How exciting is your life?

As usual, official documents were coming and going, with mail carriers and couriers bustling in and out. One day, a junior detective confided in me, expressing his professional burnout. He wondered if life had to be this way... He longed for a more exciting life!

A colleague who was organizing outgoing documents beside us suggested, "Transfer to Taipei and work on catching criminals involved in pornography and illegal firearms; I guarantee it'll be thrilling."

I guess he must have wanted a life that felt fulfilling from within. Catching criminals, does it truly satisfy his heart?

Over these five years of work, I've slowly felt a sense of compromise with society. It's disconcerting, as if I've gradually accepted the culture I once resisted. I'm starting to truly consider things in a way aligned with public opinion. But I've found this somewhat peculiar; it's not easy to identify the flaws in my own thought patterns. It's effortless to rationalize my values and ideas using my cultural logic, making it increasingly challenging to accept other perspectives or new cultures.

It's no wonder, having grown up watching news on television, I understand why elderly people in mountainous regions refuse to evacuate during typhoons. After entering society, I've seen middle-aged and elderly folks prefer using buckets to catch leaks rather than moving from their existing houses. This place is their only possession, their memories, their laughter, their struggles, and their entire lives.

I empathize with them. Why do some people become die-hard fans of certain ideologies or beliefs? Things that were once rebellious have now become their everyday lives, their existence. It has turned into an integral part of who they are, making it difficult to let go. Suddenly, I understand what was once incomprehensible. Next, I want to try talking to them, discussing our differences and the similarities we share.

一如往常的公文收發，郵差與快遞們忙碌地進進出出，一個小偵查佐跟我說，他職業倦怠，他的人生，難道只能這樣嗎…他好想有很精采的人生啊！

然後，身旁正在整理發文夾的同事建議他，「調台北去抓色情抓槍枝，保證精采。」

我想他應該是想過內心感覺充實的人生吧！抓槍抓毒，抓得到他的心嗎？

工作的這五年，已經慢慢跟社會妥協的感覺，這種感覺很慌，好像已經慢慢接受了曾經所反抗的文化，慢慢的快要以一個大眾思維的方式來真正思考一件事情，但我慢慢發現這樣有點奇怪，要找出自己的思維模式的問題與瑕疵不太容易，因為很容易用自己的文化邏輯合理化自己的價值觀與想法，慢慢地，再也難以接受其他的想法或新的文化。

這也難怪，從小看著電視新聞上，歷經颱風天山區的老人家為什麼不願意撤離？出社會後，實際看到中老年人寧願拿水桶遮漏，卻不願搬離現有的房子，因為，這是他的唯一、他的回憶、他的歡笑、他的打拼，以及他的一生與一切。

我體會到同理心。為什麼有些人會變成某些人的鐵粉？曾經反抗的事情，現在變成了你的日常、你的生活，甚至是你的一輩子人生，它已然變成了你的一個部分，難以分捨，突然之間，難以理解的事情我突然理解了，接著，我想嘗試著，與他們聊天，聊著彼此的不同、聊著彼此共有的相同。