What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?
Lately, Taiwan faces heavy tariffs from the U.S., hitting over 20%. For many manufacturers — including the place I work — it’s a tough blow, a challenge that will shape the years ahead. Even with confusion and uncertainty all around, I’m grateful to have support at work to face it together.
This is also the first time AI plays a role in how we deal with such hard times. Though AI brings changes that can feel overwhelming, I hold onto hope. I believe we will find a way through, and things will get better — step by step, day by day.
In a world that’s becoming more chaotic, we need an even calmer heart to face it.
If one day, aliens really did arrive, not with lightspeed missiles, but quietly, through telepathy—
I imagine they wouldn’t start by asking about our technology.
They’d probably ask how we live. Maybe they’d wonder:
“Who are you?
Where do you live?
What do you believe in?”
I’d answer like this:
“I live on Earth, in a small place surrounded by ocean.
From a cosmic perspective, it’s tiny, but to me, life here is convenient—livable.
Though to be honest, our current leaders aren’t doing such a great job…
But I guess humans mess things up sometimes.”
“I’m just a small part of this place, not someone important—just trying to get through life.
Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it’s a struggle, but at least I’m still here.”
“I do have faith—though I’m not particularly devout.
It’s always been there in my heart, like a faint light that never quite goes out.
I believe the universe, in some way or another, holds similar things everywhere—
a desire to become better, an acceptance of our smallness, and the choice to keep going anyway.”
If they could understand all that,
maybe they’d ask:
“What good have you done?
And what bad?”
That would be a bit awkward… but I’d try to be honest:
“I’ve helped a few strangers, stayed with friends through hard times, and tried to turn some of my pain into words—maybe those words comforted someone out there.”
“But I’ve also made mistakes.
I’ve said hurtful things, avoided responsibility, and sometimes cursed systems I felt powerless to change.
I’m not a bad person, but I’m still learning how to be a better one.”
If they just looked at me in silence then—I’d probably give a slightly awkward laugh, and somewhere in the back of my mind, this quiet thought would surface:
Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone.
In most cities in Taiwan, we don’t have public trash bins on every street corner.
Instead, garbage trucks come at fixed times during the week, and we all head out like clockwork to catch them.
One evening, I had just finished throwing out my trash when I noticed a woman struggling with two bags—one big, one small—trying to catch up with the garbage truck.
I wanted to help, but I also didn’t want to miss the truck myself.
So I acted like a pickpocket in reverse—swiftly grabbed the big bag out of her hand and dashed toward the truck.
She looked surprised at first, but smiled and thanked me once she realized what I was doing.
It all happened in seconds, but it stuck with me.
Kindness doesn’t always come with preparation—it just needs a window, and a willingness to act.
That moment reminded me of something else.
In Taipei, you don’t often see people begging or living on the street, but once in a while, you do.
Whenever I notice someone like that, I don’t approach them immediately.
I usually walk past quietly, just to observe from a distance and make sure everything seems safe.
If it does, I double back and quietly leave something—a coin, some food.
It’s a similar feeling to the garbage bag moment.
A quiet kind of kindness.
No big gestures, no need to be seen.
Just doing a small thing, if it might make someone else’s day a bit easier.
Brassai Kao’s Tech Weave 