Immediately following WW2, many Americans were stationed in Japan as part of the Occupation. One of these Americans, Lucy Herndon Crockett, spent 18 months there on a Red Cross mission.

She wrote about the growing influence of Americans on the Japanese, about the tensions and the friendships between the two groups, and how every American in Japan  was a representative of America and democracy in her book Popcorn on the Ginza.

Even the civilian file clerk, eating popcorn while walking down the Ginza, a street of high-end shops in Tokyo, is a reflection on America and our way of life, according to Crockett.

This is true today, as well. Every American is a reflection of our beliefs as a country.

In 1996, I traveled to China. There were few Western travelers to China at that time, especially in the smaller cities.

“Some of the people here have never seen Westerners,” our travel guide told us. “You may be the only Westerners they see EVER.”

Local residents would crowd around us, touching our hair and our clothes. Some pulled out cameras, snapping photos of us as we walked around the lake. We soon realized how imperative it was that we not act in any way that would reflect badly on our country.

Eight years later, I returned to China. This time, Westerners were not such a rarity.

Interracial couples, such as The Husband and myself, however, were something to be stared at and followed and sometimes questioned. In every conversation, and every interaction, we were well aware that we represented more than just ourselves. We represented Americans, and America, and other families that looked like us. We felt a responsibility to represent them all well.

Americans travel all over the world, and everywhere we go, people look at us as more than individuals. Like or not, we represent our country and its ideals. It is a heady responsibility, and one we should take seriously.

Do you think we are all ambassadors for America?