Obedience Verses Independence
Growing up in a very traditional Vietnamese family, I was raised to be highly respectful and obedient to elders. Through the teachings and influences of my parents and grandmother, I have matured to realize that people who are older deserve attention and deference. My late grandmother had passed many of her wisdom on to me before she passed away recently. She nailed it in my head that my family should be my first priority and that I should respect and be obedient to the elders in the family at all times. But at times, I do not know whether to be obedience or independence. It has always been a struggle for me to choose between the two. In the past, my parents were intolerable of my feelings and opinions and sometimes just ignored me completely.