Family four-way

Meaning a four-way conversation on Skype. What else would it be? Come on, people, get those minds out of the gutter!

Besides, it wasn’t. sroni’s weekend was full of plans that would have her mostly out of town, so it was just me and Susan and our-son-in-China. But, of course, our beautiful and talented and enchanting granddaughter was part of the byplay, so we limped along.

For some reason they were already doing Hallowe’en in China; maybe an official day-switch, maybe they were using the entire weekend, I don’t know, but they were taking candy to trick-or-treaters when the call went through. Amber was dressed in a blue knee-length puffed sleeve dress with a white pinafore worn over the top, and I took one look and exclaimed, “It’s Alice!” (As in, Alice in Wonderland.) Amber was mightily pleased that I recognized her immediately, but — since they’re 13 hours ahead of us — she got changed into pajamas almost immediately after the call went through.

Because she’d been initially dressed as a Disney character, Susan wondered later who was her favorite Disney princess. Kevin immediately relayed the question to her: who’s your favorite princess? And I was thinking, okay, will she go with Mulan for the obvious ethnic-cultural-historical connection, or name something thoroughly improbable to show total childlike unself-consciousness? … Nope, she grinned at the camera and said, “Me!”

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Last week, or maybe a little before that, Kevin posted video of Amber taking part in a flag ceremony at her school (or whatever they call it for 3-year-olds in China). Most of it was familiar, including the part where the adults had to keep jumping in to prevent the flag from ever touching the ground. The flag itself, though … that was the part that introduced a jangling note into my awareness. It was, of course, the Chinese national flag. Not a problem right now, but my parents met while my father was in the service during the Korean War, and China was our enemy then; and, while China may not necessarily intend war in the near future, their government is definitely readying for one if it should prove necessary, and guess which potential adversary they’re thinking of?

It brought uncomfortable thoughts to my mind, believe me. And it also made me consider how our own displays of patriotism (those that still take place) might be perceived by someone not-American, especially someone who had cultural memories of facing us in war. Love of country, demonstrated respect for the symbols of our country, that all seems perfectly natural to me; less natural when it’s a different country, a different flag, and my own blood kin paying proper allegiance to a nation that sees itself as competing with us for global advantage (prospective dominance?), with the nature of the relationship subject to jarring change without a lot of advance warning.

Yeah, that turned somber fast, didn’t it? It’s what’s going on right now, though.

Most likely, I’m being overly pessimistic.

Wish I could stop thinking of how many people in Berlin in the latter 1930s were considering similar questions.