This past quarter, I have been taking Asian American History for my general elective course, and even though it may seem ages ago (in which this course covers 18th-19th centuries), I feel as if I am learning a bit more about my parents' and even grandparents' past. Since I have been reading the book for quite a while now, I had a dream... kind of an epiphany. I saw my oldest family members (all the females, including my grandmother who had just turned 89) washing cars as a living. On the other hand, I was seated in some type of car which was mounted higher than the rest of my family. They were working very hard, scrubbing down the car with every last bit of their energy, and noticed me. They were smiling while cleaning the car, noticed me, and smiled even harder while starting conversations with me. I smiled back at them, and tried to communicate with them to the best of my ability... but I felt a bit uncomfortable. They were so happy. I certainly felt very sympathetic toward them - they were all fairly old - youngest probably 60, and I just felt horrible - horrible because they are still working their asses off to make a living. But they were happy.
It just made me realize how lucky I am and how privileged I am... to be able to communicate with the rest of society and that I can attend a higher education - and that I'll never have to work the kind of work they were doing to be able to get by life daily.
Sometimes people just need these kind of random revelations to occur in order to appreciate what they have. I am glad I took a two-hour nap and wasted some studying time, because I felt like I needed this :)
So next time if we feel angry or frustrated, maybe we should refrain from saying "fuck my life" or "i hate my life"... because it's really not that bad.
