Lee
Knives & Knife Sharpeners

My girlfriend just told me a story about growing up in rural Henan, China. She said that while growing up in the 1970′s and 80′s, her family had no electricity, no toys, no car, no phone, no indoor plumbing, and a dirt floor. As a child, she never saw a building over two stories tall. Meat, apples, oranges, bananas, and eggs were rare treats. She said some people went six months without washing because there was no hot water in the winter! She was 26 years old the first time she went to the dentist. She has never used deodorant, jewelry, perfume, make-up, breath mints, or shaved her underarms. I introduced her to salads, jelly, and cereal, but she didn’t care for them.

In contrast, I grew up in the American Midwest in a “typical”
working-class, small-town family. My parents told me that we were poor, but we had a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath ranch house with a garage, basement, wall-to-wall carpet, swingset, sandbox, large yard, a boat, motorcycle,
blender, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, mixer, toaster, microwave, TV, drill, power saw, gun, refrigerator, oven,
toys, lawnmower, phone, Christmas/Easter/Thanksgiving decorations, two sets of dishes, birthday gifts, a truck,
a small vacation house, and a car. I never went one day without taking a shower or a bath and eating three meals. I went to the doctor for checkups and saw a dentist every six months. We went to chuch every week. I almost never ate rice
and when I did, it was Minute Rice.

Her story made me think that anyone who was born in a developed country should thank their lucky stars. It just blows my mind to think that China was against everything that West thought was good. Education,
birth control, capitalism, religion, democracy, free speech, free choice, and freedom of movement was forbidden.

Although China still has a lot of problems with corruption, racism, poverty, education, copyright theft, justice, healthcare, welfare, overpopulation, banking, reliable statistics, religion, speech, democracy, crime, credit reporting, hygiene, and other things, I must admit China, however, does the following
things better than the USA:

1. Mobile phones are pay as you go, cheaper, and more people have them in China
2. DVD use
3. Living expenses are cheaper
4. No babysitters
5. Less sales/income/property tax hassles
6. Public transportation
7. Coinless public phones
8. Journalism is more upbeat here
9. Booming economy
10. Very few lawsuits
11. Few divorces
12. Little personal debt
13. Thin girls
14. Banks are open seven days a week

There are more good sides to China, but that’s all that come to mind right now.

Comments welcome.

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