In Cracks between Two Worlds Page #2

								

              I didn't join the chat group to fight with my old classmates whom I hadn't seen for more than 30 years. I joined in small talks, nonsense, telling jokes, or just looking at what my former classmates were doing every day. I also shared some of my life experiences in the United States. Because I am not interested in politics, I have never discussed these topics with them. At the beginning, when I talked about my experiences in the United States, I encountered a deathly silence. Their heated conversations suddenly cooled down to a halt. After a while, one or two people responded or commented, just neutral comments. Gradually, they opened up. Some people commented that my life is better than theirs in China, because I have a yacht and a mansion with lawn. I told them that compared to other American luxury yachts, my yacht is one of the worst, and my house with lawn is not considered a mansion, but a very common upper middle class residence in the United States.
              There is a poet in this chat group. I have read some of his poems. The first one is ingenious and fresh, but as I continue to read, his poems are all the same boring, without soul or spirit, just some clever words and sentences put together as a child assembles Lego blocks. Maybe not even as good, because Lego is more colorful and creative. I think I must have offended him when I expressed my true feelings about his poems. Inadvertently cultivated bad feelings. The lesson learned is that when you talk to an old Chinese classmates, never be too honest. Even if you don't really like it, you must flatter him or her. 
               Finally, when I talked about my love story,  two former classmates were furious. What I thought romantic, poetic and memorable loves were considered by them as immoral and vulgar. I told them that in the United States, attractiveness and affections  between men and women are something to be proud of. The response I got was that they don't care about how Americans feel or think. It is a shame for a man to play with a woman. More people interjected in agreement. I was isolated and criticized in a single tone by a group of people. The hostility is very strong. Is this the same as China's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s? A person will be collectively criticized in public for what he said. I was even told that I could feel free to leave the chat group for good. To be fair, a few people also came out to defend me, saying that I did not say anything inappropriate, nothing obscene or illegal. In fact, what I was talking about is only that I dated 3 girls within half a year during my 21-year-old college days, without any explicit and specific details. This chat group seems to be more restrictive than Islamic extremists. For some people, the mention of sex or love life is offensive.
               I sigh that if a beautiful tree stands out in a forest, the gust wind will destroy it. I saw the soil and grassroots of the Cultural Revolution once again. If a man’s love life in his 20s is so offensive, I understand why Playboy and Penthouse type magazines are banned locally because its citizens want to block them. I told them bluntly that I don't think that freedom of speech is an option for you people. Taking my short lived freedom of speech for an example, it has caused such a commotion in here, even though it is a very fundamental right for Americans. Let us all be like this, taking lies as the truth, ignorance as the virtue, miseries as the glory, and luxury as the sin...and you will all be happy. When you travel abroad, people from other countries in the world see you as if you are from a different species. Isn't that true? Why is there such a big gap between you and the rest of the world? This is still between old classmates, not complete strangers. Imagine what it would be like to throw bricks at each other between complete strangers?
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