Twice lately I have been reminded of how lucky I am to simply
have been born where I was.
Understand this right off the bat - I am not particularly
patriotic, not at all really. I have no “Go
USA” bumper stickers. I do not fly an
American flag. I am not saying I am ANTI
America – I am just not a gung-ho “America is the only good country” and “The
USA is the very best and no one can ever beat us” kinda gal… I have traveled to several other countries
and am open minded enough to realize that the one I currently live in is not
the only one that has a lot to offer its citizens.
But TWICE lately new friends I met from China have given me pause – and caused me to not be able to speak for a moment. They reminded me what good fortune I have simply because I am an American.
The first was at an opening night party for a theatre
festival. His name was Wangkai and he
spoke almost no English, but was totally enthralled by my husband David. They had no common language but by the time I
walked up to them they were well into a lengthy conversation about, well, about
life! There was a Chinese/English
interpreter present but she was a total slacker (frustrating for me as a
professional interpreter) – sometimes our new friend would speak for a minute
or two and her “interpretation” to us would be a sentence… Hmmm – I KNOW he said more than that… Our smiles and our gestures seemed to communicate
more genuine meaning that what she could provide. At the end of the exchange (and the photo
taking – many photos on his phone) – I said, “Let’s be Facebook friends!! Are you on Facebook???”. THAT caught the interpreter’s ear, “No. No Facebook.
No Facebook access in China,” she answered FOR him, without even
interpreting my question.
I was floored. Sure, I
had heard that on the news. I knew that
China is not an open society like the one we
are privy to. But Facebook – it seems so innocuous, so simple
and frivolous. Yet I also know from the
news how strong of a tool it can be to support an uprising. How it can be a channel to both learn what is
happening in other countries and to share what is happening in yours. And our new friend’s government had deemed it
off limits.
Then tonight, a new friend from China, Chong, caught me off
guard. He just arrived and is staying
with us for a couple of months. In the
normal “get to know you” banter I asked if he had brothers and sisters. “No – China has a one child policy,” was his
reply. He didn’t sound like he thought
less of me for not thinking of that before I opened my mouth (though part of me
thought, “I KNEW THAT – WHYYY did I ask that?”). He was just stating a fact. But what a bizarre fact for an American – a person
who lives in a country where a family with 19 children is “famous” and has
their own tv show and the “average” family has 2.5 children… So, even though I do not have children, I have
the RIGHT to have them. I am grateful
for that.
So, am I going to put a big flag pole in my yard
tomorrow? No. But I will keep quietly
tearing up as I sing along to the National Anthem when I hear it, and I will be
grateful to live in a country where things like social media and children are
not regulated by my government. *
*And don’t start dissing the NSA about spying on me, yes, I know
they are reading this. HI NSA!
Comments