Post by 一冰
刚刚一位荷兰朋友在我的推荐下到鹿特丹的华南行购买中国烹饪调味料归来; 问其是否卖得正确得品牌,是否遇到麻烦.. 这位朋友告诉我东西倒是很容易得买到了, 不过他感觉在付款台前的收银员小姐非常不友好. 我忙询问发生了什么不愉快, 这位荷兰朋友解释到, 在其付款前以及之后, 他都用荷兰语和其打招呼, "hallo" "Tot ziens" , 但这位中国年轻女士净毫无反应, 我的这位朋友感觉非常不可思议.
此时我倒是很容易的设想出了当时的情景; 不过还是替自己的同胞辩解道, "也许其不会荷兰语, 没有听清你的问候". 荷兰朋友被我的解释逗笑了, 问我" 连"hallo""都听不懂么?", 用他的话形容此遭遇--"raar"(古怪的) . 此时我倒是哑口了...
其实这个事情讲出来, 也只不过是个小插曲而已; 我断定我的这位荷兰朋友很快也把其忘到九霄云外去了. 不过不知道为什么, 却在我心里耿耿于怀, 难以忘却. 姑且全让我们推断华南行的这位小姐当时不过一时走神儿, 没有留意; 或许碰巧其心情不好, 与男朋友刚刚斗过嘴; 或者其没有注意到此位顾客不是已经那些习惯冷面孔服务的同胞们;再或许她听力障碍, 也未可知...
Ever since when we were still little babies in the cradles, our parents have constantly taught us the traditional values in life that we should live up to, values that including loving our country, respecting working people, expressing gratitude when someone help you, and showing understanding when others are depressed. These are just a few examples of the true genius that has preserved our nation and our people for over 5000 years, long before the Europeans made out of ignorance. The greatness of China is ingrained in our blood, melted in our flesh, it sustains our national life, and unifies us, all of us, under one common name – “the Descendants of Dragon”. Our unique strength and wisdom, our tolerance and endurance are far beyond your shallow Dutch friend’s perspective. Instead of saying this is a time for us Chinese to grasp politeness; I would rather prefer to call this moment the time for the Dutch to open his eyes, to penetrate the surface, to learn why we Chinese can form a single country larger than the entire Europe, while their country is only a tiny dot on the map. And let me be clear, our presence here should not be mistaken for worship, we come here in search of openness and knowledge, we didn’t come here for their prejudice or false pride, now or ever.
dear LouZhu, with all due respect, now let me ask you something. When you agreed with your superficial Dutch friend to criticize one, or a group of your fellow countrymen, had it ever occurred to you that we bear the same passport? Had it ever crossed your mind that we are on the same boat? Had it ever cropped up to you that each of us is just one fraction of the 1.4 billion Chinese? And I feel extremely puzzled, since you seemingly have the tremendous bravery and upright justice to bring this issue up, to stir some troubled water, why didn’t you show up the same bravery or courage to at least defend our national pride when it was sabotaged by a foreigner? Why didn’t you recount to your Dutch friend the vast prominence of our country? Why didn’t you just stand up say something and remind him that he was making a hasty generalization? And now, after you failed to protect our country’s reputation, after you acted cowardly, after you shirked your citizen obligation, you want to shift public attention and blame your countrymen who worked so hard to live up to our traditional values. My dear friends, if you don’t call this treason, then I don’t know what treason is.
What is wrong about working in a Chinese supermarket anyway? Why should we be subject to public criticism? Why should the working people be judged by those who depend on our service? And, deep, deep down, why are we here? On the other side of this continent, thousands of miles away from home, struggling in the chilly wind blowing from the equally cold Atlantic ocean?
I think, we are here because we have a faith, we have a belief. We believe that in a fair world, hard work will be rewarded; we believe that all the hardship and suffering we are undertaking today is making up to something, something sweet; we believe that life is not about where we started, but where we are going. And, I also believe, personally, all the people who have spoken here, no matter you’re against us, or support us, to some extent, we all want the same things. We all want better education, safe social condition, mutual understanding and respect, higher living standards, a decent job, a promising future. We all want the same things. Our difference is, however, about how we can best achieve these things, how we can make dreams come true.
And now please let me tell you something about the students work in Wah Nam Hong, I know you have heard some mixed views about them in the past few days, now let me tell you something I know of them, something under surface and may yet be unknown to you. I’ve worked with them, most of them, for nearly three years, they’re all good students, they may not necessarily be the best, but they are all diligent, smart, and conscientious. They go to classes, do projects, prepare exams, they are all but any of you might ever hope for in a student. They all love our country, love our countrymen, they all share the sincere wish to dedicate to our country someday, to make China a better place. They all miss their families, their parents, their old friends who have been left behind at home. They all know that life is endless of making choices, and for every choice we make, there is a responsibility we must carry along. They may feel tired sometimes, may be impatient some time, may even be impolite at times, but those bad moments which are just inevitable for any human being wouldn’t change a bit of their decent character underneath. Some of them come from humble background, and some of them are from quite privileged families, but they all signed for the same contract, they all made the same choice to take this 8-Euros-an-hour job to make sure the rest of you can have a merry Christmas. Because of the sacrifice they made, because of the opportunity cost they have chosen to forgo, some of the people here who do not have a sense of appreciation could have the luxury of time and words to judge them. It’s a shame, indeed.
I didn’t mean to write down these words to assign any individual blame, or to provoke further dispute. Yet I couldn’t help but to make myself clear, the disturbing, even abusive words I have seen here was a slap on my face, since me too, is just one of those Wah Nam Hong workers they asserted to be rude. I also wanted to lay off during holidays, I also wanted to hang out with my friends, drink some beer, play some video games, or watch some relaxing movies. Yet I didn’t do those things. I worked. I worked for 5 back-to-back days before the clock stroke for New Year. Because I know, the more financial burden I put on my shoulders, the less are left for my parents. And like I said, I’m just one of them, one of all my dear Wan Nam Hong co-workers whom I feel so honored and so proud to call brothers and sisters.
My dear friends, I’m not asking you to agree with me, I’m not asking for your thanks, I’m not asking for your sympathy. I’m merely revealing the things behind the curtain, and entreating for your understanding and respect. And I’m sorry, if I’ve ever treated you badly when I was at work, please forgive me for having a harsh moment. Life is never easy for us in this foreign land, where economy is sluggish, government is greedy, and people are disconnected, yet even as so, there is one last thing we can do to make life a bit easier for ourselves: to replace apathy and disapproval with caring and magnanimity.
After all, in this ubiquitous Chinese community that we all involve, it’s our traditional values that matter most of all.
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