\”Just walk away,\” my dad said. \”Just walk away.\”

My mom had shamelessly seeked out the shortest line in the rows of cashier. It was one that had just opened up…that was obviously to be fed by a line about 10 carts long. Seeing my mom push her way to the front of the line reminded me of my childhood embarassment. When I was younger, I often would walk to the other side of the store when my mom started debating with salespeople. Or even worse, how my mom raised a huge fuss when a car accidentally swiped against her (barely a noticeable dent) in my middle school parking lot.

At Costco, I refused to move my cart, knowing that my fellow shoppers did not appreciate someone jumping ahead of them or…squeezing past them just so that we could get out the store faster. My dad told me later how he thought my mom\’s squabbling would raise the anti-asian sentiment. In the end, to avoid a potentially embarassing situation, I walked away — pretending that I still had dignity. Perhaps that itself is still very shameful.