When I was in marketing with Johnson & Johnson, many moons ago, someone told me Father's Day & Mother's Day are, in no uncertain terms, the best marketing ideas the Hallmark Card Company ever had. Their creation was purely to generate greeting card sales then, before becoming cornerstones of the western subculture. These economy prone celebrations are not going away anytime soon, judging from the brisk business in restaurants, flower shops on Mother's Day and of course, outlets that sell 'We Love You, Daddy' cards. I walked into my little sanctury at the Metro Inn last Friday and was greeted by a care package with a beautifully designed and warmly worded card, along with my favorite Japanese snacks, and a T-shirt with a hilarious message. My 3 adult daughters remembered! I am sentimental, I can never resist that surge of bonding between father & daughters. Moments like these take me right back to their early childhood, when Daddy was definitively the epicenter of their total being.
Fast forward 20 years, they are adults now. They live different lives, tackle different challenges, face different problems, and make different decisions. While Mom & Dad are on their minds we are no longer the priority, nor should we. They will always remember Father's/Mother's Day, our Birthdays & our Anniversary but as Dora observed ... what about the rest of the year? One of the first Chinese virtues we were taught in primary school or even kindergarten - 1950s! - was 'filial piety', which is at the top of Confucian virtues. While our children 'love' us, an all-pervasive description, I am not sure if they 'respect' us the way our generation respects our parents. There is no right or wrong here, the gap lies in interpretation, as a result of drastic and sometimes scary changes in family values over my life time.
Terri, Andrea & Jess ... you are the 'Pearls in Our Eyes' and we love you deeply. Take a moment and remember what Mom said 'what about the other 364 days of the year'?
It may be Sunday but I am cramming - a word that summarizes my college years well - for 6 sets of exams, starting tomorrow. Since today is 'MY DAY' perhaps I should celebrate a little. I will take a sunset walk, and smoke a Cohiba Robusto.
To all you loving Dads out there, enjoy it. Life does not get any better than Father's Day!
About Me
.jpg)
- tangcancook
- Born in Guangzhou and raised in Hong Kong since I was 3-months old, I retired at 59 in 2008, realizing there are more to life than just work. There is a limit to life, but none to work, and we have a choice. My dream of going to cooking school was realized when my endearing wife gave me a retirement cum 60th birthday present by sending me to Le Cordon Bleu. My life has not been the same since. The "TANG-CAN-COOK" blog was commissioned on April 2oth 2009 when I started my culinary journey as a "matured student" double majoring in the Cuisine & Patisserie Basic Courses at the Le Cordon Bleu Sydney Culinary Arts Institute. I was schooled in Hong Kong at St Paul's Co-educational College, then Boston for undergraduate work at Tufts University, before my graduate degree in Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven. I can assure you none of those years were as tough as what I did at LCB. Cooking school is a lot more than meets the eye, it is not for the faint hearted. The big question is, CAN-TANG-COOK now, after LCB? Well, I believe everyone can and should cook, and why not? Happy Cooking to you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment