Nathan Lin is a 21-year-old American youth. He is a third-generation Chinese immigrant. During the Republic of China, his grandfather came to the United States in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. The Lin family's family background was not good until his father's generation made great efforts. Lived a middle class life.
Nathan was born with little idea of ??his Chinese identity. When he grew up, the trend of racial discrimination in the United States had subsided. Discrimination began to become a closely guarded word in North America, although he could more or less feel it from others. Nathan looked coldly on him, but he liked to eat hamburgers and was not very good at using chopsticks. He felt that he was just an American and had nothing to do with China.
In order to obtain the scholarship given by the US military to retired soldiers to go to college, Nathan, who had no idea about the military, joined the US Marine Corps. However, he had not been training for long when the war broke out. When the war broke out, he was very scared. He hated war, and was ranked last in the team in terms of combat skills. He was also afraid of death. However, after a while, his unit was not sent overseas to perform missions until the summer and autumn of 2 years. , he was dispatched to Libya, North Africa, to collaborate with the French, Italian and Western forces with the intention of overthrowing Gaddafi.
Nathan was still very frightened when he just stepped onto the battlefield. However, the intensity of the North African battlefield was not very high. The two sides only engaged in simple repeated battles. Neither of them had any intention of fighting a tough battle, so neither of them suffered any particularly big losses. . On the battlefield, Nathan just sat in an armored vehicle and charged, and when he came out, he fired some guns at random. Finally, the people on top saw whether Li Liang continued to charge or retreated, and the cycle started over and over again.
In this way, Nathan was generally calmer, but the panic atmosphere passed and the barracks gradually relaxed, and some other things began to bother Nathan again.
During the meal at the barracks at noon, Nathan brought the dinner plate to the American sergeant who was serving the meal. He was a fat black man over six feet tall. He glanced at the thin Nathan and said jokingly: "Little Stuff, are you sure you should eat here? You should probably go to Benghazi.¡±
The headquarters of the SCO coalition in Libya is in Benghazi, while the main NATO stronghold is in Tripoli. This black man sarcastically said that Nathan should go to Benghazi, meaning that Nathan is ethnically Chinese and should not be trusted by the United States.
Nathan¡¯s face turned red, but none of the comrades beside him stood up to speak for him. Instead, they started laughing, treating Nathan as the butt of the joke. Not far from the cafeteria was a supervising American officer, but this officer clearly saw what was happening here and had no intention of stopping it. Instead, he watched everything like a circus.
"I am not Chinese, I was born in the United States, my nationality is American, and the education I received since childhood is to love the United States. I have nothing to do with China," Nathan yelled loudly, but he did not calm others.
But his colleagues laughed at him and said: "If we encounter difficulties on the battlefield, who knows whether you will just abandon us, pretend to be a Chinese army, and turn around to attack us?" This argument obviously has no logic. It is sexual and unreasonable, but it is a portrayal of many people's distrust and discrimination towards Nathan Lin.
Nathan said tremblingly: "I can barely speak Chinese, and I don't look Chinese at all." Many Chinese immigrants will undergo certain physical changes after immigrating to North America for several generations, and their skin will become darker. , the eyes also become smaller, this is what Nathan Lin looks like.
The black sergeant laughed and said: "To us, you look like a Chinese no matter how you look." Regarding the appearance of foreigners, most people have a slight face blindness, just like Chinese people are not so different from foreigners. It is easy to distinguish, unless you are more accustomed to seeing the physical features of foreigners, you can only remember them.
Nathan angrily threw the empty dinner plate to the ground, ran out of the restaurant, and returned to the dormitory alone without stopping him. Sitting on his bed and eating the military rations distributed by the US military as snacks, Nathan could not calm down and calm down the fire for a long time. He could feel his distrust of himself, and if this distrust was brought to the battlefield, it might lead to serious consequences. It's his own death.
"Perhaps if I perform well in the war, I can impress them and prove myself." Nathan quickly transformed his negative emotions into his own positive psychological thoughts. He secretly determined to become a combat hero and teach a harsh lesson on the battlefield. ØChinese, prove that you are a patriotic American, not an untrustworthy guy.
At this time, a guy with an Asian-yellow face like him came to his dormitory, a Japanese-American soldier named Isuzu. Because both of them are Asian, they are usually closer. Isuzu went over and patted Nathan on the shoulder and said: "Don't be angry, you can't deny that what they said makes sense.
Nathan patted his bed angrily and said, "What's the point? There is no difference between us and them. Even in terms of patriotism, they are not necessarily stronger than me."
Isuzu hasHe said with some annoyance: "I am obviously Japanese, but I was still affected. They called me cIu over and over again, man, no offense intended."
Nathan rubbed his hair in annoyance and said: "I think this situation will probably not happen in China."
Isuzu smiled and said: "Why, do you really want to surrender to China?"
Nathan said loudly: "How is this possible? I am a dedicated American soldier. I am loyal to the Stars and Stripes and the American people. China has nothing to do with me."
Isuzu asked again: "Then do you know how to speak Chinese?"
Nathan whispered a little at this time: "Just a little bit, I can talk about the basics."
Isuzu patted him on the shoulder and said in a semi-serious tone: "Well, buddy, you have to teach me, 'I am Chinese, don't shoot. How to say it?' I heard that during the Korean War, there was a Chinese The veteran did this on the battlefield and escaped with his life. Maybe it can become our life-saving magic weapon in the end."
"You" Nathan didn't know what to say to his comrade, "Do you think we will lose?"
Isuzu said pessimistically: "The possibility of losing is not small. In India, South Africa, and the Solomon Islands, where have we won? In North Africa, it seems that we are doing well, but who knows the outcome." This is different from one of them. It is full of desolation, but there is also a kind of indifference. The Asian community has always been aloof from the mainstream society in North America. It's not like black people have basically become an integral part of American culture, while Asians are far behind. Of course, this is related to the fact that the number of Asians is far less than that of blacks, but in addition, many Asian residents guard their own Traditional culture, especially the first and second generation immigrants, also makes it difficult for them to truly integrate into American society. However, they are not particularly worried about the fate of the United States. At worst, they will eventually immigrate to other countries again.
In fact, not only Isuzu, many Americans have more extreme and pessimistic ideas, but in Nathan Lin's heart, the power of the United States is deeply rooted. The education he received since childhood is that the United States is the most powerful country in the world. Yearning for justice and safeguarding democracy and freedom, he never imagined that America's majesty would eventually fade and be replaced and defeated by another country.
"How can the United States be knocked down by China? What kind of country is China? It is authoritarian, backward, ignorant, and ignorant. It is because of these that my family left there and came to the United States. A country like China is not worthy of being in the world. "Existence" Nathan said radically.
Isuzu shrugged and said: "If China is really that kind of poor and backward country, then how can we explain that the United States, which is now powerful and rich, has been beaten up by China? Is the United States even poorer and backward than China?"
¡°This¡¡± Nathan Lin suddenly didn¡¯t know how to respond.
In the end, he could only say solemnly: "In short, America will not be defeated. I will risk my life and honor to protect her."
Isuzu said helplessly: "Do you really think of yourself as a patriotic hero? Those Uncle Sam's propaganda are all lies. You have been brainwashed. You have lost touch with reality. You should be more realistic. I really can't handle it. I understand why you feel humbled by your race and origin, but hate China more than others.
Nathan was speechless for a moment, and he couldn¡¯t tell where his hatred for China came from. Although he was not proud of his Chinese heritage before, he was not ashamed of it either. Today's events hit him hard. He felt that the words China and China hurt him. If he were not Chinese, he might not have been subjected to these criticisms and discrimination, and he also developed a bad feeling for China.
There is another emotion that Nathan is not very clear about, that is, his family has always had a sense of contempt for those of the same race living in China, and believes that living in the United States is extremely happy and fulfilling, while China is living in dire straits. middle. But now it has been proven that the living standards of the Chinese people are no lower than those of Americans, and China's strength is obvious to all, which makes their usual contempt and condescension very ridiculous and superficial. Only by trying our best to belittle China and highlight the goodness of the United States can these Chinese immigrants get some psychological balance.
No matter what Nathan thinks, he can't change the situation. The war continues to unfold and expand, and China's power is also constantly being revealed. When the US military is unable to quickly break through North Africa and enter the Middle East, with the support of China, the Kurdish and Babylonian armies enter Turkey, and the door to Europe is once again open. Being knocked.