Mooncakes and compassion
The scene: a Taipei branch of a famous bakery in Taichung where mooncakes are an important part of the annual business.
The characters: a woman walks in to get the mooncakes she made reservations for a month ago, paid for in advance; the clerk.
The problem: because the mooncakes are made at a factory in Fengyuan that was hit hard by Tuesday's earthquake (and since many of the workers at the factory come from the nearby town of Tungshih that was especially hard hit by the quake), the bakery cannot deliver the goods.
The conversation: after being informed by a clerk at the bakery that her order cannot be filled and that a refund will be forthcoming, the woman bows her head and says, no, keep the money, and please consider it a donation to help those factory workers who were displaced by the quake.
End of the story: there is no end to this story, and we suspect many more stories like this have been taking place around the island, small miracles of human kindness in the face of disaster.
BQ/AQ
Dear Off the Beat,
The earthquake changed everything. Taiwan, the Taiwan we used to know, will never be the same. Yes, there have been earthquakes here before, killer quakes. But the earthquake of 9/21/99 -- just a few months shy of the year 2000 -- has changed the entire landscape, the island mindset.
There will be two Taiwans now: BQ. and AQ. (before the quake and after the quake).
We will measure our lives in Richter scale units, body counts, the missing, the injured. There is no going back to the Taiwan that was.
Those of us who lived through the Great Chi Chi Earthquake, who saw the TV images day after day, who poured over the papers every day, who wrote letters home and e-mailed friends across the world, we will never forget.
A divide: BQ and AQ Where were you when the earthquake struck? What floor were you on? What were your first thoughts?
For the dead, let us pray.
For the injured, let us hope.
For the missing, may they find solace in the afterworld.
For the survivors, may their nightmares cease.
For the living, may we find meaning in life and live now with more purpose, more zest, more soul.
-- name withheld
A final note
A somber Taiwan went into its usually joyous Mid-Autumn Festival yesterday mourning its dead -- now over 2,100 -- and with hopes fading away for people buried under earthquake-shattered buildings.
The annual Moon Festival holiday -- an important reunion day for families -- started on a gloomy note with thousands of families camped out in parks, frightened to go indoors because of a continuing stream of sometimes powerful aftershocks.
Overseas news story
offthebeat@taipeitimes.com
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