In the story “A Short Essay on Being” by Jenny Boully, the protagonist reminded me of myself a lot. She learned a few years ago that there is a type of Thai noodle dish called “pad Thai”. She went to visit her friend from graduate school and told her that she made her “pot Thai”. She said “She told me, “It’s pad Thai.” And even though she knew I was Thai and even though she knew that I was born in Thailand and had been back numerous times and even though she knew that my mother raised me to speak Thai and still spoke to me in Thai, I thanked her for correcting me.” The protagonist in this short story was a little offended but out of respect of herself and her culture, she kindly said “Thank you” and left it alone, although she knew the correct way of saying it. She even said “Instead of correcting her, I thanked my friend from grad school for correcting me, because that is just the Thai way. You move about quietly. You don’t show others their errors—you let them eventually come to learn the errors of their ways and have them come to you for forgiveness later.” I completely agreed with the protagonist instead of her correcting her friend. I think everyone eventually always figures out their mistakes, it’s just a matter of time. I believe the ancestors from Thailand have instilled the Thai way in their children so that they can be respectful and realize that others will eventually come to their senses. I’ve came across a few people as well before that corrected me while they were actually the wrong one, but I would never say anything. I don’t believe that there’s any point of correcting them once I knew the right thing in my head. I believed that they would eventually find out the correct way by themselves.

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