so a while ago I was on reddit

and I saw this news titling

in Australia, staying loyal to Taiwan can mean losing a job

and it was about a waitress who actually shares the first name with me

Ya-Ting

she was working at a barbecue restaurant in Sydney when a customer asked her

are you Chinese? she said no I'm Taiwanese

and she was never given another shift after that

same thing happened to another waitress who was working at a Chinese restaurant

her manager asked her is Taiwan part of China

she said no definitely not

a Canadian friend actually saw this news and he asked me

he was so confused

what was the big deal? and honestly I had no idea where to begin to explain

how complicated the situations are from the very beginning of the history

at the same time

I felt very happy that these Taiwanese people are standing up for themselves in a foreign country

after reading this book called the Taiwanese Psyche

written by a psychologist who has his own clinic in the United States

I really understood the Taiwanese psyche and it just gave me a sense of realization

how powerless we Taiwanese feel sometimes

on the February 28th 1947 which we refer to as 228 in Taiwan

the intellectuals and students who were suppressed violently even killed on that day by the KMT Republic of China government

the idea of participating in any sort of political activities is dangerous really stuck

I remember vividly that my mom told me

when she was in school the students would be fined if they spoke Taiwanese in school

because the government at the time wanted to press on the education of Chinese language

I think that also stuck to us until the present day because

a lot of times I get this image that it is embarrassing or even shameful to speak Taiwanese among the younger generations

and what the media in Taiwan referring China as mainland China or simply mainland

how would the people in Taiwan not be affected by these thoughts and perspectives

this just adds even more to our powerlessness

as time goes this weakness of attitude will actually become a weakness of character

of course I'm not saying that being Taiwanese

our self-identity is all about politics our self-identity is beyond politics

we as Taiwanese have our own distinctive culture

whether it's the aboriginals or the immigrants from Southeast Asia

we are kind and accepting

we have our own values and that it's something to stand for

and you're probably thinking so what are you doing as a Taiwanese living in Canada

what are you doing for Taiwan's independence it's a good argument

but I can also tell you that because we are so mingled with different people from different countries

that we are also potential subjects to expressing our political stance

one time I was in my Chinese friend's car

I don't know what exactly led us to this subject of Taiwan's independence

and I told him I truly believe Taiwan is not part of China

immediately he got very angry and told me that if I spoke any more of it he would drop me off on the highway

my reaction was yeah drop me off here drop me off and I will walk home

please open the door

if there's one thing that I learned from all these experiences is that

if you don't stand for something you will fall for everything

and I stand for the Taiwanese values

what about you