That's the way the fortune cookie crumbles.
I got really angry at my mom the other night when she called to tell me what her fortune teller told her about me.
Chinese people are very superstitious - everything from the Number 4 to the Number 8, Chinese astrology and Feng Shui. All of which is embraced with blind faith that we might be able to control our destinies.
I was affected by my mother's superstition from an early age. I have always known that shortly after I was born, my mother went to see a fortune teller (by herself) and they told her that her daughter would grow up to be a very successful business woman. Imagine her growing concern when it became quite obvious from an early age that I'm a dreamy, artsy type who would choose my own imagination over a calculator anyday. I was forced throughout school to sacrifice my interest in the arts to make sure I had a well-rounded curriculum in order to get into law school or business school.
Since I ended up at neither, I can't help but wonder what I would be doing right now if I had been allowed to explore all the areas of the arts that I was interested: writing, drawing, painting, theatre, music, etc.etc.etc. Instead, I was force-fed piano lessons and as a result I have lost any ability to make music without sheet music to show me how. I can draw, but can't paint to save my life. And the only acting I get to do these days is around Ryan's dad's family where I have to filter everything I say lest I come off as too strange or wild.
Anyway, I got angry with her the other night because she told me "Babies born in the afternoon aren't as good as babies born in the morning." She wasn't able to elaborate as to what "good" or "bad" meant. I was born at noon.
I know all she wanted to do was to chat with me, but telling me this superstitious bullshit has only ever confused my grasp on life. I know logically that I should just ignore it, but having lived with it hanging over my head my entire life, I can't take shit like this lightly. And I refuse to let it back in my life anymore. It's difficult enough trying to make sense of life (what I should be doing, where do I want to go in life...); adding random, vague superstition to the equation only confuses things.
My mom says she doesn't take this superstitious stuff seriously, but she obviously does or she wouldn't bother with it at all. I think we all want to know our fortunes sometimes - to validate our actions and choices in life, but in the end - what does any of it matter? Fortune tellers can't help us solve a goddamn thing.
Chinese people are very superstitious - everything from the Number 4 to the Number 8, Chinese astrology and Feng Shui. All of which is embraced with blind faith that we might be able to control our destinies.
I was affected by my mother's superstition from an early age. I have always known that shortly after I was born, my mother went to see a fortune teller (by herself) and they told her that her daughter would grow up to be a very successful business woman. Imagine her growing concern when it became quite obvious from an early age that I'm a dreamy, artsy type who would choose my own imagination over a calculator anyday. I was forced throughout school to sacrifice my interest in the arts to make sure I had a well-rounded curriculum in order to get into law school or business school.
Since I ended up at neither, I can't help but wonder what I would be doing right now if I had been allowed to explore all the areas of the arts that I was interested: writing, drawing, painting, theatre, music, etc.etc.etc. Instead, I was force-fed piano lessons and as a result I have lost any ability to make music without sheet music to show me how. I can draw, but can't paint to save my life. And the only acting I get to do these days is around Ryan's dad's family where I have to filter everything I say lest I come off as too strange or wild.
Anyway, I got angry with her the other night because she told me "Babies born in the afternoon aren't as good as babies born in the morning." She wasn't able to elaborate as to what "good" or "bad" meant. I was born at noon.
I know all she wanted to do was to chat with me, but telling me this superstitious bullshit has only ever confused my grasp on life. I know logically that I should just ignore it, but having lived with it hanging over my head my entire life, I can't take shit like this lightly. And I refuse to let it back in my life anymore. It's difficult enough trying to make sense of life (what I should be doing, where do I want to go in life...); adding random, vague superstition to the equation only confuses things.
My mom says she doesn't take this superstitious stuff seriously, but she obviously does or she wouldn't bother with it at all. I think we all want to know our fortunes sometimes - to validate our actions and choices in life, but in the end - what does any of it matter? Fortune tellers can't help us solve a goddamn thing.
posted by min_o at
10:22 AM
2 Comments:
Hear, hear. A spiritual life is one thing, but superstitions... entertainment, diversion, procrastination. As long as it's fun, great, but try to run a life around it? Forget it.
without insulting the science of some aspects of; its the same as every other profession in the world, how do you weed out the wisdom from the knowledge and do you really want to?
do people really talk to ghosts or are those whispers a product of an over active imagination. we could have this discussion a million and a half times over and NEVER come to a "fortun-ate" conclusion.
ya-ya caca.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home