From Taiwan to the world
Last year, I dreamed that humans scrambled to decode intelligent signals from outer space, but it turned out to be a simulated test message Earth had sent to itself to see how the world would respond.
How absurd, and yet the world dares to tell us Taiwanese what we are.
As an eight-year-old, I cried when my father showed me our small island nation.
“This map is wrong. We can’t be that small,” I said.
“No, Formosa is a beautiful island. Do not let the world tell you what we are,” he said.
So I grew up correcting those who mistake Taiwan for Thailand, the Burmese flag as ours.
As the world enjoyed our bubble milk tea, I could barely swallow mine.
We burn incense sticks and pray to Matsu, our sea goddess and protector. We are to line up to vote on Saturday.
Young, old, some for the first time, all as if it were our last.
We will cast our ballots. Cast our fate to the missile-threatened skies. Cast our message to the world, to all intelligent life out there:
“If this is not statehood, then what is? If this is not self-determination, then what is?”
Amy Lee
Seattle, Washington
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