In novels and movies, most plots end up with a happy ending, for instance, Indiana Jones gets his treasure, and Cinderella meets her prince charming. However, in reality, things do not go as planned. Interpersonal conflict arises from personal differences. Every person holds a different set of perceptions and expectation, thus, when the view of one person does not meet the eye of another, a heated debate or fight usually ensues. Let me tell you a story on how personal differences can lead to Interpersonal conflict.
A long time ago in the land of a
tiny island called Singapore, there lived a boy named Thomas who lived with his
father, Roberto, in a small shop house which sells the best wanton noodles in
Singapore. Roberto was very proud of his noodle shop as the shop was passed
down from his great grandfather to his grandfather and to him. Treating the shop
as a family heirloom, Roberto wanted his son to inherit the shop house from
him. Thus, Thomas has been trained daily in the art of cooking delicious wanton
noodles since young.
As Thomas grew older, he made a
few friends who were in the Chinese Opera Troupe. Thomas gradually became bored
of cooking noodles and he realised that he was interested in Opera too. He
developed a passion in the performing arts and aspired to be a stage performer
in the National Chinese Opera Troupe. Believing in his new found passion, he
decided to take some night Opera classes.
One day, while Roberto was
auditing the earnings of the noodle shop, he discovered that earnings of the
recent months were declining, suspecting something was amiss, he decided to
check on the noodle shop. To Roberto's horror, he realised that Thomas had been
closing the noodle shop earlier for the past few months. Filled with rage,
Roberto confronted his son. "Where have you been going at night?!"
roared Roberto. Irritated by his father's sudden burst of outrage, Thomas
replied curtly" I realised I love Chinese Opera and I want to do Opera
performance.". Upon hearing these words, Roberto was filled with dismay,
his dream of his son inheriting the noodle shop was crushed! "Why Opera!?
The noodle shop makes so much more money than Opera!" shouted Roberto. Trying
to convince his son to pursue his career in cooking noodles, Roberto rambled on
how Thomas' friends were a bad influence on him and claimed that Thomas has no
say in the matter because he should listen to his father.
Frustrated with his father's lack
of understanding, Thomas slammed the table and shouted" You do not own me!
You cannot decided anything for me!", and with that, Thomas spun around sharply
and left the room, leaving his angry father speechless.
So my friends, how do you think Thomas should have handled
the situation, knowing that his father has his reasons for the survival of his
shop house?
