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Everybody Should Get Respect              Contents

When I was young, I worked at my brother’s grocery store. I usually treated my customers with respect, no matter whether they were old, young, male, female, children or a different of color. I treated them the same. I thought it was my duty as a salesman.

One day, an unattractive girl arrived at our store. Her unattractiveness seemed to come from her interior. She worked at a family as a maid. None of my co-workers wanted to serve her. She felt inhibited, afraid, and helpless.

I saw she fell into a very difficult situation. I sympathized with her trouble. I went to serve her, and asked her if she wanted to buy something. She looked at me for a few seconds, and then replied in a very low voice, “I want to buy a comb.” I said “Anything else, Miss?” She hesitated and didn’t know how to answer me.

I knew the way to serve this kind of customer. They had a mental barrier caused by their physical disabilities or appearance. They usually had low self- confidence. One should help their confidence; one should show them patience, respect, and kindness. I learned this skill from background experience, or maybe it was my nature. With my special service she made all her purchases. Later, she became my loyal customer.

I know it is bad to speak ill of others, but I have told the truth. My co-workers didn’t want to serve that unattractive girl because she was not attractive enough. I thought it was not fair to her. She shouldn’t have any guilt because she was an unattractive girl. She should have the same rights as anybody else. People discriminated against her because of her appearance, but she should get respect. We can’t evaluate a person on his or her physical appearance. Don’t let appearance fool you.

Fate                                 Contents

I believe in the old Chinese’s saying said, “ When a baby dropped down on the earth and cried three times, his or her fate has been made good or bad.

I believe in fate. So, I can get through a lot of unpleasant things that occurred to me. May be somebody will say I’m a pessimistic person. But I don’ t mind that. I appreciate what GOD has given me today. I have a beautiful family and my daughter and all my sons, are very obedient to me. I’m proud to have them. Now I’m not only a father, I’m also as a grandfather of four children, too. I believe in GOD as justice. As Chinese’s old saying said, “ You farmed the melon, you harvest the melon, you farmed the beans, you harvest the beans.” What does it mean? It means that all depend on the means that you form your desire from. We shouldn’t complain about someone else. If you understand that, you will live happier than anybody else.

If you ask me, how do I feel about my son in Kuwait now? I will tell you I ‘m little worried about his safety. That is a normal affection of a father’s mind. But I believe he will be safe and sound coming home. I pray toGOD to protect my son, and finish the war soon.

Different Point of View                                   Contents

It is difficult to tell about the different generation, and their definition for evaluating old country and new country.

The first generation came to the U.S. for religious freedom, safety, family reunion, a better lives and education. Maybe they felt sorry to leave their old country. But they didn't have the choice to live the way they wanted to in their old country. They came to the U.S.to settle their new lives. [Of course, they knew they rode on the same boat;nobody wanted to see the boat sink.] If their new country needed them, they'd take up the gun to protect their new country. They knwe the freedom was a very valuable thing; they had a right to protect it.

The second generation is totally different. They were born in the U.S., they received education and lived in the U.S...They didn’t know about their parent’s old country. They got some information or from their parents. They didn’t know how to evaluate their parent’s old country. They only knew the U.S. as their country.

Third generation almost forget where their grandparents came from. They aren’t interested in their grandparents past; they don’t practice their grandparent’s culture. They marry different races. The root isn’t important to them. They think they are a new “Era of” people. They don’t carry any feeling, as their first and second generations did.

A Dedicate Mother                                Contents

Last Sunday afternoon, I was thinking about my writing class homework that I needed to hands in Thursday, and I didn’t know what subject I should write about. My mind was running up and down. Wow, what a coincidence that while I was thinking about how to write about my sister-in –law’s story and others, but didn’t have exactly idea which one I should choose, I got a phone calls from Hong Kong. I decided to choose the caller-Cesar’s mother as the main character of the story. If you read my “Masochistic lover” stories, you will know you Cesar is. He was a failure two times in his marriage.

But he had a great mother and a father. His parents had been helping him when he got problems with his ex-wife and present wife. His parents thought, helping Cesar was their responsibility. Especially his mother, she persuaded her husband (Cesar’s father) to sell his restaurant and leave his Panamanian wife and came to help her son Cesar. She also convinced her husband to bring his Panamanian wife’s son to help her son’s business. She took care of her son with all heart .Even if it was something as light as a feather she also wanted to do it all.

Besides helping Cesar, she also took care of her grandchildren since they were born. In the eyes of her grandchildren she was their real mother. When her grandchildren went to school, she had a little spare time. She didn’t wan to waste it. She picked up cans on streets. She wanted to buy some shoes for her grandchildren. She considered helping her son and grandchildren was more important thing in her life. So she didn’t feel any shame when she was picking up cans on the streets.

Cesar’s mother was always giving her son some suggestions about something. So that made Cesar‘s wife feel she was being invaded. His wife complained about him, he was not respected her as his wife. She considered she was Cesar’s wife, so she had the right to shore with anything with her husband. She wanted to know what Cesar was doing with his mother. She also complained about her mother-in- law was only loved Cesar and her children. She felt Cesar married her only for the baby.

When Cesar’s mother saw her son and her daughter –in-law weren’t agreeing with each other’s point of view. She thought keeping silence was the best way to save her son’s marriage. She thought her daughter –in-law was reasonable: her son Cesar should grow up. By the same token, she knew she was getting older. It was the time let her son learned how to be independent and how to get along with his wife. Her grandchildren already grow up. She considered that it was time for her to retire. She didn’t want to her son to have responsibility for her. So she decided go back to Hong Kong to stay in a government nursing home. Although now she lives in Hong Kong, she still keeps in touch with her son and grandchildren by phone.

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