Story

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hermosa Beach, CA
Performance Date: April 17, 2007
Primary Language: English

Notes:

The subject’s grandfather and immediate family were out to dinner when the subject and his grandfather got into a disagreement. The subject’s grandfather yells at him. After the dinner the subject was still upset about the incident as he had never been yelled at before. His father explained why he never yells at him through an old saying

About the clouds and the sun…

“One day the Clouds and the Sun saw a man with a coat down on earth. The Cloud and Sun entered into a competition to see who would be able to make the man take off his coat first. The Cloud tried first by creating horrible howling winds which in turn only made the man tighten his coat. The Sun tried next by shinning brightly. The man in the coat, figuring it was a nice day and that he should enjoy it, took it off. “

The moral of the story, for the subject, was that you can achieve the same effect, if not better, if you are pleasant.  In an effect, the subject’s father never yelled at the subject because he felt that he could achieve the same end by not raising his voice.

I think that the subject’s father gave the subject that illustration to capture the essence of his parenting style. We can only assume that the father used the illustration to also indicate that his father, the subject’s grandfather, had another style of parenting probably symbolized by the sun in the story.