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In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

- Amy Tan
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Author:
Amy Tan
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America
Nobody
Circumstances
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When my mother read 'The Joy Luck Club', she was always complaining to me how she had to tell her friends that, no, she was not the mother or any of the mothers in the book.

My parents had very high expectations. They expected me to get straight A's from the time I was in kindergarten.

My mother believed in curses, karma, good luck, bad luck, feng shui. Her amorphous set of beliefs showed me you can pick and choose the qualities of your philosophy, based on what works for you.

Words to me were magic. You could say a word and it could conjure up all kinds of images or feelings or a chilly sensation or whatever. It was amazing to me that words had this power.

Until the age of five, my parents spoke to me in Chinese or a combination of Chinese and English, but they didn't force me to speak Mandarin. In retrospect, this was sad, because they believed that my chance of doing well in America hinged on my fluency in English. Later, as an adult, I wanted to learn Chinese.

I write because I know that one day I will die, and thus I should experience as many deliberate observations, careful thoughts, wild ideas, and deep emotions as I can before that day occurs.

There are a lot of people who think that's what's needed to be successful is always being right, always being careful, always picking the right path.

Poetry. I read Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Jane Hirschfield. I like to read Billy Collins out loud.

People think it's a terrible tragedy when somebody has Alzheimer's. But in my mother's case, it's different. My mother has been unhappy all her life. For the first time in her life, she's happy.

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In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.