Indifference

Recently, I have read Stephen Crane’s The Blue Hotel, The story mainly talks about the indifferent of people. I love this short story because it shows what is happening now in our lives.

The story begins in a light blue hotel; when the main character Swede was playing a game with three other men, he find out one of them was cheating. So they fight for the dignity and justice. The problem is, Swede’s game partner did see the man was cheating, but he just keep silence. Then, Swede won the fight, but was kicked out of the hotel. So he went to another hotel and get drunk. When he wanted to tell somebody how great he is to find out someone is cheating, they do not care at all. Finally, customers there are pissed off by Swede’s action, and they killed Swede. Later, when Swede’s partner, Eastner, recalled, he said that Swede was not killed only by that certain customer, but by us. Because of our coldness, he paid he life.

This story inspires me a lot. Because it basically talks about what happens now. I was born in Taichung, so I can easily notice the differences between Taichung and Taipei. A lot of people in Taipei do not really care what happened around. The detachment and coldness really scare me when I first came here. Compared with Taipei people, Taichung People are more passionate and kind. My point is, we live in a city with other people. If we do not even care about other people, we die. We lost the meaning of living together.

Start paying attention to our neighbors and say hello to them. You will find out your life better and happier. After all, helping others is helping ourselves.

(295 words)