Here's my article on generation gap. Can someone post it for me? "My Perspective on Generation Gap" By Vilayrath Sanavongsay "Mom, what's wrong with wearing a black dress to a wedding," I said. But my mom argued that in Laos it is a bad omen to wear a black dress to a wedding because it will bring bad luck. I replied to her by saying I saw many Lao females still wearing black dresses to many weddings and nothing happen to the people who had gotten married. But my mom wouldn't listen. This conversation with my mom is one of the several times when my parents and I would argue with each other. Ever since I was five years old, I had been told what kind of clothes I should wear,the rules I should follow,and the customs I must follow. I had been told that lao females can't wear jeans to the temple, that I must never stay at a friend's house overnight, that I must never go out with boys unless my parents arranged it, that I must always nop to any elderly Lao person I meet, that I should never wash my hair on Tuesday because I will have bad luck, and so on.I remembered that before I was twelve years old, I was happy to follow their wishes because I was proud of my Lao heritage and I wanted to learn about my culture. I also thought of my parents as still the authority figure in the house and the only people I can look up to. But, gradually, by the time I became eighteen years old right now, I had changed.I began to realize that I no longer share all of my parent's values and beliefs even though I still believe in most of them to this very day.By now, I had become very influenced by the American way of life, mainly through my American friends and through television.I began to incorporate some of those American values, ideas and beliefs as part of the value system that I had. Some of them didn't conflict with what my parents wanted me to believe in (eg. they can tolerate that I have some male friends) but others are in conflict with what they value (eg.they are pro-life because in Laos having a lot of children is a sign of good luck while I believe a woman can choose to have an abortion).Besides that, I found it harder to accept all their beliefs on what type of clothing is appropriate for which occasions. I continued to outgrow most of my old clothes, which were all picked by my parents.Television exposed me to different types of clothing that I was interested in wearing but several of them were what my parents didn't like because of its "weirdness", of its color, or of its shortness. Often times I did get the clothes that I wanted to buy by compromising with my parents, but other times it does not work. From my experience, I learned first-hand the effects generation gap can have on us Laotians, young and old. It is difficult for any Lao youth to fulfill all their parent's wishes and rules when they have become too influenced by the American way of life. But the bad things that the Lao youth believe in, such as partying all night, using drugs, or going to bars, are always the main source of the conflicts between the parents and their children. In this case, I can understand why the parents would argue with their children because these things are not what the youth should be doing. In other cases, the conflicts between the parents and the children has to do with political, social, and religious beliefs that have both right and wrong sides. Like my discussion on the abortion issue, both sides have pros and cons but it's up to the individual to decide which side has ideas that they value. Conflicts can not easily be resolved in these situations but the best way to deal with them is for Lao youth like me to try to tolerate the differences we have with our parents. So even though there will always be conflicts between our parents and us children, we can all have a good relationship with our parents if we can try to not argue with them but to listen to what they say with an open mind.