heywilma | Funny little things.

I think that because we know them so well, we have a preconceived notion of how our parents should and would act in a certain situation. But we shouldn't, because it's funny the little things you never knew about them.

Like that dad-was-going-to-be-a-journalist thing. That was such a surprise.

This time it's mum.

Mum is... mum. She had a comparitively luxurious childhood (when compared to say, Dad), because Granddad was pretty high up in the hierachy of his State-owned mining company, bar those years of the Cultural Revolution, when he was accused of being a member of the extreme Right. But anyway. If I was going to talk my family and Cultural Revolution I'd be here all day.

I was watching this TV show, called 20 to 1: 20 TV moments that shocked the world. #4 or 5 was the Ti'anmen Square massacre. Mum was watching the show with me then, and she promptly informed me that she had been there when it happened.

So, she'd told me this before, but it never really registered. I was interested, so she told me more about it.

Mum was 29, and apparently going through a "rebellious" phase. Yes, they do start late in China. Hanyway. Basically the whole of Beijing knew what was going on at Ti'anmen, and mum's parents strictly forbid her to go, in concern for her safety and all. So what did mum do? She went, of course.

She got to the Square at sometime past midnight with a couple of colleages. There was a crowd, but the protests were on its last legs, so not a lot of violence. Or maybe mum was just on the non-violent corner. So she hung around for two hours, being one of those innocent bystanders that every event needs, until dad went and fetched her, because I wouldn't sleep, or something like that.

I thought it was an interesting story.

Also, TV should stop trying to make me cry.

The Ti'anmen Square story made me teary, as did Princess Diana's death, JKF's assasination, Kim Phuc's photo, and 9/11.

Maybe I was just unstable last night.