Real cost of the arms bill will be social work

Three true stories follow. Here’s the first: Because the Yunlin District Court’s juvenile settlement allowance is not sufficient to meet social needs, a probation officer of the court helps alleviate the critical situation by donating money out of his own pocket. During a preparatory meeting of juvenile halfway houses run by the Yunlin County government, Father Graham Harris, chief of the Salvation Army Taiwan headquarters, burst into tears after learning that some teenagers would be sent to other institutions due to budget difficulties.

Second, a poor elderly widow in Ilan County depends on her late husband’s NT$10,000 monthly compensation. She doesn’t use this money to meet her own basic needs — but rather scavenges people’s leftover food to save money for disaster relief, feeding the poor, participating in fund-raising activities, and so on.

Third, an elderly veteran, originally from China and now living in a retirement home in Changhua, donates his life-long savings in order to ensure better care for people in need. He’s not the only one. In the same home, another veteran offers NT$2 million to Changhua High School as a scholarship for students of poor families because poverty forced him to drop out of school.

The people in these stories, despite realizing their relatively insignificant ability to change the world, have no selfish motives and give whatever they have to society. It is not their money but their compassionate hearts that bring warmth to the world. Given the fact that we live in an environment filled with adverse social circumstances, it is because of the existence of these pure and kind souls that we are able to find hope and consolation amid depressing and negative news coverage.

Although being in a society filled with warmth such as this, my heart is still constantly filled with pain. I can’t help but sigh over our government’s inability to see the agony of its people, while poor people are giving so much.

While the government draws up a NT$600 billion (US$18 billion) arms purchase bill, the living conditions and benefits of most disadvantaged groups, disabled people, school dropouts, and elderly people living alone or confined in bed will likely suffer simply as a result of this costly arms procurement plan.

The budget of NT$600 billion can be used as an allowance for 30 million adolescents in need of social assistance. If we take the NT$600 billion to help these disadvantaged people, it will bring about immeasurable happiness and prevent a significant amount of tragedy.

The government in its self-deceit believes that obtaining sufficient armaments is parallel to buying national “security,” but these inhumane policies can make many socially disadvantaged groups even more disadvantaged before a war is launched.

The NT$600 billion budget is really not a small amount, and this is a budget in addition to the several hundred billion NT dollars spent annually on defense. We will see many government bodies complaining about their shrinking budgets, especially for social welfare, because of this massive spending on arms.

If the government believes that military expenditure is more important than quality of life, it should, at least, let its people know why.

The 1913 Nobel laureate in literature, Rabindranath Tagore, once said, “He has made his weapons his gods. When his weapons win, he is defeated himself.”

When we prioritize “national security” by passing the NT$600 billion arms purchase bill, have we ever thought about what will we will lose further down the line?

TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI

【2004/09/29  Taipei Times 930929】