Home on Summer Vacation

• Even though everything is actually going quite well or fine, my mind after a time always seems to kick into overdrive and make it appear as though things are falling apart. This is how I woke up this morning and let me just state, I’m not taking the bait. In other words, I’m not buying into my mind’s interpretation of reality. Instead, I’ve decided to do some writing to address some points.

I’ve been home on summer vacation for about 10 days now and I’ve been busy every day. I started swimming again and I was surprised that I am still able to swim a kilometer each time. Then I started cleaning the house, walking up and down many flights of stairs, which I really enjoy. I even enjoy getting down to the first floor, realizing that I’ve forgotten something on the sixth floor and having to walk all the way back up and then back down again. I was surprised and thankful that I was still able to do all this physical exercise, especially since I hadn’t done that much exercise throughout the school year. Then I noticed a tightening in my right knee. At first, I thought that it could be gout. Then I thought maybe it has to do with certain constructs I’ve been working on, system components disintegrating as I change how I am in relation to certain points. Now I’m thinking, maybe it’s just over exertion… Perhaps mixed in with some system disintegration, lol.

The battle on the homefront with a few of the neighbours continues as I knew it would. For more on this, please see “Horrible Neighbors or Horrible Me” parts one, two, three, four, five, six and seven. I actually wrote an update on this point and then I deleted it due to an excess of projections. Therefore, suffice to say we’re working within the rules of system to adjudicate differences of opinion and it’s not pleasant. Nevertheless, we are learning a lot and we’re standing our ground. Follow up note: as I was cleaning this morning I came across some writings that I had printed out and the first words that I read were, "When living and working within the system, it is necessary to work within the rules of the system." Continuing, "The people I'm going up against are high end legal experts and the wealthy majority shareholder of the company." Strange how things change, yet remain the same. 

Anyway, having just finished up my third year at my favorite university, I’m left feeling once again that I am able to do better. Honestly,  I guess I feel this way at the end of every year. Thus, I will once again revise each one of my syllabuses, all nine or ten of them. This time, in addition to reading, speaking and listening, I plan to double the amount of blog posts that my students write. As for classes such as Global Citizenship, I would like to find topics that students actually give a shit about. Democracy, human rights, wealth inequality… No one seems very interested and I guess I can’t really blame them. Afterall, as far as societies go, Taiwan is one of the freest places I’ve ever lived. That being said, I will nevertheless continue to push for a new understanding of Democracy and Human Rights, too.

On a more joyous note, I’ve been noticing that my relationship to money has changed and perhaps I’ll write about this in my next post.

Horrible Neighbors or Horrible Me - Part 7

In previous posts: parts one, two, three, four, five and six, in which I have written over the last three years, I explained many of the details relating to this case. It all started when some of the 90 degree, four sided roofs in our community began having problems with their roofs.  The building company offered to take full responsibility for these problems, but 4-5 people in the community decided that all of the roofs - even the majority there are of a different design, were defective and dangerous. Thus, they demanded that the building company pay a huge sum of money, much more than it would cost to replace all of the roofs. The only ones who refused to go along with what I would call extortion, were my partner and I. Thus, the community (led by the gang of five) sued us, claiming that (1) we were bad neighbors and must be forced out of our home and (2) that our roof was dangerous and must be replaced.

Even though the community lost both the lower and higher court cases against the building company, the attacks and abuse against us have not stopped. Just the other day, one of the gang said very nasty things to my partner in public. I guess he feels he can get away with this kind of behavior because, each time we have pressed charges, the prosecutor has said the evidence was insufficient, even though we had recordings and he didn’t deny speaking the words. Needless to say, we are going to continue to press charges. Another one of the gang has continued to make false statements and write false papers (for which we have proof) and use them against us. Meanwhile, my partner continues to study the law, and as she is learning very rapidly, she is now handling all of the cases.  

Unfortunately or fortunately (only time will tell), the judge ruled against us in one of the first cases and ordered us to replace  our roof. Based on my interpretation of her statement, even though our roof is not dangerous now, it could be dangerous in the future. Therefore, in order to avoid wasting time and money on future court cases, it is better to replace it now. For me, this is like telling the owner of a car that, even though his car is not dangerous now, he must replace it now because it could be dangerous in the future. Logically speaking, the judge ignored the law on just about eight counts. Furthermore, if we were to apply her reasoning to every roof in Taiwan, almost  all of the homeowners would be required to replace their roofs, even the ones in our community that have just been replaced. Needless to say, we are appealing this decision to the higher court.  This time however, my partner is handling the case.

At this point, some readers may be asking, why fight it, why not just give in, pay the money and get on with life? I have also asked myself this question many times; why not just pay the money and move away? For sure, it’s war, wherein there will be no winners. However, there are learners and I am one of them. I am certain that the ground on which my partner and I stand is correct; thus it is only a question where to draw the line on which we will remain standing.

The most difficult part for me in all of this, has been to live by my commitment to work within the system and not fight dirty. Draw the line here or draw it there; eventually we are all going to have to draw it somewhere and take a stand. Herein, I learn to work openly and honestly within the constraints of the system.