(A Reaction to a planned ECFA (on the bus from Taichung to Taipei, Dec. 23, 2009):
Who is going to carry on the spirit and accomplishments of the generation of those now 50 to 70 years old? It lies with you… I love you, and in this very moment I am still wondering if I love you enough to forgive you when you surrender and succumb to the solely monetary temptation of unification. At least I wish you to fight and not give up before it is all over! You still hold the power in your own hands, and the key to Taiwan’s future is yours still, and it does not lie in a Free Trade Agreement with China. It will only break the door trying to open it for a way out towards someplace labeled future.
Look beyond this narrow Taiwan Strait: Taiwan is part of the ocean, grown from the sea, comparted by an imaginary line named Tropic of Cancer, neckbone of a spinal island arc, in geoterritorial confrontation between the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea Plates which through a cruel jest of fate mirror in geopolitical terms. The sea will take you to places afar, you are an open nation, as sea farers tend to be open-minded, you are people of the south where pleasant temperatures enflame people’s hearts, you are not spatially bound to the Chinese continent, your perspective is the horizon! The ocean connects you with all places, free as fish. Open you eyes, look at yourselves and look up, let your eyes carry you over the oceans, do not be afraid, lift up your voices, be confident and proud, like I were be proud to be one of you!
I would also be so afraid, because I cannot look into your hearts sometimes, I cannot tell what you want, and whether it is the same thing we are striving for. Why do I want more for you than you do? Why don’t you think you can have it all? All at once, power and democracy, and economic success?
Everybody needs a basis, and so do you.
Your democracy, result of decades of dedicated people’s unending efforts, of your blood, sweat, and tears, it does not come by itself, it comes at a cost. You need to work for it, on it, and you need to need it to stay the people you are, the people I love. I can support you in that, and I will, but I cannot do it for you.
This my be my dream, and I didn’t stay here long enough to know what it truly is like to suffer, but for you this is but real. You cannot escape it, this is your country, your home, and you have a responsibility to protect it. For future generations; And you owe it to the ones who sacrificed so much to enable you to live that way you live now. This is the greatest opportunity, the justest cause, of your lifetime!, and it is also a mission, an assignment. Something you started. You gave me this promise of a free land full of beautiful, caring, friendly people, and now I would like you to only keep this promise.
I’m a big fan of yours, and I love you, so I beg you: Please, don’t leave my love letters unanswered.
I hope for you, I fear for you, I cry for you, I weep for you, I speak out for you. So much would I love to be with you, or be one of you, that it completely occupies my mind. I feel I can’t live without you! So I urge you, please do this for me, if you dare to accept my love, do this with all your might, and I know you can achieve everything if you only really want to. I have learned what you were able to accomlish in the past, but can you still feel it? It is not all that long ago, and it ain’t a myth. All of it is real! You are living freely through past sacrifice. Those responsible for it are your fathers and mothers, your grandfathers and grandmothers. You can still ask them about it. You are their descendants, their blood runs through your veins, which makes me know for certain you have what it takes!
