The other day I went to DMV(Department of Motor Vehicle) at one of its offices in NYC, trying to renew my driver's license. Guess how long had I spent in there before I finally got just an interim license? Four and a half(4.5) hours. No kidding! How much did I pay for that kind of "service"? Eighty dollars, let alone the expensive parking fee. Just several months ago, I went to Taipei DMV to renew my ROC driver's license. I merely spent ten minutes and less than 7 dollars to get a formal, photoed one. What a remarkable difference of efficiency between the two DMVs. Ok, for most Americans driver's license are their only photo ID; unlike in Taiwan the license acts mainly as the permit to drive and partially as a supplemental ID, for there is another official ID. But if you apply those two IDs in Taipei during same day, I bet it won't take you more than an hour in total, excluding travelling time between two bureaus.
Recently Hurricane Sandy devastated greater NYC, and made a huge swath of the area out of power and gas, and out of gasoline as well. Ten days elasped, some areas were still in outage, and many cars still queued up for hours for rationed fuel at very limited gas stations. If the situation happens in Taiwan, the chairmen of petroleum company and Taipower will step down for sure, and most likely the minister of Economy will, too. Many people in Taiwan regard America as a dream land to live in. Not really, at least not any more.
Yet I would give high credits to Americans. They showed great patience in the DMV as well as extrordinary endurance during the Sandy disaster, which would otherwise break out a tumult in Taiwan. That kind of maturity means they trust in their fate and government, a convergent power of good civil quality to make America a great country.
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