July 28, 2007
Every now and then when I called my mom in Taiwan, she liked to remind me that "不要忘本(abandon not your heritage)" as if her son is going to turn into an alien. Indeed her 5-year-old grand daughter can't speak in Chinese to communicate with her, neither can her daughter-in-law. And my mom has been disappointed with that fact. Needless to say, she considers heritage to be essential because that is her identity. Any stray from the heritage, to her, is considered heresy. She's not alone. Many people share her concept.
Heritage defines our upbringings, and it dictates our self-esteem, manner, and well-beings. An most importantly, it influences us everlastingly. Interestingly enough, human beings seem to be pre-programmed in such a fashion that we have the urge to pass on our heritage to our next generation. That's just how we are, until we know any better.
When I was a kid, Taiwan exercised the martial law. I was taught that KMT nursed me and my father's Chinese heritage made me a better breed; I was also taught that Chinese is the greatest race on earth, with the rich culture, sophisticated thinking, and the overwhelming population in China, we WILL dominate the world in the 21th century. Hey, it sounded pretty good for little kids. For kids who looked for some guidances and self-identification, that was a awfully low-effort school of teaching.
Until I learned any better.
It was a heartbreaking letdown when I was revealed that KMT was just another corrupt monopoly political machine that suppressed the people in Taiwan; it was a breathtaking crush when I realized that my father's Chinese heritage doesn't make me genetically superior to my Taiwanese friends; it was a choking disappointment when I learned that the so-called rich and sophisticated Chinese culture was convolved around the winner-take-all absolute monarchy dictatorship for millennia. Worse yet, the culture that bred me seemed to be a "talking point" culture, no less.
Do you recall your school years about what you learned? teachers talked down other races and cultures, and declared that they are barbaric and unsophisticated, and shamelessly invoked those so-called Chinese virtues like "忠孝仁愛信義和平, and etc." It was like those virtues were Chinese patents. Ironically, the Chinese superiority really didn't get us anywhere. Taiwan is still an unrecognizable political entity, without much hope on the horizon. Taiwanese desperately want the recognitions from the world, but they constantly undermine the country, United States, that can help them the most by choosing side with the proven sell-out Western Europeans. It is that self-serving and self-indulging cultural pride to blind us, hold us back, and sabotage our self-esteem, so we don't even know what we are doing. When you believe that you are better than others, you are stepping on the slippery slope. Without humility, you will not see your own weakness nor learn to improve your circumstances. The self-serving pride will only further you into the positive feedback that gets you an endless pursue of nothing, then transfer you into a whining and bitter soul.
However, I'm still holding onto my heritage. It doesn't change the fact that I was taught to be decent. The qualities I learned to know, such as love, honesty, humility, courage, respect, and etc, are as a matter of fact, universal to all other surviving races and cultures as well. It's the common heritage enabling us human to propagate and prosper. It's not the patented heritage to the Chinese race only. Granted, every culture developed slightly different on certain technical levels, but the fundamental heritage is identical. By a broader definition, a heritage is something worth holding onto through generations and eventually it becomes a part of your identification. The human heritage defines our humanity.
I came to United States 15 years ago, clueless at first, but totally convinced now. What I saw as talking points in Taiwan are reality in US. I see the heritage in this society. Although America only has merely 240 years of history, it's 240 years of democracy, that constantly struggles for a better tomorrow. The American heritage is, as a matter of fact, Protestant Christianity. No other country on earth has the Protestant Christian heritage going as far back as American's. If you wonder why America has the current level of prosperity and influence, you don't have to look past the Protestant Christian heritage. Your answer is right there.
Abandon not my heritage. In a way, I have found it in a different new form, a better and articulate form in Christianity. From the narrowly-defined self-serving cultural heritage point of view, indeed I have become an alien. However, from the more broadly defined heritage point of view, I'm more faithful to my heritage now than ever before.
