‘we have no problem with you’ were the words coming from a business partner of mine today at lunch. i sat across from a mild mannered chinese man who went on to ask me what i thought of the actions of my country in these past few months. i thought of the short span of time where the game of politics and political discord has been heating up, partially due to an election season back home but also due to the inequalities and economic realities of a world where the rules of the past have been quickly being replaced with a winner takes all and i shrugged my shoulders, these are not things for us to ponder i replied, not knowing what else to say for actions i have no part in.

typically i have learned that if one tells you there is no problem, there are many. i think of the years i have been spending here, weaving together our countries in as positive way as one can. I think back to ping pong diplomacy, how our two nations and is people have so much in common with regards to business, families and education. i think of my child, a product of two places, always destined to be a factor when his two parents bicker. to watch it dissipate in such a quick fashion, at the whims of a few leaders who happen to be at the pulpit speaking, i can only hope that an election can bring quick change, but also worry that the people in charge now are a sign of a problem instead of the cause of it. nationalism has always terrified me the most.

in its defense, the animosity between china and the US is nothing compared to the angst and differences of its own citizens. sides continue to form as venomous words are spewed by the appointed news programs and talk shows of both sides. message boards filled with hate, fingers being pointed, the clashes are growing and there is a sense of true animosity growing. perhaps the times had grown too comfortable for folks, that in order to keep growing and getting better we have to tear the old apart. like a movie star binging on drugs and booze while throwing his life away, my wonderful home seems on the verge of tearing itself apart in the name of some destiny it seems harder and harder to avoid.