one big family
Running Ownage, I meet and deal with a lot of different kinds of people from different countries and different backgrounds.
Lately, I've been hanging out with a lot of factory owners in China, learning from their lives and often discussing politics and metaphysics with them.
It's surprising how much like the US, China is. When strangers come up to me and ask me what I think of their country, I always answer, "It reminds me of the US." Why? There's an air of freedom and opportunity believe it or not. I feel like Japan and Europe come from very similar cloth. There's a lot more emphasis put on traditions, social status, and outward appearances. In China, everyone comes from the same background. So it's a lot like the US in the sense that everyone is trying to succeed, some people have, but most people are pretty head-down, modest but insanely gung-ho about it.
Chinese people admire the US. A lot of businessmen and factory owners tell me this outright. They admire our values, our willingness to share ideas and technologies, our President, and even the principles behind some of the things we do wrong (like the war in Iraq). But why does it seem like the US is always butting heads with China over every imaginable issue (politics, human rights, trade surplus, global influence)? One factory owner told me this: "Mei-guo (Beautiful Country = America) and China are like two brothers. The US is the successful, worldly older brother that everyone admires. China is the rebellious younger brother who looks up to the older brother. Even though a lot of the things the older brother says is right. The younger brother doesn't want to listen because he wants to make a name for himself and not always be in big brother's shadow."
So there you have it. Global politics summed up using a Jessica and Ashley Simpson story.
