The Spirit or the Letter?
Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.
Where we are: Having driven and trained all the way around the perimeter of Taiwan, we’re now back in Taipei.
The Spirit or the Letter?
When we arrived in Taiwan two weeks ago, we quickly realized (and were not surprised) that everyone was diligently following the Covid prevention mask rules. There were a few specific circumstances in which you could take off your mask (eating in restaurants, exercising outside), but otherwise, the law was—wear the mask whenever you’re not at home.
That has now changed. The outdoor mandate was lifted yesterday.
Lee and I were ecstatic when we read the change was coming. It’s warm and muggy here, and wearing a mask outside when there were no other people near me was … sweaty. I’m happy to follow the rules, but I have to admit—this was a rule that was challenging me.
Yesterday was the first day of the new rule, so when Lee and I walked out of our hotel, on our way to drop off the laundry, we immediately and gleefully pulled our masks off.
After several blocks of walking on relatively quiet morning streets, we realized that we were the only people who had taken them off.
Hunh.
Did we put them back on? No. Were we highly aware that we looked like jerks? Yes.
It’s a tough call, in such a community-oriented culture. It’s not the first time we’ve come up against a social norm that we (okay, I) find onerous. I try very hard not to offend or bother or worry the people who live in the places we visit, but sometimes appropriate behavior is a judgment call.
The mask issue here is very similar to the clothing issue in a place like Jordan. There’s no law saying women can’t wear shorts there, but it’s just not done. I tried it, and quickly realized that men were staring at my legs. I went back to long pants. It seemed rude and offensive and just wrong to violate the local standards so openly.
I’ll be very interested to see what happens over the next few days. Will people keep wearing the masks, or will they gradually take them off as the news spreads? I’m betting plenty of people will keep wearing them, but I don’t think I understand why—is it habit, or simplicity, or genuine concern about protecting each other?
I’m really curious—this is one of those moments when I wish I spoke at least a little of the language, so I could strike up conversations and figure out what people are thinking.
On second thought, it might be impossible to do that without being a jerk.
From my writer’s notebook:
In August, an abbey in Normandy was robbed of some ancient relics (two vials of Christ’s blood) and liturgical items. I often see these beautiful artifacts in European churches, and I wonder that they’re not stolen more often. There’s rarely much security in churches, and often all kinds of valuable stuff.
Relics, for those of you who might not be familiar with the concept, are pieces of the body or clothing of Jesus, or another holy person or saint). They’re usually stored in special ornate, valuable containers, made of gold or silver, often with precious stones, as befits such precious and treasured items. There’s often a tiny glass window, so worshippers can see the fragment of bone, or whatever the relic is.
Anyway, according to Artnet News, these particular thieves seem to have realized that stealing the blood of Jesus might not bode well for them in the long run (besides—that stuff is really difficult to sell), so they returned the entire haul to Arthur Brand, a renowned art detective in the Netherlands, just a few weeks after the theft.
I guess that explains why more people don’t steal things from churches—it’s just an all-around bad idea.
Take care,
Lisa
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