Stare at the Sun
That’s what they’re able to do in Beijing, China. Stare straight at the sun and not worry about the cumulative effects of ultraviolet radiation on their eyes. The smog is so consistently dense that high noon in their city often looks like what we’d see at dusk or dawn. Grays. Musky purples at best. They rarely get to experience the sharp sunlight that illuminates most days here in Colorado. The type of exposed sunlight that produces the rays that doctors warn us about.
I’ve never been there to experience the pollution, but I’ve heard this is the case and seen pictures for proof.
It’s not like they’re not aware of the fact that they consistently breathe in Zoolander’s black death. Beijing is hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics and, as I understand it, wants to put on a good face for the incoming media and public in general. Check out this article.
What also interests me is the way Chinese citizens in general seem to view their environmental responsibilities. The attitude (according to friends who live there) is this: the communist government pays specific workers to clean the city, so it is therefore not the role of every person to clean up after themselves. For example, you would never throw your used ketchup package away in a Chinese McDonald’s (it’s the job of the employee). And there’s no need to look for a trashcan on the streets –simply throw your coke can down because the government pays city workers to take care of it for you.
In my opinion, it seems like this mentality only serves to cripple the Chinese public. If everyone assumes that it is “somebody else’s” responsibility to clean, it will never become an innate priority for each person.
My friend Ben has spent the past year there teaching English and traveling. A group of us had dinner with him last week (he’s returned to the US for a quick vacation but plans to work as a graphic designer in Beijing for at least another year).
I asked him what he noticed most when he arrived back home to his family’s mountain cabin.
“My shadow,” he said.
His comment got me thinking: I guess I didn’t realize that no sun equals no shadow. I’ve never noticed my shadow before; at least I’ve never noticed being without a shadow. After thinking about it for a little while, I concurred with Ben that I’d miss mine too if it stopped trailing me suddenly. If nothing else, shadows help to tangibly confirm our existence, our matter, our substance at the cellular level. If we were transparent, there’d be nothing there to reflect the sun.
I wonder if the Chinese people ever secretly pinch themselves just to make sure.
