I was reading Perfume Dreams by Andrew Lam for my Asian American Studies class. In the beginning essays, he talks about how his family is on the losing side and in dominant history books, he’s nothing more than a small blurb.
That got me really thinking. I never saw myself as part of a “losing” side, mostly because I hold the firm belief that Vietnam would one day see the light and stop this whole socialist shit. But what if, that doesn’t happen? And a few generations from now, very few will remember and understand the importance and meaning of the South Vietnamese flag.
For now at least, most schools and organizations in California know not to use the standard Vietnam flag, but what about another 50 years from now? In a somewhat similar analogy, does anybody still hang the Confederacy flag anymore after all these years?
It makes me sad to think that one day, my children’s children’s children will not understand the fight, the loss, and the pain my family has gone through in order to come to this land of opportunity. My children will call themselves American. Not Vietnamese-American, but American. And with each passing generation, language and culture will be lost.
Knowing all that, I sometimes wonder if my parents did the right thing by coming here to America.
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Are people really “bad” people? Technically, “bad” is a subjective term, no? For example, conservatives tend to see pre-marital sex as “bad” whereas liberals don’t always see it the same way.
I was thinking about this when a friend, MJ, mentioned that this girl, SS, wasn’t a “bad” girl. I found it a little odd to say, but I understood what she meant. See, to me, SS can be labeled as “bad” when comparing her to the social norms, but thinking about it, I don’t really hate her. Instead, MJ and I decided that SS had too many habits that clashed with our ability to be friends.
Back to the question though, are people really “bad” people? Especially if we compare them to our personal beliefs and values? If we put our personal morals aside, what would define a “bad” person? In a way, it’s all relative depending on the culture and social norms. Are there any universal norms which we can use as a base for this definition?
On a more personal level, when do you feel as if you’re a “bad” person? Does it depend on someone’s reaction and interaction with you? Or does it depend on something else? When did you feel your worst?
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[edit] For all my subscribers, sorry for all the new entry emails. I’m currently converting my files into WP pages and my plugin sends an email anyway. Thanks for understanding! [/edit]
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Are you tied to your heritage? Your culture? Are you prejudiced because of it? Do you feel as if you are placed at a disadvantage for who you are? Does your being of a particular culture define who you are or does it only make up a part of you? Are you proud to be what you are, despite the stereotypes? Do you consciously try to break those stereotypes?
I am an Asian American and although I love being what I am, I know that only in California can I exist in peace. I cannot go to my parents’ home country for in their eyes, I am an American. I cannot go elsewhere in America because in their eyes, I am Asian. Only in California do I feel accepted and appreciated to be this mixture of both, to be looked at as both American and Asian. Am I scared to leave? Yes. I am afraid that if I go elsewhere, I will have to start all over again as a foreigner, never truly accepted and always compared to the stereotype.
But I don’t want people to be blind to my culture or anybody else’s for that matter. We are who we are and we cannot change what is obvious.
Unfortunately though, there are always lost cultures, cultures that no one pays much attention to or no one puts much emphasis on. All the Asians, Blacks, and Latinos are clumped into those three major categories. And only briefly have we started to care about the Middle Easterns. But what about the rest? What about the Europeans, the true Americans, and all the missing people in between? Where do they go and how do we properly acknowledge their existence?
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