Response To:“Only after you have been to Europe and America Will you value Taiwan more.”〈去過歐美才知應更珍惜台灣〉

By  Justin C. Lai (賴崇賢)

This shall constitute my response to the above-referenced article recently

forwarded to me by Dr. K.C. Hsu & other friends. In it there are some view points

expressed and impression made on a traveler on his trip to and back from Europe &

USA.

There apparently are some “culture shocks” confronting, perplexing or troubling

the traveler. One can hardly imagine and expect to meet with these shocks one

experiences, especially when one is entering from an under-developed, or a

developing country into a highly-developed one, or vice versa.

But from time to time what a traveler observes when visiting a foreign country

may be superficial or superfluous. Indeed, there have been usually some

complimentary meals, snacks on a plane or some free services offered at a filling

station. These are gone now. Besides, there may be some buildings in poor shape, no

newly-furnished seats on the plane, the author found. It is all right to assert that

America is having economic recession. People in America are adapting to the life

sluggish economy brought to them recently. But it does not necessarily signify that

“America is facing retardation or losing vitality.”

In a way, we can find that average American businessmen are reasonable and

flexible. Of course, good service for customers is one of their top concerns. The

downgrade of services sometimes reflects the cost of a business. They will not be

stupid enough to “kill a chicken simply out of a desire for its eggs.” However, brilliant

and farsighted as they are, some CEO’s and CFO’s of corporations with lucrative

business, inclusive of the airlines will never fail to put their personal profit ahead of

other important concerns. This may explain in part the situations in which some rather

unsatisfactory services still exist.

It is certainly true that there used to be some free and great flight services on a

plane flying in Southeast and Northeast Asias. One of the reasons could be that there

was/has been a very keen competition between airlines in these regions. Following

their different business philosophy is often the case with the Oriental businessmen,

providing good service to passengers. And their mentality is “More sales can make up

for the barely marginal profit of each sale. -『薄利多銷』。” However, the mere

stupidity and stubbornness of Western businessmen can not possibly persuade

themselves to do the same.

Like the rest of Asian countries, Taiwan has been in progress in economics,

commerce, or hi-tech, etc. during the past decades. With GDP increasing, the living

standard is rising. Therefore, it makes sense that travelers from Taiwan will

relatively expect a good or even better service wherever they go. They will feel

frustrated when they find the situation beyond their expectations.

It is a bit exaggerating to describe the US government as run by “rascals”, or

industries managed by “robbers.” It is indeed true, however, America is controlled by

some educated, talented and privileged few.

Not that “people in America seem to be independent and look forward”, but that

they have to be. If you are helped by someone, it is looked upon as a courtesy, a grace

or a blessing. I am afraid that’s the way things are here in America.

Influenced by financial crises occurring in some European countries such as

Greece, Italy or Spain, Europe is facing an unprecedented trouble. As part of the

global economy, one country’s economy is likely to be dragged down by another’s.

Therefore, it is safer to infer that even though France and Germany rank top of the

countries with better economy and finance, they can not stay out of the messy trouble

in today’s Europe. Neither will USA be. Naturally, should these imminent problems

be under control and coped with successfully in Europe, some subsequent peril, as Dr.

Peter Diamond (a Nobel prize-winner) put it, may hopefully be avoided in America

and elsewhere, Asia included. Well, people can not somehow forget about the

prosperity they once lived in. But they may ignore one thing- “things really have

changed, unfortunately.”

【網編附註】
本文發佈後，接到同學回應，希望可以讀到〈近年去過歐美才知應更珍惜台灣〉原文。

〈近年去過歐美才知應更珍惜台灣〉的作者是錢達，他的年紀和我們相仿，是一位政治人物，在台灣曾任立法院僑選立委（新黨）。文章發表於2011年11月15日，主要是對目前台灣大選有感而發。該文網路有許多親中站點轉載，以下是其中一個連結：http://www.chinacitynews.be/?p=13849
關於錢達，可參閱維基百科：http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%8C%A2%E9%81%94