Love of Country

Last Saturday my writer’s group welcomed back one of our favorite members, a man originally from China who’s lived in the United States most of his adult life, which would be about 35 or 40 years. He recently took a three-week trip to his home city of Beijing, and came back enthusiastic about his stay there. We asked him to share some of his thoughts.

What seemed to surprise him the most about the people there was how proud they were of their country and even their government, which, let’s face it, doesn’t share a strong reputation in much of the world. Beijing residents may have some things they didn’t like about the government, but overall, they seemed happy with it.

That surprised some of us, as well. While we attributed it to propaganda, he wasn’t so sure. It was a different way of looking at things in his mind. Another aspect to Beijing living that stood out to him was how safe he felt in the streets, even late at night, because of all the cameras. Personally, I consider that an invasion of privacy, but you have to admit the proliferation of cell phone cameras has helped American justice from time to time. Just look at George Floyd.

So much of how we view the world is cultural. I consider myself lucky to live in a country with freedom of the press, even if that freedom has created its own niche for propaganda. It’s not just freedom of the press, it’s freedom of speech. I fear losing those two things.

I’m sure our friends viewpoint was colored in part by the fact that he was happy to be visiting family he hadn’t seen in five years and by the fact that this was the country he grew up in, which was in a much worse state during his younger years.

Just as not all Chinese citizens have chosen to stay in China, there are many Americans who leave this country on a permanent basis. My uncle has spent the past few years getting set up to live in Portugal. He now has resident status and can take advantage of things like the universal health care there (a good thing, since he’s in his late 70s). He found American life too stressful. I’m guessing that part of the comfort he finds in Portugal comes from not speaking the language so he doesn’t hear the bad things, but that’s perhaps a little cynical on my part. I do believe Portugal is a lovely country.

I’m happy to stay where I am, even though I see both my uncle’s and my friend’s points of view. I just don’t agree with them enough to move somewhere else.

Image Credits: Beijing © Govan; Lisbon © Yasonya. Both stock.adobe.com.