Do you ever find yourself completely tuning out on what someone else is saying because you're so focused on what YOU want to say? Do you ever find yourself interrupting someone or getting interrupted by someone else when you're speaking? It's great that we all have things we want to say, but everyone that speaks has valid opinions that deserve to be heard. While we may be listening, maybe we aren't really listening.
My inspiration rooted in a short film created by YouTubers "Wong Fu Productions". Currently, at over 3 million subscribers, they have been a core factor of YouTube's Asian-American community ever since. Philip Wang, Wesley Chan, and Ted Fu have been writing, producing, and directing short films even before YouTube's creation.
One thing I've always admired about them is that their production quality always seemed top-notch throughout their entire career. Even before they were as big as they are now, they've always been professional about their YouTube channel and even well-known actors like Harry Shum Jr., Randall Park, Simu Liu, Justin Chon, and more have collaborated with them as well. While they've been mostly known for their biggest romantic hit, "Strangers, again", they've developed to create content even beyond romance and comedy. One of them being their latest release, "A Long Time Coming". (Disclaimer: if you plan to watch the video, I suggest you finish it first and then come back to the article.)
Siblings, Emma and Steven, are gathered in their father's home for a meal. Upon finishing their meal the three of them talk while their father, referred to as "Ba", cuts fruit for them. Emma states that she won't be able to see Ba because she would be attending a Black Lives Matter or BLM protest the coming Sunday. Steven has no problems with that, but Ba does. While Emma states that she wants to "exercise her right to peacefully protest", Ba thinks it's too dangerous to go out there because of riots and potential violence. There seems to be a clear distinction between their opinions, and Emma offends Ba after telling him that she wants to inform him more about BLM because she "doesn't want him to hate black people even more", which offends him greatly.
Upon his exit from the room, Emma channels her frustration towards Steven because she felt she wasn't getting any backup from him. Steven tells Emma that he's been spending more time with him than she has ever since he had to move back home from the pandemic, which caused Steven to understand Ba more. "Yes, we've been hearing the same story since we were little.", says Emma. Steven replies, "That's the thing, we're always hearing the same story using the same words. But how much of the whole story do you really know? Turns out, there's a lot that Ba leaves out.
It made me realize whatever he believes comes from the truth of his experiences.". Emma was getting frustrated by their differences in opinions and she was trying to force her views onto him. She tells Steven that she "knows they'll get through to him" when Steven's telling her that they don't have to force Ba to change his mind because that's up to him. The video ends cleverly after Ba asks Emma to send him articles about the other victims related to BLM and she said she would send them translated as well.
When Steven talked about how whatever Ba believed came from "the truth of his experiences.", nothing could have resonated with me more as I'm a son of first-generation immigrant parents as well. We are from different generations, and it's not very likely that we will share the same viewpoints on many topics. They've come to and lived in America when times were a lot different than now, and I would too, get frustrated when my parents and I couldn't see eye-to-eye on certain topics. Like Emma, I only voiced my own thoughts onto them and made them think that their views were wrong or tainted when it was just me lacking the understanding of their reasons.
Not even to just parents or family, we shouldn't shun other people for having differing views from us, whatever the topic may be. It's not possible that every single person in the world will think the same, right? Instead of trying to change people's views, we should listen and understand their opinions and beliefs. While someone's beliefs may be different, but don't misjudge it for being wrong. If you find yourself in this kind of situation, just know that (from the words of Steven), they're probably "just as stubborn as you are".
