May 30, 2010
Translated by Lydia Ma

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise," (Psalm 51:17).

During a recent lecture in Taiwan, renowned political science professor and writer Benedict Anderson remarked: "If you feel no shame for your country, you cannot be a nationalist."

Anderson explained that genuine love for a country gives birth to a sense of shame for that country, but this sentiment doesn't prompt a person to reject his country. Instead, it forces him to realize his country has much room for improvement. As a citizen, a person partakes in a country's glory and shame and that's what drives him to call for reforms and improvements.

In contrast, a person who never ceases to revel in his country's past achievements and glory, whose national pride is easily hurt by other people's criticisms, or who considers any and every criticism about his country as a plot to conquer and divide his people is the worst kind of nationalist. He is also the kind of person who will fall for lies uttered by careerists to advance their own agendas.

Our neighboring country, China, is currently hosting Expo 2010 and this international event will undoubtedly allow visitors to get a glimpse of its power and booming economy.

In the midst of the hype, Beijing seems to have forgotten how it had condemned and sought to sweep out Chinese culture and history merely a few decades ago. Ironically, Beijing has recently begun to embrace China's rich heritage and history as its inheritance and has even begun to tout Chinese history in film and television. Past emperors who were once reviled as violent and cruel despots are now lauded as model citizens and heroic leaders.

As the spotlight shone on Shanghai and Expo 2010, a killing rampage took place in a kindergarten in another part of China, injuring 32 people. Days later, a similar incident happened again and claimed the lives of 7 young children. In the span of 2 months, 6 kindergartens across China reported stabbings that exceeded 20 fatalities in total.

In response to these "inopportune" tragedies just as Expo 2010 was under way, Chinese authorities put a lid on these incidents and brushed them aside, prompting a blogger to comment satirically, "Kids, you've rained on your old man's parade!" The blogger was no doubt alluding that these incidents had unmasked Beijing's show of harmony and peace in China.

Many people in China live in fear and insecurity because the Chinese government doesn't care about serious injustices happening throughout the country and would rather cover them up or gloss over them.

Sadly, Taiwanese officials and bureaucrats in capitalist countries don't fare much better. A while back, some employees who were laid-off illegally by their company appealed to Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs, but never heard back from the government. When they sought the help of their company's partner firm, they were similarly brushed off.

There have been a string of suicides recently among employees at Foxconn Electronics' plant in China. As we await further details of what happened, the general assumption is that management at Foxconn failed in their capacity as managers and employees had been subjected to unacceptable working conditions.

Incidents like these not only cast a dark shadow over a company's reputation and create tension with members of the community, they further cement biases Chinese people may already have about Taiwanese businessmen.

Strong-willed and powerful people sometimes have difficulty seeing their mistakes and shortcomings, but if their fellow Taiwanese would have a sense of shame and call these people's actions to account, there might still be a glimmer of hope.

An example of such an instance is recorded in the Bible when the prophet Nathan confronted King David after the latter murdered Uriah the Hittite and committed adultery with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. David's response to Nathan's rebuke was one filled with shame and sincere repentance.

In the end, David's repentance saved him and spared his people from disaster during his reign. David's story teaches us that we mustn't turn a blind eye to sins and injustices committed by powerful people and people of authority. Though very few of them may come to repentance as David did, we must still give them a chance to be saved and redeemed.

Taiwan Church News