Boycotting the 2008 Chinese Olympics - Punishing the Punishers, and yet, I understand the Punishers, a little, I think

I am boycotting the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
I am going to make a small sign and wear it in my goings on around town.
The sign will read,
"Please Consider Boycotting The 2008 Olympics In Beijing, China In Support Of Democracy For Burma. China Invites The World To Play. China Must Take Responsibility For What Happens In The World. Thank You."

Why am I doing this?
I enjoy my freedom.
Burma's people are struggling for theirs.
I choose not to ignore that.
And, I do not ignore the absence of freedom in countries like Darfur, Rwanda, Iraq, Iran, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Columbia, and the list goes on and on...
I am choosing Burma for right now as the country I am going to speak for immediately,
BUT,
I do not forget all the other countries whose people are suffering the absence of liberty.
They are my brothers and sisters,
and,
I will do everything I choose to, to help them.

So, I guess that means China is the bad guy.
They are the evil Emperor, approving the actions of Darth Vader as he tortures the heroic rebels.
Thankfully, I don't actually believe this.

I am half Chinese.
China has a long and proud history full of countless discoveries, rich literature, art, culture.
It is the world's oldest civilization, next to Egypt, spanning years of history I haven't even begun to bridge in understanding.

When it comes to China and the West, I know a little history, and I understand how China feels about the West.
China wanted to be left alone throughout its history, then, Britain kicked the Chinese door down during the two Opium Wars.
Britain and many other European nations carved up China like a roast, claiming specific "spheres of influence" and imposing their own laws in their little pseudo-colonies.
China was forced to partake in a world it had chosen for centuries to have nothing to do with, and then had their participation forced down their throat.

I would be resentful at a world which imposed itself on me.
I still am. -_-

So, I can understand how China feels about the world shunning its Olympics because of the human rights issues that surround China.
China says,
"Oh yeagh! Well what about you high and mighty Westerners? What about your slavery of Africans? What about your fiefdoms? What about your serfs? What about your slaughter of North and South American First Nations? What about your Industrial Revolution and children losing limbs in factories or dying from exposure to chimney soot? What about your racism?"
"YOU-ARE-NO-BETTER-THAN-ME!"
"How dare you condemn me now that you have so nobly put those things behind you."
"You had centuries to industrialize."
"We just want to catch up and enjoy the same standard of living."
"We're doing exactly the same as you did, stepping all over those who are weaker than us, thrusting our boots into their faces just to climb up a little higher."
"HOW-DARE-YOU-CONDEMN-US!"
"Your hands are just as bloody as ours!"

I can practically hear Chinese politicians gritting their teeth over the West's incessant bleating about human rights.
Is it that they completely ignore their own history.
It's easy to point fingers isn't it? except when they need to be pointed back at you.

I understand China.
I empathize with them.
They have come very far, very fast.
I think they're absolutely right.
The West's hands are just as bloody as theirs.
But, that was our ancestors.
We're not them.
We've grown.
We've learned.
We feel more now.

I, as a Westerner of today, cannot sit idly by while people are suffering and there is something I think I can do about it.

I understand you China,
half of you is me,
but,
I say,
"This is not the world it once was and we are not our ancestors. Look at us now. People dying when there is something free people can do about it is not accepted anymore."

ah...
poor humanity.
the pains we are suffering in our struggles to grow.