Taiwan’s walkways are full of stalls but these stall operators don’t have a license to operate. It is illegal to park their stalls along walkways so it is quite a common sight to see a policeman walk up to a stall operator and issue them a fine.
A netizen witnessed a policeman patrolling a busy street full of stalls. Most younger and more capable stall owners would quickly pack up and escape but this particular grandmother who operated a stall was too old to run away. The police’s next move made netizens broke into tears.
One day, this Taiwanese netizen from Pingtung County went out for a leisure walk with his friends. They came to a busy street with stalls on both sides of the street. Suddenly, all of the store owners suddenly started packing up their things and ran away as they saw a policeman on patrol duty walking down the street. The store owners were very agile and were gone in an instant.
The street was quiet again but there was a stall that was still in the middle of packing things. It was operated by a grandmother. As she was very old, her movement was very slow to escape. In just a few minutes, the policeman had already reached her stall and the policeman explained to her that she had gone against the law.
The netizen who witnessed the event heard the grandmother pleaded to the policeman: “Please do not issue me a fine”
No matter how pitiful the grandmother pleaded to the policeman, she was unable to change his decision. The policeman remorselessly issued a fine to the grandmother. The netizen who saw the whole incident felt bad for the grandmother. It was already very tough for a grandmother to open up a stall and do business but in the end, all of her hard earned money had to be used to pay the fine.
After the police issued the fine, he pulled out his wallet and pulled out two pieces of a thousand dollar notes.
He then gave the fine and two thousand Taiwanese dollars to the grandmother
Previously, grandmother was pleading the policeman not to issue her a fine but with the sudden turn of the event, she stood there astounded and did not dare to accept the money.
The policeman insisted that the grandmother take the two thousand Taiwanese dollars. After that, the police turned around and walked away leaving the grandmother standing there in disbelief. The grandmother stood there with tears rolling down her eyes. At the same time, the netizen cried after seeing the incident as well.
After that, the netizen shared this story on social medias and the story quickly gained a lot of attention from netizens. Some netizens commented:
“99.99% of Taiwanese policemen are warm and kind-hearted.”
“There are a lot of disappointments in life but among these disappointments are warm and kindhearted events that made our world a better place to live in.”
There was also a message from a student studying at the Central Police University: “The policeman was doing his work according to the law and it must have been tough for him to issue this grandma a fine. He had to issue this ticket as it was to prevent stall owners from operating their business in illegal areas. Senior, you are so cool!”
A lot of people think that police would mercilessly issue fines but have you ever thought that whether policemen are really that heartless? Policemen are not merciless in the first place. Everything is written down in black and white. We are the ones who are ignoring the law but we are also the ones pleading to the police and thus, giving them a hard time.
Policemen may seem as cold and merciless but when they are off duty and not wearing their uniforms, they are just the same as us. They too are compassionate towards civilians as well. When they see others in trouble, they also feel sad and would give a helping hand as well. It is good to see the public in Taiwan can rely on their warm and kind policemen to make the society safer and better to live in.
Let us remind each other to not break the law and be kind to everyone no matter what their status are. If you like this story, why not click ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ it with your friends and family.
