What Do You Learn from Your Dad? Here’s Mine :)
Howdy people, how yer doing?? HAHA, just trying out a new writing style, I guess it doesn’t suit me that much? Is okay, nothing is 100% a match anyway, in this life at least.
I am writing this on my way to my friend’s house. It’s been a while since I catch-up with her last time (oh wells, partly because of me la cus I was busy saving the world in another part of the continent, jk!) Yah, if you’ve been reading my writing, you know how “roller-coaster” my life is.
Should I re-tell my story or just write whatever I want and go with the flow? I think for today I’ll just pick the latter one.
This is a topic that I wanted to write about since last week, it’s an ode to my dad. Since I went back to Indonesia, I got to live again with my family — my mom, dad, and little brother. Most of the time I spend my days with my dad because he is more of a freelancer and he stays at home. When I spend most of my time with him, I suddenly reflect and think of the things that I’ve learnt from him since I was young, and I decided to share it with you, in this writing.
To give you a better understanding, my dad is a Chinese-speaking tour guide. He travels a lot (especially before covid) and he deals with different kinds of people (mostly foreigners). He drinks coffee too every morning, he used to smoke but not anymore (finally he realises LOL).
Okie, enough with the intro. Let me tell you a story. I remember once my mom and dad brought me to another town for traveling. I was small during that time, maybe elementary school? We stayed at some hotel (I forgot what kind hotel that was, but it wasn’t a luxury hotel for sure) for 2 days. After our stay, I remember my dad put some money under the blanket. I was curious and asked him what was it, then he told me it was tips. I looked confused so he said, “When someone does you a favour, you have to appreciate them, and this is an additional step after you say thank you. Next time, if you have grown up and earned your own money, you can always give some tips to appreciate someone’s help to you.” At that time, I was too young to understand what he meant, but as time goes by, I understand and I can see what he tried implying at that time. As I grow up, I always see my dad as a simple man. He never spends money so freely, even for himself. However, when it comes to someone “below” him, he always appreciates and treats them like himself. He shows respect towards them.
Another story is I remember one time (this was in elementary school too I suppose? HAHA sorry I got some brain fog) my mom and dad took me to mount Bromo for a vacation. I was supposed to ride a horse (yes, you can ride a horse while going through the sea of sand — a bit of promotion HAHAA), and my dad was waiting behind while talking to the parking staff. They talked and laughed at the same time. They seemed to have a good time and the conversation seemed to flow so easily. On the next trip we went, we also hired a private driver. My dad also talked to this driver freely, they laughed and joked together. I learnt that my dad can talk to everyone in this world. He can converse and engage with every layer of people — a fundamental skill we need these days. Most of us admit that we have good communication skills, but are we able to talk with ‘everyone’? including someone ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ than us? My dad taught me to befriend and respect everyone, especially those who seem weaker and inferior to us. It’s not always about being able to see up above and beyond — somehow looking down is important and the same level is needed too.
Oops, I almost arrived at my friend’s, let’s treat everyone around us with the same love and respect!
