I had a conversation today with mom. A deep one. A logical one. One that I don’t necessary agree with, but love to have. Vulnerability, and disagreement. But more importantly, I was able to listen to her, and hear her thoughts. I was relieved, and felt like I need to know more. I need to learn more, and understand more about different point of views.
Today, my mom has my utter respect. We had a civil discussion about whether Trump was a good or bad person, and as a Gen Y who spends way too much time on Instagram, I deemed that Trump was a spoiled orange man. But my mom didn’t think so. She thinks that he was good.
And today, I further understood while he was good in my mom’s perspective.
In many Vietnamese’s point of view, he was a strong representation of democracy and freedom, who believe in free will, positive thinking, and religious practice. Indeed so, disregard of other horrible things he has done as President. On the other hand, Joe Biden wasn’t so appealing for Vietnamese people. He has a tiny bit of bad record in the past, when he denied the draft of Vietnamese refugees fleeing from the South to California. Well, as I written before, every single great person in the history have stains on their shirt. Who wins eventually would matter much more.
After the heated conversation, I realized, rather than disagreement, the tragedy of a conversation is not being listened to.
Then I realized, the disagreement is not the reason of conflict. It’s the disengagement that lead to fist thrown in the air. If you refuse to listen, that’s the end of it.
It also pumped me to read more, do more research, and to further develop my stands. I feel more confident now that I learned something new today, and I feel that I can make more informed decision thanks to the conversation with my mom.
After talking to her, I realized how much I miss having an educational debate.
Learn how to take the pressure. Learn how to take the heat.
Learn from experiences is important. I almost forgot how I love it.
Today I struggled a bit, but then I feel like I have gone a bit further than where I was yesterday.
Thanks mom.
Qbooz 