If The Great Wall Were Super-Imposed Into The USA, What Would It Look Like?

June 17th, 2008

Man, kids are the best.

Just this week my seven year old, Amelia, asked me the following questions:

First set of questions: “Papa, who came first - God or humans? And if God came first, then who made God?”

Second set of questions: “Papa, how big is the Great Wall? And how many inches are in the Earth?”

Ok.

So where does one start with the first set of questions? That’s a pretty big issue to tackle. Did my best.

Re: the first part of the second set of questions, you would think it’s an easy question to answer …. until you find yourself having to explain it to someone who has never seen the Great Wall and/or whose sense of “big” is completely different than your own. But I did a bit better on this one, due to the good work of a recent National Geographic feature on China that I could show her.

Click HERE to see this visual of the Great Wall super-imposed onto a map of the United States that appeared inside that issue (it was a special issue on China called China: Inside the Dragon). The scope of this project was amazing. Can you imagine being the project manager responsible for making this thing happen, meeting budget, finding the right personnel, etc.? Makes my piddly little management worries and stresses seem insignificant.

And little Amelia, you are the best. Thank you for your wonderful honesty and curiosity about the world. It inspires and reminds me to keep learning and asking questions.

Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China