Attention!!
Should one be proud of oneself for any reason
besides one’s efforts?
Whenever or wherever I go,
whoever starts the
conversation would most likely
ask me the same question:
“How do you like America?”
What should I say? Every
country has its own pride;
every place does. But this does
not mean that the individuals
living there are all great persons
and all the “traditions” are
worth continuing. People are
people, regardless of what
color they are, what language
they speak and what faith they
hold. There are always
common roles that can apply to
everyone. As for the laws, we
all know them; for civil
attitudes, however, most of us
forget who we are.
I usually have my dinners at
Skaggs. The reasons are
simple. There is only one
supermarket near the
University, and the stuff is
cheaper compared to
restaurants. If you are lucky
enough to own a car, you can
get around; however, most
foreign students do not have a
car, some not even a bicycle!
Where can they go? I believe
that most foreign students are
relying on Skaggs and some of
them, like myself, have to take
the mistreatments, because of
language problems.
One day, as I usually do, I
got a small can of ice-cream
and two honeybuns for a
simple supper. There was a
long line at the express cash
desk. One foreign student in
front of me had a little trouble
understanding what the pretty
cashier girl said. Obviously, he
was embarrassed and,
therefore, smiling foolishly. For
some reasons, maybe because
of the long line, she was not
able to be patient with him.
She made a face (imagine!) to
an American guy behind me.
My first reaction was to be
insulted; even / was annoyed
by waiting longer. When she
handed my stuff to me, I could
not help myself and said to her:
“Sometimes, people do not
understand you, so please
be . .
“Thank you!” She
interrupted me immediately.
I could not remember how I
left, but I knew my face was
burning. I had to shut up and
have my “great” dinner quietly
at their snack bar that evening.
I came from an oriental town
where people had a lot of
differences from the people
here. The major problem
comes from our deep-rooted
cultural traditions. My
grandmother is a typical
example. When I was young,
she always taught me her life
philosophy, to which she owes
her great reputation:
“Whomever you play with or
whatever you are going to do,
first things first is always
comparing you heart with the
other’s!” As I grew up, I
“learned” a lot of those
traditions (1 admit that a lot of
them were forced on me, but I
do appreciate my grandmother
in many ways). I have
benefited a lot from them in my
life, especially in high school
and college. I am more and
more “convinced” that they
are great traditions. Most of
them have formed my
personality! However, some
people here may not agree;
even some in our country do
not agree. One writer even
wrote a book to criticize many
of our traditions and felt “pity”
for us as “the victim of our
culture. ” They said these
traditions are great ideally, but
not practically. In such a
modem world, these made us
so vulnerable that others
always take advantage of us
and even neglect us because of
our “cultural traditions” (i.e.
humble and modest). They
think our politeness and
friendship are becuase of their
greatness! I really hate this!
When I first came here, my
personality helped me to build
up my reputation. However, I
also had to suffer some neglect
blindly just because others
thought they were great! I
could not recall when I stopped
saying “hello” to the people
passing by, and would not pay
any attention to them if they
did not nod or smile to me.
Why? You know it.
From then on, I still went
there for my dinner, not
because I had nowhere to go,
but, since I had been there
many times, I believe most of
the clerks there do not act like
her. Another reason was that I
wonder if she treated others the
same way just because of the
long line. I started to pay
attention to her performance as
well as others’, and talked with
other clerks when they got a
short rest at the snack bar. Most
conversations were friendly
and enjoyable.
When I told my roommate
about this incident, he, an
American college student, was
mad, too. He felt sorry for me
and tried to change my feelings
by telling me the mistreatments
he got.
Now, several weeks have
passed and I cannot stop
thinking why this happened. Is
it because our culture made us
“cheaper?” Is it because the
English language made her so
“superior?” Why must some
people, no matter where you
are, treat you so unequally and
unfairly? And sometimes you
just have to take it! You are
proud of your nationality as we
are, but this does not mean thal
you can be proud of yourself.
Do you not know that not all
the people living in Vienna can
play violin and not all the
native Chinese know the
martial arts? Remember that
several years before, your
ancestors may not have been
American either. Americans are
proud of their country, like we
are proud of our country, our
history and our traditions; but
we cannot be proud of
ourselves except for our own
efforts to reach for our ideals.
Does this point make us so
much “cheaper?” If that is true,
this day should be my last!
This week's Attention!!
story was written by Victor
K. Ke, a graduate student
in genetics.
John Del Tatto, a junior journalism major, took this week’s Attention!! photo.
Editor’s Note: This Attention!! page will be used each week
as a forum for you, our readers. We encourage you to submit
any oricjnal work that would be suitable for publication in At
Ease.
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