested: "Before Typhoon Morakot, that bridge stood high above the river bed. It was very high." All those boulders were swept down in the floods. Whoever built that bridge deserves a prize for good, solid work.
(Look carefully at this photo. That line you see across the center of the photo is the bridge in the previous paragraph. Also notice how chewed up the concrete safety barrier in the foreground is.)

The principal of the elementary school is a member of the Tsou tribe. He said, "We can't keep dwelling on this disaster. It's not good for us to keep remembering that there was a disaster. I am bringing in teachers first to teach us how to crack open stones, and then how to carve stones. Every tribal village should have its own unique trait, so ours will be boulders. We will take the boulders and turn them into ornaments. We will make good use of all these stones that have poured down on us.”

I said, "You could say that the heavens gave you the stones as gifts, to see what you can do with them."

He nodded. "Maybe some year in the future if there is not a typhoon, our people will say, 'Why hasn't a typhoon come to bring us more stones to turn into art?'"

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade; if life gives you boulders, make art.

年輕漢女：山中真的很美！我看著山上的霧，美到我都忘了今天星期幾！
中年鄒男：我們在部落，不太管今天是哪一天，跟著自然生活就好了。如果常常想今天是哪一天，壓力就很大，活得不快樂。

Young Han (ethnic Chinese) woman: The mountains are so beautiful! I was watching the mist on the mountains, and it was so beautiful that I forgot what day of the week it was!
Middle aged Tsou (Taiwan aborigine) man: In our tribe, we don't pay much attention to the days of the week. We just live by nature. If you think about what day it is too often, you get a lot of stress, and life is not so happy.

Wikileaks has posted a video :: click here:: of American soldiers in Iraq killing a Reuters photographer and others, including some who came to rescue him when he was wounded. Two children were wounded in the shooting. This took place in 2007.

My point is not to blame the soldiers. They may be trigger happy, but from the helicopter they may not have been able to distinguish between the photographer's cameras and a weapon, and most people would rather shoot first and ask questions later. They are, after all, at war. Any blame is to be laid at the feet of Bush, Chaney, and the millions of American people who lack the imagination and initiative to reduce their dependency on oil.

I do not understand the situation on the streets in Iraq, so I do not understand why the victims walked carefreely down the street with a US military helicopter circling around them.

When the wounded children are being sent to a hospital, (short version time: 15:32), one soldier says, "Well, it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle," and another immediately concurs, "That's right." Let me emphasize that the killed journalists were not combatants, and were not going into battle; their doomed rescuers were not entering into a battle, they were trying to rescue their friends. But immediately the soldiers absolve themselves of fault. I can understand how a soldier who is trained to fight enemies bravely would not want to bear the guilt of shooting children.

How expert we are at inuring ourselves to tragedy, and relieving ourselves of responsibility for our actions. William Ryan called this blaming the victim. It's worth reflecting on.

However, I will say no more, because I have just noticed that Noam Chomsky is pontificating about the war on YouTube. When Chomsky walks the streets of Iraq without an armed escort, I may pay some attention to what he says. Until then, I would rather not look like I'm standing on the same side as he is.

今天是清明節。上週從斗六回來，看到沿路許多墓園為了準備掃墓，業已噴灑農藥，殺死雜草。

不知道是現代人不習慣用鐮刀除草，或者懶惰貪圖方便，才在祖墳噴藥。但想過了沒，這樣的話，毒素慢慢滲入地下祖先的遺骸。孝道應不該如斯吧。

倘若覺得祖先死亡已久、遺體下毒無所謂，那麼何苦掃墓？推平鋪柏油，可以設停車場、可以開釣蝦場、可以設檳榔攤。如若掃墓是追遠敬祖，怎麼忍心給老人家下毒？

問題大概出在這裏：現代人生活中最重要的原則是：方便至上！娛樂至上！寧死也不肯思攷。

In the previous post, about substituting for Tayal language classes at Wulai Junior High, I neglected to mention that the 9th graders sang me this song. They told me it's the Aborigine National Anthem. click HERE to watch on YouTube:
It goes, roughly,
請你們可憐可憐我
人家的檳榔是真正的檳榔
我們的檳榔是人家的、丟掉的，
我們把它撿起來，
齁一牙，齁害牙，
請你們可憐可憐我。

人家的老婆是真正的檳榔
我們的老婆是人家的、丟掉的，
我們把她撿起來，
齁一牙，齁害牙，
請你們可憐可憐我。
Please take pity on me,
Other people have real betel nuts,
My betel nuts are somebody else's, they threw them out, I picked them up,
Hey Yi Ya, Hey Hi Ya,
Please take pity on me.

Other people have a real wife,
My wife is somebody else's, he threw her out, I picked her up,
Hey Yi Ya, Hey Hi Ya,
Please take pity on me.

誤人子弟
一個很不一樣的經驗。在烏來國中教泰雅語的Yata，今要種南瓜，向學校請假，請我代課。好吧，硬著頭皮去上。所幸，今天的課是飛禽走獸的泰雅名，能勉強勝任。蘭鵲sibekay啦、五色鳥byahoq啦、綠鳩m'qwang啦、鶺鴒kintoyang啦、雨傘節qaxa啦、百步蛇hetung啦…還是教補習班好。

Yata, the Tayal language teacher at Wulai Junior High, couldn't teach her classes today because she had pumpkins to plant, so she asked me to stand in for her. I taught the entire junior high, as there are only about 25 kids in each grade. The ninth graders were easier to teach; with the eighth and seventh graders, at any moment there were at least four conversations going on in the classroom, all at top volume.

Fortunately, today's lesson was the Tayal words for birds and animals, which I could handle: cobra, bbing; sparrow, pzit; toad, patung nahut. Unfortunately, I don't know such useful words as snot, which caused great mirth and the comment, "You know all the hard words but not the easy ones." A great shortcoming in my education that I have never learned how to say snot in Tayal. Oh well.

I came across an interesting headline:
Indian military to weaponize world's hottest chili

The article begins:
GAUHATI, India – The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism: the world's hottest chili.
After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized "bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday.

Oh, hand grenades. Well, yes, I suppose so. This brings to mind a friend who was an interrogator for the South Korean forces fighting in the Viet Nam war. He used to fill suspects' noses full of red pepper, and it encouraged them to answer his questions. When I saw the headline my first reaction was that they had come up with the nose method. I guess not. Just as well, perhaps.

But come on, wouldn't you like to fill bin Laden’s nose with red pepper?