Living in the Wild, Wild East

When you're living in the wild, wild East, law enforcement is either generally lax or, in many cases, non-existent altogether. Because despite the example provided by many highly advanced, modern Western countries (such as the USA, the UK, and many nations in Europe), the mere concept of Law and Order is still poorly understood or even deemed wholly unnecessary in Asia. But boy, they sure do love our computers, big screen TVs, and smart phones, don't they?

So every single day one tends to witness a bewildering series of lawless and even quite foolish and unsafe shenanigans that people in China, Taiwan, and South Korea tend to get up to. Everything from jaywalking, to queue jumping (people not standing patiently in line), to every other kind of rude, disrespectful, selfish and asinine rule breaking you can possibly imagine. And most of the time, it's all done in broad daylight, right out in the open where everyone can see everyone else getting away with everything short of murder and outright theft.

For example, it is not uncommon to see someone walking right down the middle of the street in many parts of so-called "modern" Asia (even when there is an empty sidewalk nearby), forcing oncoming drivers to slow down in an effort to avoid hitting them. And everybody knows the especially bad reputation that Asian drivers tend to have! This however, does NOT stop Asian pedestrians from challenging their fellow citizens who may happen to be behind the wheel of a motor vehicle that could quite possibly kill or maim them.

But then... I guess, with the widely accepted concept of Buddhist reincarnation, one just gets to keep coming back, presumably to continue trying to do all the same incredibly stupid and totally reckless shenanigans all over again! Again and again and again. Apparently. Hmm. Doesn't sound like much of a "religion" to me. But what do I know? I'm a Christian, a Catholic Christian to be exact.

So in fact, I often think that the good Lord Almighty must be particularly partial to Asians. I mean, I often say to myself, "God must absolutely love the Chinese!" After all, they're certainly the most numerous group of people on Earth, and besides... if I, as a white American of European descent, were as careless, reckless, childish, and often downright stupid as I often witness Asians being out in the public, I'd most likely be stone cold dead already. Gosh! Maybe I just don't have enough "white privilege" working in my favor. Gee, that really sucks, don't it?