How Many "Sawadee, Kha"s?

When I was young and my dad worked for the Thai Embassy's Students Department, we went to a lot of parties thrown by my parents' Thai friends. Born into a culture of formalities and respect, especially respect for your elders, requires one to individually greet each "elder" upon arrival and departure. As you can imagine, it can take a long time to make your way through a party!

Even to this day, if I'm at my parents' house and a friend of theirs stops by for a visit, it's up to me to properly greet that guest with a "wai". And when that guest leaves, I have to do the same. This is actually the way I greet my parents now, which I didn't do when I lived at home. It's also funny how, every so often, I'll be in some social situation with my family and their friends and my mom will actually check up on me to ensure I properly paid my respects to everyone. I'm still being reminded about respecting the elders, even after 40 years of doing something that is as automatic as breathing.

Anyway, having grown up in a culture where I am expected to greet my parents' friends (and my relatives) in a specific way, it's disappointing to me that some of the little kids I know don't even give you a second thought when you say "Hi" to them. My aunt would have tanned my butt if she found out one of her friends spoke to me and I ignored them. My bad manners would have reflected negatively on my parents (and aunt, who also raised me). And we couldn't have that!

Thankfully, my nieces have been properly trained (LOL) and John's niece and nephew are really personable, good kids.

Yes, I grew up with certain practices and values engrained into my very being. I shouldn't expect anyone else to have those same values. I don't know what it's like to raise a child and keep on top of everything they're doing or saying, while trying to mold them into upstanding human beings and all that. I just know I'm very fortunate my parents (and family) didn't let me get away with being disrespectful, especially to my elders. As for the unresponsive kids I know, I'll just keep trying and maybe someday I'll get a "Hi" back.