I haven’t been getting much sleep lately, which naturally explains why my mind has been wandering and occasionally has tripped over a few rather ridiculous puzzles. But after today, I’m not sure all of it can be blamed on lack of sleep.

    Having lived in my house for about three or four years now, I’ve spent a great deal of time driving up and down my street. For as long as I can remember, it seems that every time I leave the neighborhood I see this elderly Asian man walking up and down the sidewalk. Judging by his facial structure I’m guessing he’s Chinese, but I can’t be entirely sure. But I am sure that he’s always wearing the exact same outfit – a cute bucket hat, a beige trench coat, and a pair of plaid pajama pants.

    At first I thought this man was merely cute, going out for his daily constitutional and all that. But now I’m starting to wonder. I saw him again this morning as I left on my way to the hospital, walking down the hill as always. How is it that I practically always see him when I go out? I don’t have a regular routine, it’s not like I leave at noon every day and come back at a specific time. He’s out there, even with my random schedule.

    Maybe my neighborhood is just blessed to have a nice wandering old Chinese Grandpa, walking from house to house watching over things. That’s a nice, albeit very strange thought. It’s better than imagining that poor old Grandpa’s homeless. If he weren’t so clean, I’d swear he was living out of my neighbor’s garage or something.

    The strange sleep-deprived musings didn’t stop there. I went out to a Target store that was about an hour west of my house and spent some time shopping. From the moment I walked in the door I knew something felt strange, different, unlike my local Target. It looked the same, had pretty much the same merchandise… But then it hit me.

    There were white kids running around. Everywhere. Nothing but white people. Sure, occasionally you’d see an African American family, a Hispanic family here or there, but pretty much it was just a sea of wasps.

    This is a good thing. Not in a white supremacy kind of way, no no no. What I mean is, I’m glad that it took me an entire hour to notice the ethnicity of everyone in the room. It’s a nice thought that I got so used to shopping with Pakistanis, Africans (as in recent immigrants, straight from Africa), Guatemalans, Koreans, and the occasional German, that it’s now weird to actually notice the color of someone’s skin. It actually felt foreign to be part of a major ethnic shopping majority. Going to Target an hour west of here was radically different – it wasn’t at all like a meeting at the UN. It gave me a new appreciation for my local Target. I’ve often been accused by foreigners that as an American, I’m prejudiced, hateful, and ignorant. Yeah, well, to them all I can say is that I’m dang proud to be buying my toilet paper and holiday decorations right next to someone from the other side of the globe. All that commerce, all that capitalism, and we’re all generally pleasant to each other. This country’s great.

    And speaking of great things, we have a great opportunity to help others in need right now. I’m sure we’ve all heard about the horrible tsunamis and the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been swept away so violently. They may be far away geographically, but they aren’t far away emotionally. In that same spirit of solidarity, their pain should be our pain. Hopefully this understanding will encourage us to reach out. Go check out Amazon.com’s efforts to raise money for the Red Cross, and please donate if you are able.