RANDOM BOTTLES

Happy Chinese New Year!
Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln!

I love both of these holidays for different, personal reasons. When I was a kid, my parents would bundle all us kids up and we’d drive into New York Chinatown (the best Chinatown in America.. regardless of what that tourist-trap in ‘Frisco would have you believe.) The entire four blocks of Chinatown (now it sprawls for about 6 or 7 blocks!) would be filled with people going from building to building and there would be tons of fireworks going off. On each corner were police officers in full riot-gear just standing there as firecrackers would be bouncing off their helmets.

There would two or three different lions or dragons dancing in front of different businesses (apparently there are three or four organizations that sponsor these parades and the competition is pretty fierce. Hell, in Once Upon ATime In China 2 Jet Li fights like 50 dudes in a dragon competition. When he ran up that pole unaided, that was cool. But I digress.)

The very first president I ever wrote a report on was Abraham Lincoln. I don’t know why I chose him. I think I liked the way he looked. Besides, he’s the only president who wears a hat all the time. Every few years I would read a different biography on Lincoln and my admiration for him just grew each time. One of my favorite books was written as if by Tad Lincoln. It detailed his growing up in the White House and the deaths of his brothers. In hindsight, it’s an incredibly sad book, but I remember loving it very much. When I finally got my own room (previously bunking with my brother, I moved down to the basement. The first few nights he would sneak downstairs (and he was scared witless to COME TO THE BASEMENT in the dark) and he would sleep in the chair next to my bed. Aw, I just remembered that. That’s cute) the first four things on my wall were an American flag, a “Free the Hostages” bumper sticker, a small shelf with my G.I. Joe figures and a copy of the Gettysburg Address.

Richard A. Ross was the vice-principal of guidance when I was a junior in High School. He was new to the school and I was the co-representative of the junior class so we met regularly at the weekly meetings of the student council. An imposing African-American man, he was both tender and brash at the same time. He would be insulting you as he hugged you. I was the only minority member of the student council and he was the only minority member of the upper administration of the school. We became friends and many of our conversations turned to race. Something he said to me has really stuck with me for all these years; “I’m black and I would never wish to be anything else; without that in my Life I’m not sure I would be who I am today and I like who I am. My perceptions of others, their perceptions of me, are all colored by this but that isn’t all that I am. You can’t be just what you were born, after you’re eight you have to grow and change into something else.”

Like most advice or guidance we hear in high school, the wisdom is hidden from us until years later. I’m proud of being Chinese, but I can’t speak Chinese. I don’t know all that much about Chinese history. I know some, but not too much. I probably know more about Japanese history than Chinese. I have recently gained an appreciation for Chinese film, but I’m no scholar. I would never change who and what I am or my past and heritage. It’s what has made me what I am today and I’m kind of fond of that comic-book collecting, sci-fi loving, improv doing, wacky spoof-writing, malcontent that I share this body with. Being Chinese is important to me, but not as important as being an American.

Being an American is exciting and important. Being part of the greatest social/political experiment ever is an honor and a privilege. I think the primary reason I read so much about the American Revolutionary War is that I’m fascinated by the idea that a country was founded. A new nationality was conceived, fought for, and then cultivated into a world power. What wonders America has wrought and will bring to fruition amazes me. Though flawed and seriously ill-managed at times, it has a system of redress and even if it takes decades, we do redress them. I believe America does more right than wrong.

So, Happy 4700!

And Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - from the Gettysburg Address. Duh.