Safe in Taiwan

To follow up on my post about Taiwanese friendliness, you are also totally free of crime or threat here. As America slides toward the abyss, see:

Pennsylvania town mulls recommending guns for all

In Taiwan you are perfectly safe (except for scooter traffic). There is no physical crime, such as muggings or attacks. And almost no stealing, that I see. Of course these things exist. One guy went bonkers in Taipei and attacked some people with scissors before the police came. But he was probably mentally ill, and in America he would have climbed a water tower with a sniper rifle. Some guy did try to break into BeeJen's family home, but father sleeps on the couch downstairs and the noise woke him up, so he started calling to see if it was brother Wu coming home. This scared the burglar away. But the other day I left a CD player and two guitars sitting outside and went into a store, and nobody touched it. I always leave my scooter helmet just sitting on my scooter, and nobody touches it. In contrast, my brother had his backpack stolen while standing on the street waiting for the bus because he turned his back for a minute and left his bag. He also had his car broken into and all his CD's stolen. This is not to say the US is bad. Of course shit happens everywhere. In Poland, I knew a British guy who owned a car (by the way this is a big deal, to own a car, everywhere except in the US where half the 16 year olds have one) and people broke into his car constantly. He refused to get a car alarm based on the principle that he hated the noise when people left their car alarm on all night and he couldn't sleep. Well, he finally changed his mind when he found one morning that a guy had not only broken into his car, but was still sleeping in his car. In Poland poverty and alchohol fed these types of incidents. Once I was biking with my buddy in the woods in Poland on a beautiful Tues. morning in May, and we came upon these two fishermen at a lake. Being innovent, naive, and hopeful, we approcahed them full of good cheer. Turns out they were sloppy falling down drunk. The one guy turned around and puked. On a Tues. morning. In the US these guys would be homeless, but the family structure is very strong in Poland, and Mama and the family will always take care of these guys. Anyways the point is this type stuff just doesn't happen in Taiwan. Partly it is because they don't really drink alchohol, and partly they have money, and partly they have this Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, thing going which says losing face is worse than confrontation and social harmony is the most important thing. This means fighting or violence or anger in public is almost unheard of. Of course there are other societies with the same values (Thailand, China) who have major social problems. But in Taiwan mostly it is chill. Of course they will riot over politics. A man in the legislature last month set off a tear gas bomb in the legislature to protest that the 3rd recall of the president had failed. (Yes the 3rd, and they will go for a 4th, and it will fail too, but they won't give up). This guy, even if he was a congressman in the US, would be arrested as a "terrorist". Here is an eccentric. But politics aside, it is very safe here. I can't tip anybody. Cabbies will studiously count my change and ensure that I get back every nickel. A cabbie in Taipei gave a lady back $10,000US in cash that she left in his cab (even though he had $30,000 in gamblng debts and the gangsters were coming to break his legs, seriously). He followed the lady and when he couldn't find her he went to the police, and then the lady called and got her bag. When they asked him about it, he said he just wouldn't have felt right about it if he took the money. Criminals will try to steal money from locals, but not knowing Chinese ensures safety from all these scams. They lend money at extortion rates, and call the house saying they have kidnapped your son and you have to pay ransom. This usually doesn't work, because everyone has a cell, so they just hang up and call their son and he says, "I'm OK", so they know it's a scam. But they shrug it off. If people did this in the US, you would have the FBI on the case and shit. OK, last example, I go running on a high school track close to my house, which sometimes is lit at night and sometimes not. But nobody is around, you can't see the street, just trees. To do this at night, alone, is not safe in America. Some wierdo guy may attack you. Here I am perfectly safe. The worst that happens is a couple of students are around and gawk at me.