If there's one thing that I've learned from all those damn "social science" and "child developement" courses that I've had to take is that communication and respect are the two most important things that keep a family together and mostly functional. There's a slight problem with that when it comes to Asian families. We don't like to talk and most Asian cultures have a very distorted view of respect. Let me elaborate.

Communication: In the US, there's this thing where everyone gathers for dinner and shares things about their day, blah, blah, blah. If you think about it, it actually works. Having dinner with your kids every night actually keeps the family close to each other. It keeps the lines of communication open. For those of us who have Asian parents, and therefore are Asian, we don't get that kind of luxury. There are two reasons for this. Number one: Most of us who are the in between generation (1.5) to come to the US (not the first because our parents are the first, not the second because our children, who will be born in the States will the the second), have parents who are jobs that take up a lot of time. For example, my dad is a pastor of a Lutheran church, and my mom is an artist. Believe me, that don't bring in the dough. So they've (foolishly, I might add) invested in a restuarant. Yeah, and with this economy, it's not exactly booming. They get up early, they work late...it's not the ideal situation for us. We rarely have the chance to have a conversation, let alone have dinner together. And because of their lack of involvment in our lives, my sister has taken an interesting path in life. Let's just say she's not exactly following the "Asian way." I guess things would be better if we all tried to make an effort to talk to each other, except there's another twist to the story. Asians have a problem with communicating with their children. It's kinda like they don't really want to know what's going on with their kid's life, except they do, and when they do find out what their kid's up to, they criticize like crazy, even if it's a really good thing (like getting a good SAT score) or they yell at you for not being a good daughter because you're dating a white guy.
There's also this thing called "language barrier." It really sucks when you're trying to tell your parents something but they either don't understand or take it the wrong way because you don't know ONE FUCKING WORD in the sentence in Korean. The end.

Respect: For Asian people, adults are always right. You don't question an adult. In fact, you don't express your opinion to an adult. It's like if they say something to you that's completely offensive and demeaning, you just have to take it. I honestly don't understand why it has to be that way. In order for a family to work, there has to be mutual respect between the children and the parents. If the kids can't express their feelings about a situation, what the hell are they gonna grow up to be? They're either going to be mutes or completely resent their parents for exsisting and never take a single word they say to heart. Isn't that terrible?? Wouldn't you be terrified of one day having a family of your own if your family was like this?

There's nothing worse than feeling like your family is falling apart. It's like all the happiness has been sucked out of life, and you're left with nothing but cynicisim and resentment for those you care for and love. It's a true love/hate relationship...you hate them, but you can't live without them because they're your family.