View on the waterfront

SSLau
July 11,1999

I was reading A Chai's article " A perfect July 4th", and he raised an interesting point in that who one would root for when China and US met for the Women World Cup Soccer competition. A Chai suggested he would root for both. I asked myself the same question, I did not know, but I would when I watched the game and I did. I found myself rooting for the US team. Now I am sure there are at least a few Lighters would start getting a little irritated by my obvious disloyalty to my native land.

Perhaps, you would say " Now, Lau, you have done it. Have you not been discriminated for years because you are Asian? "---yes, I would say yes. It is a discriminating country I live in.

Perhaps you would say " Did you forget there is this witch hunt of Chinese spies in the US? "--No, I have not forgotten.

Perhaps you would say " Have you forgotten the US bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia?" ---No, I have not forgotten.

Perhaps, you would say " Lau, you are shameless, you are an American running dog !'---yes, it certainly looks that way.

Perhaps, you would say" Did not note that Dennis Su mentioned in the "Car article" that he received a warm welcome in a small village in China ? If you were to go to a small town in the deep south, the poeple would beat the day light out of you."---Yes, I would agree there is such a possibility.

Why then I found myself rooting for the US?

Was it because I received a free education, at least the graduate education, from the US? No, that is not it, although it was nice of them.

Was it because I spent most of my adult life in the US? No, it is not my native land. I am only an American Chinese ( a Chinese who lives in the US), not a Chinese American as our children would be ( an American who happens to have Chinese roots).

Was it because the Chinese sold diethylene glycol as glycerin and killed at least 80 children in Haiti? ---No, most if not all nations on earth have killed children and adults, including the US.

Why, then? You see, in 1996 when the US won the women soccer gold medal in the   Olympics in Georgia, Scurry, the tall US goalkeeper ran naked through the streets in Athens, GA. These American women soccer players would go insane at the moment of, eh, ecstasy, shall we say.

Now, fully expecting something insane would happen if the US team won, I found myself rooting for them. As expected when the last penalty kicker, Chastain, converted, she ripped off her jersy at the moment of ecstatic triumph. I would like to ask you, who would/did you root for?

I am just glad A Chai did not ask which country one would die for.