Jonah and I usually go to see movies at Vieshow cinemas, which is opposite Shinkong Mitsukoshi department store in Xinyi District. Recently, we discovered there are regular performances around that area. Every performer has a booth. We can call them artists, I guess.
One of them used balloons to create cute animals like dogs or cats; another one drew cartoon portraits for people; some people painted and decorated their bodies to become interesting characters like E.T. or the Silver Surfer from Fantastic Four. They were interacting with the crowd.
The most special artists were a blind man who was playing harmonica with a guide dog and two female singers who had each lost one eye. Their talent was quite good and I was very touched by their courage.
I am so glad that there are places providing people with the opportunity to show their talent, especially disabled people. Our government doesn't pay much attention to them, so they don't get many resources. I think this place is a great starting point, although I don't know how we can make their lives much better.
Sometimes Jonah and I talk about our government's stupid policies, and Jonah often complains the government doesn't do many useful things for people. Of course, I agree with him.
But I also ask myself this question: I am just an ordinary person, so what can I do for Taiwan to make it a little better? I think even just donating some money to those disabled artists, or just turning off my office lobby's air-conditioning is great. Those little things will make our society a little bit better.
Maybe there are lots of people who have the same idea as me and do the same little things. Then at least they would make some changes for the good.
Chen Shiang-mei
Taipei
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