Filial Piety

I went to Cathay AMK for movie last Friday, I watched "Escape". Nothing much to comment on the movie just another action movie which is very fascinating, very typical American film. As usual I went down to level 1 to grab my MOS rice burger (if you never tried it you must! It reminds me a lot of my fond time in Japan). As it was early prior to my show I dined-in and did not do the takeaway I used to. While I was happy munching away my big fat chunky fries the table opposite me caught my sight. It was a daughter and her mother. Initially the waiter delivered a large size soft drink over. The old lady (mother) stood up and approached the counter to get an extra cup then came back and shared the drink with her daughter. I was pretty surprise why was the mother who went to take the cup but not the daughter. I tried to direct my ears towards their direction that I thought I would hear a "thank you" from the young lady. Nothing but instead "你不要耍赖，你一定要喝多一点！" The image of a filial daughter bringing her old folk out for a meal on weekend, a role model has shattered instantly at that point. She was rude and actually ordering her mum to finish the drink if she can't. While waiting for the rest of their order to be served, I only see two things that make me feel really sad. The daughter just non-stop swiping her thumb on the screen with an occasional rude verbal throwing in her mum's face followed by a displeased look as if she were a little girl throwing tantrum when her mum did not want to buy her her favorite toys. The meal was served a few minutes later with two MOS signature burgers. I was done with my meal and left. 

It reminds me a lot of my family. She has time to spend with her elderly but does not seem to appreciate it but at least, AT LEAST she still brought her mum out for dinner although being reluctant. I always keep a very close relationship with my mum everyday. We whatsapp, we call and sometimes FaceTime (ever since my mum changed to Samsung we seldom use FaceTime anymore unless she uses my bros or dad iPhone). We have so much time hearing each other's voice that at certain point we were having awkward silence because we did not know what to say anymore. Having said so I am never physically present by her side, or even by my dad's side. Verbally they don't want me to always go back as they thought I would love to stay overseas and find hometown really boring. Indeed I admit I don't really like to go back unless I need to. I think it is just something in our gene that we love to be bound by foreign land. Now if I recall the members of my family almost more than half do not reside in hometown. My dad's sister has been living in the US for more than 40 years, his brother is also currently in Singapore. My cousins? So many are overseas there are some whom I even lost track of. I find that "going-overseas" kind of gene has starting to surface in me. I used to love to go back Kuching but now whenever I have the opportunity to do so I would just hop on the plane elsewhere and travel. Deep down I love my parents and family so much I wish I could have more time spend together. Contradicting huh? In the western culture, the kids have to shift out from the parents when they are in high school or as late as after college. But in our culture usually we don't shift out until we get married some still stay with parents even after married (especially the guy). That explains why the Asians' house usually has more bedrooms than the Westerners do. These days I find myself in a very difficult situation where my family oriented side wanted me to be home to stay with my parents but the other side of me is to go to different parts of the world to see, to feel the culture. None of which is evil nor devilish, just how I follow my instinct every time I come across these two options. This time, the latter wins. I am off again this Saturday.

p/s: He is a German.