Nothing better to do

I’ve been reading a fair bit about pro-Tibet supporters interrupting the Olympic torch relays in the US, and was feeling quite indifferent about it. After all, it’s other people business. However, I am more inclined towards the idea of keeping politics and sports separate.

If sport has any role in politics, it should be as a peacemaker or ice-breaker in the midst of political tensions. I’m too young to know much about Mr Nixon and Mr Chou En Lai, but I do know that sport did play a significant role in thawing the previous icy relations between the two great nations in the so-called ping-pong diplomacy.

Can you imagine if Mr Bush had invited Mr Saddam for a game of tennis back then, and Mr Saddam gamely accept the invitation? How the fate of the world would have changed – Mother Earth would have stopped rotating at that very instance when Mr Saddam said “Yes, why not?”, stared and scratched her head in total disbelief, and started rotating again, in the opposite direction – yes, the sun would rise from the west – and we all would have to adjust our watches, clocks, notebooks, handphones, etc.

Regardless of the indifference I was feeling towards the issue, something within me buzzed when I saw the following picture in the news.

(A Tibetan supporter (right) argued with a Chinese supporter yesterday at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco.)

For a while, I was confused, it seemed to me that the guy shouting at the lady looked out of place. No, he got eyes, mouth, nose and everything, in fact, he’s quite handsome; nothing’s wrong with his head-gear too, he seemed to be angry, but that’s normal since he’s in the midst of protesting … oh, right, he’s a Caucasian (notice how they have to point out that the person on the right is a Tibetan supporter).

I’ve known that most pro-Tibetan protestors over in US are whites, but to actually see it in picture is truly something else.

“These guys simply has too much time in their hand.”

However, after what I’ve said, I do owe the fella a big apology if:

1. he is in fact a Tibetan that look like a Caucasian; or
2. he has a relatives that are Tibetan; or
3. he has relatives or friends living in Tibet; or
4. he has been sending money to Tibet to aid in their development; or
5. he has been to Tibet frequently to do social work to aid in their development; or
6. any combination of the above.