Outrageous Thoughts of Babble
by Peter Knight
[Johnson-3] One time, while he was staying over for the weekend, I realized that he understood far better than I could at the time, what the concept of family was. He explained to me that the Chinese were very proud people. Prouder than the individual, was its family name. It was the utmost importance that the family name is passed along many generations…
I did not understand at the time what he was talking about. What bewildered me more was how he acquired such knowledge at such a young age. He always seemed so 'culture-knowledgeable.' Maybe it was something that was innate for him. Unfortunately, there is not much that I remember of him after that - well, except for scattered memories here and there. We lost touch. I was probably only about thirteen or fourteen years old at the time.
The years passed and once in a while, I would get a phone call. We would chat for a while, but nothing really in depth. It always seemed like he wanted to know whether I was doing okay - almost as though he were keeping an eye on me, to make sure I was on track. He was always happy when I told him I was doing well in school. He told me that he was proud, because he was not as book-smart as I was. He would tell me that I would be pretty successful one day if I kept up the good work. And, my family would be proud of me too.