I met a middle aged woman at a casual social gathering and found myself immersed in the conversation we had started. She was an adviser to the Chinese medical council, assigned to study in the United States for a year to research and write. Fortuitously through our perspectives toward the seemingly-remote topic of organ transplants, the conversation actually helped shed some light on how my life in the United States has shaped some of my paradigms. Our views were nonetheless rooted from the values of two very different histories and nations so I suppose it wasn't a completely remote comparison.
The morning of that day, though my flight back to Seattle from college for the summer duration was set for that afternoon of May 6th, 2011, I was confronted with a postponed flight shortly after I arrived at the airport. I rescheduled another flight for the next morning and anticipated on spending the night there since I didn't have a ride back to campus. Fortunately, I soon got a call from my friend, Shen Lin, who simply wanted to say goodbye but I told him about my dilemma so he kindly offered to give me a ride back to campus. I was so thankful.
Best of all, the international graduate house we called the "3333" was throwing an end-of-the-year party that evening so we had one more night to say all of our goodbyes. For that reason, I was glad my flight was postponed. It became a night I still remember as being quite sentimental because it was my last year at that college, spent with friends and experiences I'll never forget. As well, I had the chance to spend one last night with Emma, a young MBA student I had grown considerably close to over that past semester.
Upon meeting some familiar and new faces at the party, I also met a women who introduced herself to me as a scholar from China having been assigned to study in the law and philosophy department though her focus was medical based. She was only one of the many Chinese writers, teamed-up to work on a book about medical ethics. To describe her, I am guessing her age was about 40-years old, stood about 5'2" and spoke with a distinctively fragile and modest voice that only left me to listen and respond with the utmost respect in return. Though beneath her modesty, I could sense an enormous amount of wisdom, not to mention her previous position as a professor and her impressive degrees in law, medicine and philosophy...
She explained to me that her role in writing the collectively-built book was to find out what the American view on organ transplants pertained to. At which point, I learned that some seemingly simple medical ethics in developing parts of China were noticeably different from Americas'. This spurred medical leaders in China to send researchers like herself to learn more about these differences and in what practices they could adopt.
Basically, she expressed her impression of the American view towards organ transplants - specifically regarding whose decision should it be to offer or donate one's organ to another. And the general American consensus is that people should be given complete freedom to decide what hey want to do with their organs. I concurred with the American view but was surprised when the woman mentioned that it was different in China... I listened intently.
She explained that in some less developed regions of China, the idea of organ transplants required the consensus of the individuals' parents. While the parents and child were obligated to provide their organ to the counter-party if a surgical transplant was needed, the offering of an organ to a non-family member was actually frowned down upon. This was the part that perplexed me for a moment so I asked her why that was the case. She described how traditional views towards children is that, as a creation of their parents, their body is a reminiscent of their parents' and ancestors' bodies. To give away an organ to a non-family member without the consent of the parents was seen as a disrespectful act towards the family.
This is when recollections kicked in on the topics I learned at Berkeley and personal experiences as a Chinese-American. [CONTINUED...]
footnote:
Independent decision in America, same with most other things like studies and careers (my preference)
Shine some light on the western influences on myself
Difference between Chinese and English names (written order)
