Great stuff, CL.

At times I'm shocked to realize that it's 2009. We've come so far and yet we still have such a long way to go in terms of how we, us silly humans, deal with the issue of race. That it is an issue is more of an issue to me than the issue itself; if that makes sense. I guess I'm lucky in that I grew up in a family that tried its best to avoid racial intolerance. However, we still had perceptions based on stereotypes. What's more, we still had peer pressures and the influence of post war, residual hatred that spilled uninvited into our consciousness.

During the VietNam war I was lucky also. I had joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school and right before the draft got going. I ended up doing administrative work in Japan. Lucky again. But at first, when I found out I was to be stationed in Japan for two years, thanks to that uninvited seepage into my immature brain, I dreaded the idea. "Japs." "Slant eyes." "Nips." "Yellow b******s." These appellations along with the defamation joined with them resonated in my brain as I took my first flight to Japan as an innocent 18 yr. old. Fortunately, my eyes weren't as closed as my mind might have been and there was a part of my conscious mind that was as wide open as my eyes.

Those two years in Japan changed my life and I dread to think what kind of an unforgiving, insensitive person I could have become without them. In my dreams, both waking and sleeping, I still relive those days. I'll never forget the unexpected kindnesses, the patience and the honor I was shown. But the real gift I received was the one of acceptance and how that taught me to move beyond what I could have become. I guess I could call it a blessing.

Due to that "blessing" my life has been filled with so much that I could not have received had I "stuck with my own kind." Even after the VN War, where I lost a few of my best friends from my school days, I still was able to be friends with Vietnamese who had emigrated to America. Throughout my college days I had friends from all over the globe. In short, my life was gifted immeasurably by being color blind and border blind. We're all in this together.

Yeah, China has its challenges; no doubt about that. But feeling as though I'm subjected to racism is not one of them. Perhaps what they see in my curious eyes is what I see in theirs. Maybe we see that we're not so different as it appears on the surface. Anyway I can't help staring at them sometimes; I'm fascinated. If I'm fascinating to them at the same time, so be it. It's a two way street.

Being culturally sensitive, yeah, that's cool. But really, isn't it more about just being sensitive - being human? Acceptance - gotta love it. To those of you who feel so damnably oppressed and prejudiced against in China I say go hang out in a village for awhile. Find out how truly warm and beautiful these people can be. Don't judge them by how they are in the cities. Cities have a way of ruining people. Too often they become withered as a result of being without their roots. Forgive them for that. Move past it.

Emerson said something to the effect that realizing what is true in our hearts is true for all men is genius. Well, I ain't no genius, but I sure do see me in others and they in me.

Go figger how a cow catch a rabbit.