Chapter 3 mother with syphilis

One evening, I went to watch the sunset in Tamsui with a Swedish friend.When the river is at low tide, the dense garbage is exposed in the black and greasy sludge.After finally finding a place far away from the garbage, as soon as I sat down, I saw this fluffy five-year-old boy staring at us, then turned to the smaller child who was holding a doll, and said in a very immature voice : "Sister, I can listen to English, this foreigner is saying that Taiwan is not very progressive..." I froze - because my blond friend didn't say a word.This little boy is making up stories, but what kind of giving up did he make up!Is the inferiority complex of the Chinese nation already this deep?This child is only five years old!

The fiery sun sank on the other side of the garbage, and I left the Danshui River silently. And someone actually said: Taiwan is not as bad as you said! How bad does it have to be to shock you? In Germany, I saw snow-white wild swans swimming in the Rhine River, bright red poppies smoking high beside the road, and laughing children in the forest looking for mushrooms and berries. In Italy, I saw naked girls swimming in the cold and transparent lake, old women sitting and chatting under the vines, and traffickers dancing on the sandy beach shrouded in moonlight. In Greece, a small town surrounded by mountains and rivers like fresh water, I watched fishermen spread pebbles on the seawall, drink and sing in the sparkling light; star-like wildflowers bloomed violently on the barren mountains.

In Turkey, I met gypsy women in floral skirts carrying baskets full of flowers, selling along the ancient stone roads, and children with plump cheeks rolling around on the hillside. When I returned to Taiwan, I went to see the mountains——I saw peeled green mountains.A large piece of green was suddenly sunken, the sand was dug away, and the red soil and gravel were exposed naked.The mountains in Taipei County are full of scars, like a mangy dog ​​with ringworm and rotten hair, more like a woman who has been raped... I go to see the water.I heard that there are snow-white waterfowl in Guandu, which is not bad.But the surface of the water was densely covered with a layer of garbage, and the thin feet of the waterfowl could not find a place to perch.The married and laughing children waded in the black and foul-smelling water to catch water bugs.

Someone actually said: Taiwan is not that bad! In order to earn a few cents more, some people resell the contaminated syringes and inject the virus into the bodies of healthy people.In order to enjoy material things, some people manufacture fake milk powder, knowing that it may kill thousands of babies.In order to evade responsibility, after the accident, some people turned around and aimed at the moaning person who fell to the ground and ran over him again.Our children sit in classrooms and let the gas blow them down.Our friend was blinded by bogus wine.Our brother was hit by a car and broke his leg. He limped to school on crutches every day.And we ourselves, eating and drinking all kinds of chemical toxins calmly, breathing dirty air, living cowardly among the overbearing vehicles,

How bad can it be before you're surprised? ※ ※ ※ After "Chinese, Why Are You Not Angry" (11, 20) and "Is It Useless to Be Angry" (12, 6) were published, I heard that some teachers in universities and middle schools distributed articles to students, doing Discussion materials in class; someone copied the article and sent it around; others posted it everywhere like a poster flyer.Every day my mailbox is stuffed with letters from readers, including teachers, plumbers, students, soldiers, and hairdressers... Two of them are particularly sad: ——Our hometown, Taiwan, used to have beautiful mountains and green waters, but now it is used as a resting place.These people don't plan to take root, rest for a while, and leave when they have enough strength.How do you want them to love the country and the land?

——The living environment in Taiwan is so poor today that it makes people want to walk away.However, the Chinese who have seen the suffering finally have such a place, enjoy a little bit of life without hunger and war, and really want to cherish it; however, our environment has deteriorated to this point, which is very distressing. I really don't understand why our environment is so damaged.When people are poor.Cut down the door and burned it to keep warm. Besides, Taiwan has already "gone" 30 years later, why is it still digging holes everywhere?What's more, this "house" in Taiwan is not ours yet - we are just passers-by for generations, and generations after us will come to live here.No tenant has the right to have the roof ripped off, the floor hollowed out, and the walls blackened, because there will be other tenants coming in the future.Taiwan is a small island, and we have to leave it to the next generation.Where do we have the qualifications and where do we have the right—in order to earn a few cents more now, we are frantically and obsessively pursuing the so-called "economic growth"—to rampage on the land temporarily leased to us by Heaven and Youde, and turn the green hills Destroy, muddy the green water, poison the soil?What will people do in the future?The Chinese are not short-sighted and selfish to the point of having no sons or grandchildren, right?

※ ※ ※ The poet said: I was born with syphilis, and she was still my mother.Taiwan is my mother who gave birth to me; dirty, ugly, and morally corrupt Taiwan is my mother who gave birth to syphilis.You said Taiwan is not that bad.I think you are dreaming; you say that people who study literature should not bother with such mortal trivialities, I think you are numb: I am sitting in the study, tortured by the noise; eating a meal, there is a danger of poisoning; going out If you go to the street, you may be killed by a car; if you walk into nature, you will not see a piece of pure land.Which "knowledge" is more important than "life" itself?The reason why I write these "trivial things" again and again over the gate wall of my dense college is because for me, Taiwan's environment—natural environment, living environment, moral environment—has become so bad A moment of life and death.I, there is no way to continue to be a high-level intellectual who stands on the sidelines.

So I reach out, eager to make contact with you.I am a university professor, and you may be a noodle shop owner, an elementary school teacher, a bus driver, or a car repair worker with greasy hands; in daily life, you and I are both "small people" with exactly the same needs—— Quiet environment, clean community, orderly streets, civilized neighbors.There are many problems that we ordinary people have to rely on experts, such as the scientific method of landfill and the management of soil and water conservation in mountains and forests.There are also many people that I have no ability to influence or educate, such as the boss who kills with a knife or Awang who secretly throws garbage (they don’t know how to read supplements, right?!) But ordinary people can still do a lot of things: experts don’t try their best When you are in trouble, you have to supervise him, criticize him, and tell him: If you can't do well, replace it with someone else.As for Ngawang, if he throws it away alone and ten ordinary people pick it up, our streets and alleys will still be clean.Taiwan's environment cannot go down one step further, and if one step is dropped, it is likely to be lost forever.

※ ※ ※ This afternoon, I was walking among freshwater fields and saw a pure white egret standing gracefully on the back of a jet-black buffalo.The buffalo was rough and clumsy, with heavy hooves moving back and forth in the swamp.With the endless sky behind it, it leisurely eats the green aquatic plants at its feet; it doesn't know the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the footprints of the past and present.The wind was blowing gently, I stared at the ridge for a long time, and my heart was full of gratitude: I am grateful for the existence of this buffalo, and I am grateful for the existence of this egret and aquatic plants.My mother had syphilis, but at least she wasn't dead, and there was hope for her recovery.Since I don't want to abandon her, I must face up to her virus, stand up and wash off her rotten and smelly skin.

On the first sunny day of the new year, I will go to Datun Mountain to see the abundant miscanthus.There will be a big plastic bag in my car; I will pick up the trash along the mountain road and take it away.On the first sunny day of the Chinese New Year, you may take your students or three or four friends to Chengcheng Lake, Flame Mountain, or Xiuguluan to find a little wildness; maybe you are also willing to take a big plastic bag and pick up the flowers empty cans.At the moment you bend over, maybe I am also bending over, if we meet at the corner, let's say hello! Perhaps this year's Taiwan is really a little cleaner, quieter, and more harmonious than Taiwan in 1984.You, come to the appointment!