.. . ... picostep

On September 18, 2001, one week after the fateful 9-1-1 terrorist attack, I submitted my first essay to a local newspaper...

Today, for the first time, I fly the American Flag.

Growing up in Macau and Hong Kong, my childhood heroes were Neil Armstrong, Thomas Edison, Sun Yat-sen, Gandhi, Joan Baez, and soccer King Pele. They were inventors, pioneers, artists and leaders who symbolized intelligence, creativity, freedom and humanity. Many of them were American.

I came to this country wanting to become a part of it.

Then I got to know the other Americans, the John Waynes, the Joe McCarthys, people who believe in psychics, and then George W. Bush. They are the cowboys, the bullies, the warmongers, the fools and the incompetents who represent the elements of America that I despise.

I fly the American Flag to mourn the loss of lives on September 11, 2001. I fly the flag to denounce barbaric terrorism. And I fly the flag to show solidarity with fellow Americans and the rest of the world, who share the same virtue of justice, peace and mutual respect.

It is not a vote of support for trigger-happy military retaliation. It is not a vote of support for the ruthless expansion of imperial power. And it is not a vote of support for arrogant American exceptionalism.

Yes, the perpetrators of this hideous crime must, if possible, be identified, isolated, and brought to justice. But launching a "Crusade" as vowed by our tough-talking, teary-eye politicians will only provoke greater hatred, breed more martyrs and, as scripted by the terrorists, fueled misguided patriotism that will divide the country.

I fly the American Flag, for the first time today.