Tonight while I was trying to find the pineapple and coconut cans used for making Pina Colada I took out all the cans in the cabinet, hoping to find the ones I needed. There were a lot of cans, and I obviously made a mess. My mom passed by the cabinet just when I was about to put all the other cans back and said: "Why don't you just leave all the other ones there and I will put them back for you?", and I replied: "No, that's unnecessary. If I left them there and let you do it you probably would say something like "the kids are so good for nothing. They don't even know how to put the cans back properly"".
She looked at me saying it, looking quite shocked. "I never thought you would think like that." She said, with a rather uncomfortable voice. "I am sorry".
"Don't worry. It's not a big deal" I looked at her, tried to give her a smile, and continued to put the cans back. "But you do know that it's exactly the words you would say if I let you do it." And she walked away without another word.
It was a small incident between mother and daughter. Like I said, "It's not a big deal", but it illustrates how the parents, or how "Asian Parents" teach their kids. It's never about what we did, but what we didn't do. We can do a hundred things right, but when we do one thing wrong, we are worthless and good for nothing. When we get a 50 on the exam, the American parents may see it as a plus 50, but fot the Asian parents, they will see it as a minus, a minus 50.
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