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Time.
For something
to consume our lives, time has been the furthest thing from my mind
since I arrived in China. Time has frozen back home, and time doesn’t
matter here; yet, time may be the key to the future.
China is different. I am not speaking of petty differences that sometimes divide us as Americans, I mean really different. Like the type differences in your dreams as a child that are followed by pigs flying. No, pigs do not fly in China; but there, a people and a culture exist from any I have experienced in my life. As someone who claims to have an understanding of the complex diplomatic relationship between the United States and China, I had failed to simplify the problem before solving. I could be wrong, but the answer seems to be blatant to me now.
China is different. I am not speaking of petty differences that sometimes divide us as Americans, I mean really different. Like the type differences in your dreams as a child that are followed by pigs flying. No, pigs do not fly in China; but there, a people and a culture exist from any I have experienced in my life. As someone who claims to have an understanding of the complex diplomatic relationship between the United States and China, I had failed to simplify the problem before solving. I could be wrong, but the answer seems to be blatant to me now.
The key to the
future of U.S. – Sino relations will not be found in our different
economies or militaries, it is simply time. China, more than anything,
has helped me see that we, as a country and as
individuals, must move past understanding different as bad, and accept
difference as an opportunity to learn. Why do these Chinese people keep
coming to me and asking to take pictures? I do not know… but I have
begun to appreciate the violation of my personal
space. Not because I enjoy taking pictures with random people, but
because I see the face of every person who has asked me to take a
picture. They are all intrigued but what appears to be different, which
is me. I would never ask a foreign traveler to take
a picture with me, but have you ever stopped and thought why not? Why
not stop a person who appears to be different to identify the
commonalities?
I am sure that
Chinese students understand the U.S. economy and U.S. military and vice
versa for U.S. students. We have failed to take time to understand
eachother. The key to the future is taking time
to understanding the small lines that divide us, to help realize how
alike we truly are. China is different, the type of difference you do not
enjoy at first; but the type of difference you come to appreciate.
Evan Shepherd, of Madisonville, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at
the University of Louisville. He is studying political science and
business administration.