上班族必備軟實力

[Richard has lived in Taiwan so long that he has to refresh his memories concerning his homeland.]

Each of the 50 states in the USA have many official things. These things are created by state governments to celebrate the things that are locally unique and worthy of pride. It could be a unifying source of inspiration for the community and a point of common ground for the people to rally around. It may also be an example of brainless bureaucrats wasting money and time.

I was born in New Mexico, whose official nickname is ‘The Land of Enchantment’. The state bird is the roadrunner that goes “meep meep”, and the state flower of New Mexico is the yucca. We Later moved to Oklahoma, which is known as ‘The Sooner State’, and their state bird is the scissor tailed fly catcher. The state flower of Oklahoma is mistletoe, which is what astronauts have, and it is also a parasite. Besides birds and flowers, there are state rocks, state animals, state insects, and state just-about-anything-else.

Every state has a unique flag. California has a bear on theirs, but if the bears go extinct, they will change it to a surfboard. The flag of Oregon is different on each side, there is a beaver on the back. That is because if you flip anything over in Oregon, you are likely to find a beaver. At any government building in America, you will likely find a state flag flying next to the old Stars and Stripes.

Each state has unique and official symbols as illustrated by this colorful refigerator magnet.

All the people who live in each state are proud of all their state symbols. And yet, we hear every year how some state senate has enacted a proclamation to honor so-and-so or what-you-may-call-it, and you are left thinking that there must be something more important to concentrate on, but there are worse things they could be doing as well.

Throughout the history of America, there has been a sometimes fiercely contested battle for power between the states and the federal government. The balance of power keeps shifting and the battle lines are often redrawn, but consistently, most people are just as proud of belonging to their home states as they are of being an American. Maybe that is one reason why sports teams are usually named after a city or state rather than the corporation that sponsors them.

Taiwan has some defining local animals and landmarks as well. I wonder if the local jurisdictions also have their own adopted, self-defining flora and fauna?