China

What is it about China? My older sisters are urging me to go to China with them, because it'll be a trip of a life-time. If I don't go with them, I'll miss out on the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta Warriors. Well, dear sisters, the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta Warriors aren't going anywhere. They'll still be there in 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now. They'll still be there if I ever decide to visit China.

This trip to China will include a visit to the old village where my dad and his family came from. From what I've heard, the people there can't be fully trusted, and the living conditions are bad (improved, but still bad). How can visiting people who lie and cheat, be fun? You will always be on your guard, and never entirely comfortable.

I truly have no great desire to visit China, to squat over a hole in the ground that acts as a toilet. My Chinese language skills are terrible, and I wouldn't be able to identify with the Chinese people anyway. I'm too "white," a thorough banana. If I ever decided to visit China, I would go sometime in the future, but not in the foreseeable future. I can think of better ways to spend $3000+. Never say never, but I'm not saying now. I have no desire to visit a country with such a horrible human rights record, a place where history is ignored and re-written (Tiannemen), a place where freedom is available only to those who follow the rules. Freedom with rules, is not freedom at all. I will not support their government by spending my hard-earned money there.