不如見一麵——情人節，說情事

      Not that I got any romance to share, just an observation:

      It appears to me, I could be wrong, that the way couples/lovers get along is quite different, at least between the two cultural backgrounds, the east and the west.

      For instance, most American couples pay respect to each other. They might understand better the bottomline to maintain a healthy marrige for a lifetime is mutual respect, i.e., respect each other the way the relationship started at the very beginning. In case a divorce occurred in the middle of somewhere, they would probably remain good friends. There are many examples around, such as colleagues, neighbors, friends, etc. From a personal perspective, the most direct and convincing ones: my son & daughter-in-law, as well as my daughter-in-law’s parents.

      Chinese couples, on the other hand, are hard to describe how they get along. There are differences between the old and the new generations, though. Generally speaking, Chinese couples believe they possess each other, a cultural heritage? I don’t know. "You are my husband/You are my wife, what the hell with you (你是我老公/你是我老婆，你想怎麽著”)? I can give you countless examples of this kind, from the ones around or out of reach.

      A song caught my attention, and that is how I got to share the above observation.

      Happy Valentine’s Day, folks!

 

      不是說自己有什麽浪漫要分享，僅是一點觀察：

      總感覺夫婦或者說情人之間的相處之道，起碼在中美兩種文化背景下，有較大不同。

      美國夫婦是相互尊重。若是長相守，則相敬如賓；若最終成半路夫妻，多半也是好朋友。身邊有許多例子，比如同事、近鄰、朋友等等。最直接的觀察來自於兒子兒媳，還有親家夫婦。

      中國夫婦則一言難盡，老一代和新一代之間，也有較大差異。總體來看，中國夫婦是相互擁有，“你是我老公/你是我老婆，你想怎麽著？”這種例子，無論身邊還是八杆子打不著，都不勝枚舉。

      聽聽這首歌，或許有些啟發。

[盈盈一笑間]

文學城首頁推薦成功。謝謝朱師好文章。期待在美壇看見更多佳作。