[xceeding]

I used to assist in soccer coaching with a Japanese team here in California. I'm a white American and my son was a member of this team of 8 to 10 year olds, mostly the children of Japanese families who were temporary located in California by their companies.

There was an incident that stuck in my mind. A little Japanese girl, maybe 9 years old, was struck in the head by a soccer ball and begain crying her eyes out.

I immediately ran over, put my arm around her, and tried to comfort her until she stopped crying. The girl immediately stopped crying and then just looked at me with a very confused look in her face. After I was sure she was okay, I walked back to the sideline. I'll never forget the strange looks I got from the Japanese parents sitting on the sidelines, especially the fathers! Ugh! I often wondered if I did something wrong.

Would I do again? Well, yeah that's me.