I've been in China long enough to recognize that people are largely the same everywhere. This is most apparent when I'm working with my kids. They have the same needs as everyone else, and they all take the world at face value.
The other day, though, I witnessed something that just made it plain how similar we all really are. I was in People's Park in Shanghai and stopped to rest and read a novel at one of the stone tables. Directly behind me were a brother and sister pair playing hide-and-seek. The sister was older and seemed like she was in primary school {the brother was a toddler} and it was so sweet to see her play so well with someone so young. How many of us shrugged off our younger siblings when they didn't do what we wanted them to do, or when they didn't get things as fast as we did.
Let me describe the scene I came upon: the girl was leaning against a tree hiding her eyes and counting to ten, and her brother was busy hiding behind a rock and anxiously watching his big sister.
When she finished her counting, she turned around and called, "where are you?"
"Big sister, I'm here, look, here!"
"Oh, but I can't find you! Where are you?"
And, in the way that adults play with the very young by pretending not to know exactly where they are to make the game more exciting, this sweet girl entertained her brother while her mother rested on a nearby bench. They played for a few more minutes, chasing each other and taking turns hiding.
It was a simple reminder that no matter where we are in the world, we are not so different.
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