This land is your land. This land is my land.
Things that happen in the news should stay on the tv screen. They shouldn't happen in real life. They shouln't happen to you.
China and Japan are fighting over some islands. Who the islands really belong to, I'm not sure. Who they should belong to, thats not up to me to decide. I'm not Japanese and I'm not Chinese so I can't speak from a national's perspective. However, as a foreigner witnessing a Chinese mob destroying the building where I live? Pardon the pun, but it hit home. This is where I live, this is where I do my grocery shopping and have lunch with the girls. Completely trashed because it represents something the Chinese are taught to hate.
Fighting over land is as old as it gets, yet I don't think these people are really even fighting over land. Its the idea of the Japanese owning something that could be theirs. Its the idea that China is not the greatest, not all-powerful and the idea that Japan could swindle a bit of land from them that has caused so much anger and violence. Anger, frustration, possession, violence. These things are taught. They are thrust upon the Chinese every day. They are taught prejudice just as the rest of the world are taught to think a certain way, act a certain way because that is what "should happen."
A little bit of hate can go a long way. It reaches out and taints the sould of all it convinces. It is this kind of hate that has been planted into the hearts of each Chinese child. My students hate the Japanese. Its one of the first things they tell me when we introduce ourselves in a new class. When I ask why they hate the Japanese their response is "our history." Yes, history can shed a nasty shadow on the future, but filling the minds of the innocent with hate and false stereotypes is cruel. Its inhumane because that is what the government, the teachers, the influencers are taking from their children- their humanity. A child needs to be able to explore and deduce right from wrong. If they are brainwashed into thinking the exact same thing, feeling the exact same thing, yearning for the exact same thing, are we any better than Satan intentionally trying to lead you down the path of destruction?
History. If we all went around bashing in buildings and destroying cars acording to what happened in our history, a lot of European Americans would be walking to work due to the frustrations of those who "were here first." I could call upon my Aztec and Mayan ancestors and declare "This is my land pale ones! Get out!" But what would that acheive other then anger and hate building up inside my own heart? The right to claim a bit of land, a pile of dirt, no matter the size; belongs to everyone! Hence, it belongs to no one at all.
Because that is what it is. Land. Will gaining these islands effect the every day lives of my fellow ZhuZhou citizens? No. Will looting a building owned by a Japanese company help you gain an island China? No. Will demolishing a Japanese-make car magically bash some Japanese person on the head? No. It will just hurt the Chinese person who own the Japanese-make car, the young man that works in the supermarket, the manager of the shop that was ransacked and looted during the hours of fire-red hate.
A Chinese friend of mine simply dismissed these acts of violence as "patriotism." Patriotism: love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it; "they rode the same wave of popular patriotism" Willing to sacrifice for it, or willing to sacrifice ones self for it? Ohh China, you've really outdone yourself this time.
China and Japan are fighting over some islands. Who the islands really belong to, I'm not sure. Who they should belong to, thats not up to me to decide. I'm not Japanese and I'm not Chinese so I can't speak from a national's perspective. However, as a foreigner witnessing a Chinese mob destroying the building where I live? Pardon the pun, but it hit home. This is where I live, this is where I do my grocery shopping and have lunch with the girls. Completely trashed because it represents something the Chinese are taught to hate.
Fighting over land is as old as it gets, yet I don't think these people are really even fighting over land. Its the idea of the Japanese owning something that could be theirs. Its the idea that China is not the greatest, not all-powerful and the idea that Japan could swindle a bit of land from them that has caused so much anger and violence. Anger, frustration, possession, violence. These things are taught. They are thrust upon the Chinese every day. They are taught prejudice just as the rest of the world are taught to think a certain way, act a certain way because that is what "should happen."
A little bit of hate can go a long way. It reaches out and taints the sould of all it convinces. It is this kind of hate that has been planted into the hearts of each Chinese child. My students hate the Japanese. Its one of the first things they tell me when we introduce ourselves in a new class. When I ask why they hate the Japanese their response is "our history." Yes, history can shed a nasty shadow on the future, but filling the minds of the innocent with hate and false stereotypes is cruel. Its inhumane because that is what the government, the teachers, the influencers are taking from their children- their humanity. A child needs to be able to explore and deduce right from wrong. If they are brainwashed into thinking the exact same thing, feeling the exact same thing, yearning for the exact same thing, are we any better than Satan intentionally trying to lead you down the path of destruction?
History. If we all went around bashing in buildings and destroying cars acording to what happened in our history, a lot of European Americans would be walking to work due to the frustrations of those who "were here first." I could call upon my Aztec and Mayan ancestors and declare "This is my land pale ones! Get out!" But what would that acheive other then anger and hate building up inside my own heart? The right to claim a bit of land, a pile of dirt, no matter the size; belongs to everyone! Hence, it belongs to no one at all.
Because that is what it is. Land. Will gaining these islands effect the every day lives of my fellow ZhuZhou citizens? No. Will looting a building owned by a Japanese company help you gain an island China? No. Will demolishing a Japanese-make car magically bash some Japanese person on the head? No. It will just hurt the Chinese person who own the Japanese-make car, the young man that works in the supermarket, the manager of the shop that was ransacked and looted during the hours of fire-red hate.
A Chinese friend of mine simply dismissed these acts of violence as "patriotism." Patriotism: love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it; "they rode the same wave of popular patriotism" Willing to sacrifice for it, or willing to sacrifice ones self for it? Ohh China, you've really outdone yourself this time.
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