Thursday, December 14, 2006

On being a good son (or daughter).

Its hard, especially in an Asian context to be a good son. Period. Why? Too many reasons. I'll pick out a few main ones for you.

Parents in Asia still think what happened in their era is still relevant to what is happening in the lives of their children now. Why is it so hard for the older generation and the younger generation to communicate? Simple. The times have changed. Yes its true that we the younger ones should be nice and try to accommodate our elders but why sculpture ourselves to something out-dated? But we still do. Its culture.

Next is respect. Parents in Asia usually demand and not earn respect. They feel that bringing you into the world id cause for respect enough. But which baby will remember that? All the so called pain and suffering? It what you do in the present day that matters. Yes there are parents that has the admiration of all their children, I tip my hat to that chosen few, but most of the time the case is this, "I am your Mom/Dad. Respect me and do what I tell you to". Sound familiar?

Parental ego. Now this hurts. Let me speak from personal experience. My parents, namingly my Mom, never admits she's wrong, hardly says she’s sorry, and always thinks she's right (and often times, she is dead wrong). How would you expect a child to learn forgiveness? How is a parent to gain respect if this was the case? But yet we try to accept what we can as children. Obedience is a big word.

Just know this, blind obedience is destructive.