TOILET PAPER!!!!!
Yes, some people have friends that bring them t-shirts or jewelry
but my dear friend brings me Chinese toilet paper.
How is it that this lovely lady can go ALLLLL the way to China and bring this thing home?
Well, she was running late to catch the fastest train in the world but wanted to quickly find my children chop sticks. So, the guide took them to WALMART! Yes, Walmart in China. Ironic especially because this lady NEVER shops at Walmart in America.
General motherly instinct must have gotten the best of her while shopping and this is my present.
First let me point out the dramatic size difference between Chinese and American toilet paper.
We all know China's one child policy and preference that the one child be male.
Why would they need giant quantities of anything?
As for the chopsticks, she found they were all packaged in sets of 5. A strange number to us here in the United States but very logical in China. At a meal there is normally one set of grandparents, the parents and this one child.
They have a serious problem over there now.
It is called "Little Emperor Syndrome".
4 adult doting on and doing everything for this one (normally male) child.
So I decided to see exactly what if anything there was about this. This article is from a tourist point of view. At the end it very adequately points out that in the impoverished areas where the one child rule has been relaxed and children have to find or make their toys, they are significantly happier than the city dwelling "little emperors."
This particular article raise some very good questions by a Chinese. What will happen to the Chinese workforce and government when ALL of these coddled adults start working or running the country?
The Chinese youth and young adults certainly do not corner the market on a lack of manners and concern unfortunately. I witnessed this insensitivity first hand on my grand trip. At all of the national parks and "touristy" places, because of the time of year, there were mainly foreigners visiting these places. They stood right in front of the camera while we tried to take pictures, never held doors open and didn't make friendly eye contact. There was a sense of gross entitlement everywhere. Sept. and Oct. is the time also when the Australian tourists are abound as well. They, however, were completely opposite. Smiling, offering to take pictures for us, holding doors, etc.
This syndrome is alive and well in America though for different reasons.
This mentality is rampant EVERYWHERE.
The "Little Emperor" syndrome and "Helicopter" parents are just two widely documented effects of a "ME" world and society.
The welfare system, school system, overspending, etc has wrecked havoc on societies everywhere. Under the guise of "social justice" and "the betterment of mankind", what makes us human beings has been lost. The image of God has been replaced with "man is god" mentality. The "what else are you gonna do for me" attitude is a sad one.
It is anti-God.
When a world, society, family and person removes God from the center of their being and reasoning,
they loose their purpose.
So, this is how I buy my toilet paper because that one little roll of "Happiness" wouldn't last too long around here.
I am trying to raise many saints not one emperor.
GREAT post, Hootie Cootie!!!
ReplyDeleteJJR
Thank you. Your presence is missed. :(
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