September 21st, 2011 by Rachel | | No Comments »
My mom just forwarded me an e-mail from a friend who said that we shouldn’t travel to China because there is a spread of polio, a disease that causes paralysis, according to an article in BBC. Really? I think that saying that we shouldn’t travel to China because of a few cases of polio is a bit out of proportion. If we have been vaccinated against polio, then we should be OK, right? Plus, it said that there were only SEVEN cases of it, and so, it’s not like as if it’s widespread where there are thousands of people with it. Furthermore, there still have been a few cases of polio in the US. So, why should China be pitied and be looked upon down when my country has similar issues too? What are your thoughts on this article?
Sorry that I’m ranting and thank you for listening to me, Sophia, but I hate when people find every little excuses not to travel to certain places. Even my own country, the US, has its own problems. People from other countries have told me that foreigners fear to travel to the US because of the violence issues, to be more specific, issues with guns. Some say that they won’t send their students to school in the US because of the media hype depicting school shootings like ones that occurred at the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech. People also talk about how dangerous it is to travel to Washington D.C. and Baltimore and its surrounding areas because of the high crime and shooting cases. In reality, gun shootings are very rare, and we all go on with our lives not thinking about who can possibly shoot us.
By the way, the other day, I had a conversation with three young Chinese women in People’s Square in downtown Shanghai. One of them said, “You can’t possibly be an American because you’re too slim!” I told them that not all Americans are fat, and we all come in all different sizes and shapes! Oh boy! We have a lot of teaching to do!