Observations made of the world, from the Front Page Sections, translated…
A month ago, I was in Paris studying, it’s a beautiful, big city. There would always be those carrying a sign with SVP (French for “Please Help”) on the streets, showing up on the street corners, in the subways; in the passages into the subway stations, other than those street artists, there would be those with quilts, along with all their belongings, the homeless, sitting down, or standing up, with a small tin can in front of them, like the performers. In my eyes, they’d, become, a part of the culture, I’d slowly, gotten, used to seeing them everywhere.
not my photo…
But, every time I’d met their gazes, and they’d asked, “Please give me a hand”, my heart would start conflicting with itself: should I, toss down a few coins? But I’d always found myself an excuse, I’m a poor student too, I don’t have family here, if I can’t pay my rents, or I’d spent my euros too fast, I will get kicked out of the place I was staying. So, I’ll just, leave the homeless on the streets of Paris, to the Parisians to help out.
One day, I’d asked my French roommate who was studying at the Paris Politics Academy, “How do you French deal with the homeless?” she’d first, used a French kind of body language, let out a long sigh, showed that hint of not knowing what to do. But then, she’d told, “I know of several social welfare organizations that the homeless can live off of.” I’d asked if she’d handed her spare change to the homeless on the streets? She’d told me, “No, but I’d given them food instead, because I don’t want them to use the money I gave to them, to buy more booze”.
not my photo…
At another time, I was having a conversation underneath a roof, with a Moroccan girl. At the moment we were about to cross the streets, we were caught up by a man whom we’d passed a short while ago, with a sign asking for donations, he’d asked, “Can I have a cigarette?”, my friend generously took one out for him. She’d shared with me the rule of Islamic religion she’d followed toward beliefs of homeless, “I am always willing to help someone out, because you don’t know when the day will come, that you will be the one, needing the assistance from others.” Based off of my observations, she’d never held back, on handing them spare change.
Looking at the news of how the community of Wanhua had asked the population of the homeless to vacate the properties, the residents, the shops, had their own standpoints, fighting, for bettering the quality of living standards and the chances of developing the business opportunities, but, what’s worth thinking on is, is Taipei really, that cramped up, that it can’t take in any of those without their own homes?
Under current conditions, I can’t say that I know how the government works, or even how the social welfare works, I can only say, that I honestly believe, that there’s still room here, in Taipei, for the homeless populations, and, the human mind shouldn’t be so narrow, to judge if someone is allowed to stay, or, forced to leave.
Paris is a city with endless beauty and character, the tourists, the locals, and the homeless all coexist peacefully, everybody can find a place for oneself in this city. Wanhua’s pushing forth with the rules on making the environment more tourist-friendly, it is just, an excuse for not being tolerant of people who are homeless. In Taipei, we have, those MRT trains, with clear windows, compared to how dirty the subway stations of Paris were, set aside the laws, maybe, it can be, a place, that offers the homeless population shelter in the futures.
not my photo…
This time, the Wanhua Community’s casting out the homeless population had made the public understand, that the order that’s on the surfaces of Taipei held two truths: one, how people distrusted each other, and how selfish people really are here, second, the society had, pushed the problems, blamed it on the policies of the government, without knowing, that they’d, turned the issues, back, into a cliché again. SVP (S’il vous plaît), if the mindset of evicting doesn’t change or improve, it’ll only, stunt the progresses of the society, and, in turn, preventing the cities from becoming better.
This is the cultural differences of how people treated the homeless community, and maybe, the Asians do show a little LESS kindness toward the homeless in the population, but perhaps, it’s because of how here, we had come in contact with people on the streets all over, outside the MRT stations, there would be homeless people, who are dirty, smelly, with their limbs still INTACT, and if they still have their limbs intact, shouldn’t they be, working for a living, like the rest of us, instead of sitting on the street corners, begging for that handout???
Or maybe, people in Taiwan just isn’t as kind as people are in Paris, who knows??? And, don’t forget, there were those cases of scam artists who’d posed as homeless, to scam the public for money, and perhaps, it’s due to the influx of all of these cases, that’s turned people away, from helping the needy, who knows………
Life, the Obstacle Course 