By the time I got out of law school I had moved from a small, rural town (which doesn't exist by that name anymore (which in case I haven't mentioned previously greatly annoys me)) to three cities--all clustered in the northeast of the US&A. By the end of that "odyssey" I was Done. I could have ended up in Timbuktu, I wasn't moving again.
A Chinese-American who I have corresponded with frequently in the last few years is retiring from her profession. I emailed her my congratulations and commented that she had lived such an eventful, fascinating life. Her response is below.
We American "natives" don't have lives like this. However, our fellow citizens who CHOSE to be here have these incredible stories. In my own family, my mother's people came from England in the 19th century (they were coal miners from the northeast around Newcastle upon Tyne, came to the New World for a better life...and moved to the northeast of the US&A where they became coal miners (which decision-making greatly annoys me since there's a genetic component to it)). As was typical at the time, the man came first, got settled, and then sent for the rest. His wife and children (one was born on the ship) arrived and had something like the following MapQuest directions: " Go to Timbuktu, western Pennsylvania." That first night they made it as far as Lancaster or someplace in southeast Pennsylvania. She and her children had no money to stay anywhere and so a family took them in for the night. Eventually they made their way to Paradise upon Susquehanna. "Honey, how was the trip?" But even that was a Sunday drive compared to what my friend experienced:
"You are so right. Sometimes, I look back my life: being born to Buddhist parents, being educated in a Baptist school, forced to be an atheist, sent to labor camp, becoming American by choice, being re-baptized as a Christian, disgusted by the tele-evangelists, turning out to be an indedpendent thinker... Whatever has happened to me, I believe honesty and sincere, I believe in human conscience, and I believe in science, so finally I have found my own religion. Maybe that is what you have been searching for in the Chinese soul. At least I believe that is my spiritual life. I will lose sleep if I know I have wronged people. I am ready to face God, be He whatever kind, with a clear conscience. I'll enjoy my retired life. I will write something to praise good people and expose bad ones.
A Chinese-American who I have corresponded with frequently in the last few years is retiring from her profession. I emailed her my congratulations and commented that she had lived such an eventful, fascinating life. Her response is below.
We American "natives" don't have lives like this. However, our fellow citizens who CHOSE to be here have these incredible stories. In my own family, my mother's people came from England in the 19th century (they were coal miners from the northeast around Newcastle upon Tyne, came to the New World for a better life...and moved to the northeast of the US&A where they became coal miners (which decision-making greatly annoys me since there's a genetic component to it)). As was typical at the time, the man came first, got settled, and then sent for the rest. His wife and children (one was born on the ship) arrived and had something like the following MapQuest directions: " Go to Timbuktu, western Pennsylvania." That first night they made it as far as Lancaster or someplace in southeast Pennsylvania. She and her children had no money to stay anywhere and so a family took them in for the night. Eventually they made their way to Paradise upon Susquehanna. "Honey, how was the trip?" But even that was a Sunday drive compared to what my friend experienced:
"You are so right. Sometimes, I look back my life: being born to Buddhist parents, being educated in a Baptist school, forced to be an atheist, sent to labor camp, becoming American by choice, being re-baptized as a Christian, disgusted by the tele-evangelists, turning out to be an indedpendent thinker... Whatever has happened to me, I believe honesty and sincere, I believe in human conscience, and I believe in science, so finally I have found my own religion. Maybe that is what you have been searching for in the Chinese soul. At least I believe that is my spiritual life. I will lose sleep if I know I have wronged people. I am ready to face God, be He whatever kind, with a clear conscience. I'll enjoy my retired life. I will write something to praise good people and expose bad ones.
I am an American and think like an American. I wish Chinese are doing well and will do what I can to push in that direction. However, I did some research on the differences in culture. I like one definition of culture: "culture is a web which people have knitted for themselves to hang on." If they as a whole are sluggish to change, there is nothing you can do about it. How many Chinese who have physically moved to this country but insist living in China in their mind? For that reason I am against exporting democracy like the Iraq War.
Friend, I respect Americans like you for opening your heart to people of other cultures.
