So I'm out on my drive-way washing my car last Saturday when my neighbor walks by, he is an old Chinese guy in his 90's. I see him often making his way to the corner and back, a distance of about 40 yards that takes him about 20 minutes. You do the math.
Anyway, I have to bite my lip to not say hello or I will be stuck in a conversation for a while. But I can't help myself, my southern hospitality is all mixed in with the manners my mother beat into me, and the two conspire to make the chance of me keeping my mouth shut an impossibility. So I say, "Hi... How's your day?". I'm thinking this might lead to a "Fine thank you" or a "Doing good, and you?", hopefully just something short and polite so that I can get back to scrubbing the bumper, but as expected I'm not so lucky.
I call the old Chinese guy "China Man" well at least in my head. I have asked him his name many times but he always responds with a fake easy for an American to understand name like "Joe", or "Lee", or "Jaun". I know he's lying because he never uses the same name twice, plus everyone in his extended family has at one time or another told me their name was "Lee". I know it's not their last name and I doubt that everyone in the house is named Lee. Can you imagine the irony of that!
But after my brief interrogative China Man picks-up his pace and heads my direction. He looks intent like I have just asked the meaning of life and he has a possible solution, or perhaps he just didn't understand and wants to come over to clarify. But I think neither is true. After he gets a little closer I say again, "Hi.... How is your day?", emphasising each word a little more carefully. He slows to a stop, plants his walking stick on the wet pavement, and after a pause that was either about 10 seconds or a minute, he said, "I Love America.. But things are becoming clear". "Oh?" I say. "Yes!", he replies about an hour later. "I believe.... the war is not what you think", he says. This is a REALLY loaded topic so I stand still and say nothing. I know from several past "how do you dos" that he is an ex-military man, Chinese military that is. To be specific, he didn't play for our team during the cold war.
So, you might think his war reference is about Iraq, but don't be so sure. He could be talking about the Vietnam war, for him Vietnam was only finished off last week. Or maybe he means one of the "WW" wars. This is a more likely choice, but he was around for both WW's and doesn't often get them straight anymore. "Did the Germans invade Poland, or was that before Frans Ferdinand was assassinated?" It's hard to keep that kind of thing straight you know. But this time China Man is on his game and says, "The thing that is most clear.... is that however good intentioned you Americans are, you are wrong. And! those you think to be your friends most probably are not."
Well the next 45 minutes were a blur of international politics, some current, some relevant, some not. In the end I think China Man had it right. Things ARE becoming clear. And more Americans agree that we ARE doing it wrong. And I have learned the hard way, several times now, that those we think to be our friends may actually not be our friends at all.
Slow moving China Man got it right... Way to go China Man!
Anyway, I have to bite my lip to not say hello or I will be stuck in a conversation for a while. But I can't help myself, my southern hospitality is all mixed in with the manners my mother beat into me, and the two conspire to make the chance of me keeping my mouth shut an impossibility. So I say, "Hi... How's your day?". I'm thinking this might lead to a "Fine thank you" or a "Doing good, and you?", hopefully just something short and polite so that I can get back to scrubbing the bumper, but as expected I'm not so lucky.
I call the old Chinese guy "China Man" well at least in my head. I have asked him his name many times but he always responds with a fake easy for an American to understand name like "Joe", or "Lee", or "Jaun". I know he's lying because he never uses the same name twice, plus everyone in his extended family has at one time or another told me their name was "Lee". I know it's not their last name and I doubt that everyone in the house is named Lee. Can you imagine the irony of that!
But after my brief interrogative China Man picks-up his pace and heads my direction. He looks intent like I have just asked the meaning of life and he has a possible solution, or perhaps he just didn't understand and wants to come over to clarify. But I think neither is true. After he gets a little closer I say again, "Hi.... How is your day?", emphasising each word a little more carefully. He slows to a stop, plants his walking stick on the wet pavement, and after a pause that was either about 10 seconds or a minute, he said, "I Love America.. But things are becoming clear". "Oh?" I say. "Yes!", he replies about an hour later. "I believe.... the war is not what you think", he says. This is a REALLY loaded topic so I stand still and say nothing. I know from several past "how do you dos" that he is an ex-military man, Chinese military that is. To be specific, he didn't play for our team during the cold war.
So, you might think his war reference is about Iraq, but don't be so sure. He could be talking about the Vietnam war, for him Vietnam was only finished off last week. Or maybe he means one of the "WW" wars. This is a more likely choice, but he was around for both WW's and doesn't often get them straight anymore. "Did the Germans invade Poland, or was that before Frans Ferdinand was assassinated?" It's hard to keep that kind of thing straight you know. But this time China Man is on his game and says, "The thing that is most clear.... is that however good intentioned you Americans are, you are wrong. And! those you think to be your friends most probably are not."
Well the next 45 minutes were a blur of international politics, some current, some relevant, some not. In the end I think China Man had it right. Things ARE becoming clear. And more Americans agree that we ARE doing it wrong. And I have learned the hard way, several times now, that those we think to be our friends may actually not be our friends at all.
Slow moving China Man got it right... Way to go China Man!