I remember the flight home from my very first trip to China like it was yesterday. Not because there was any kind of in-air emergency, mechanical failures or terrorist threats. But because I was sitting in the privileged first class cabin with obviously wealthy American businessmen for nearly sixteen hours, forcing plenty of alarms to go off in my head.
Let me back up for a minute…I was invited to China by the Minister of Cultural Affairs to provide the first ever vocal workshop for pop and rock singers in Beijing, and to participate in category selections for the Golden Disc Awards (sort of like the Grammys in China). Since I’d never visited Asia, there was much to learn prior to the trip over, so I spent plenty of time reading and talking with colleagues who had prior travels to China.
One of the most repetitive pieces of advice I received was, “Whatever you do, make sure they fly you over first class – it’s a LONG flight and you wanna make sure you have plenty of room to stretch your legs.” What did I know? So, I asked for first class accommodations as part of my term sheet.
It was embarrassing. I was literally the only person in first class on the 18-hour flight to main land China. As it was explained to me later, most Asians or Asian Americans flying from the United States to China cannot afford the exorbitant cost of a first class ticket home. And so, I spent the entire night and day flight in the first class cabin being politely catered to by three very polished and professional Air China flight attendants.
The flight back home was a different story. There, the first class cabin hosted about five polished Asian businessmen with the remainder of the seats chocked full of American upper echelon who most likely had business expense accounts covering their travel. And just across the aisle from me was one such entitled American who had his shy and clearly self-conscious adolescent son sitting next to him. Through much loud banter and bravado from the Dad, we all came to learn that this was the first time his son had accompanied him on a business trip to Asia. And that’s not the only thing we learned. This man was horribly rude, boisterous, demanding, profane and generally detestable to everyone sitting within earshot of him.
As I watched the saga of how this man’s vulgarity was received by those of us who, quite literally, had little to no choice but to tolerate him, there were two things that struck me most. One was the utter embarrassment that shown all over the young son while his father made a complete ass of himself by just being who he was. And two, how the few Asian businessmen sitting nearby responded to this American, as though this was typical and expected behavior for a pig. It was so palpable I could almost smell the bacon. It made me want to apologize for the scar of this man and his obvious lack of self-assessment.
Yesterday was “Black Friday” …the shopping day after Thanksgiving that is supposed to be THE best day of the year for bargains and best buys prior to Christmas. The irony in all this is, the very Christ we’re celebrating during this holiday season would’ve had nothing to do with any of the smashing and trashing of Black Friday, much less what was happening on Air China flight 279.
Watching adult women clawing and slapping each other over pieces of lingerie while grown men literally act like three-year-old boys fighting over boxes that house big screen televisions – I’ll tell you, it made me proud to be an American!
And I AM proud to be an American. I am so grateful to have been born in the most benevolent country on the planet where freedom is actually a reality. I’ve never known real hunger a day in my life, nor have I ever really had to worry about my physical comfort and shelter. I have more than one toilet in my home, hot and cold running water, and a refrigerator full of food. I drive my own car to work every day and do something I love to make a living and I’m not sorry for any of it. But I am sorry that “we, the people” are about as offensive as the businessman on flight 279 whose son will likely never get over his first trip to China, much less the fact that it was his Dad that made a pig out of all of us.
Jan Smith
November 2014
