Tale of Two Plates

Now at the job-searching stage, I try to make myself useful and do some simple house chores such as cleaning the dishes and folding the clothes. (Well, my family members will strongly deny that I did any house chores because I spent most of the time at the computer.) Today (it is passed 12midnight I know, just assume it is 11pm) I helped to wash the dishes after my parents settled their lunch. My mum left her plate on the sink. Hers is totally clean except for the oil stains or else I could not find any reason to wash the plate. However my dad’s is on the kitchen table. His plate is totally different from my mum’s, totally opposite. You can tell what he ate and what food he doesn’t like by looking at the plate. Both of my parents come from a not-so-rich family background. Food is definitely scarce. Why both of them have such opposite behavior? My conclusion is that both of them have different way of expressing “thank you for the abundance of food”. Her way is not wasting a single grain of food. His way is that leaving some hint of food behind is a blessing (it shows that he is no longer at the time of biting of near rotten apples). I was trained by her not to leave single grain of food at first, then learned from him not to fill my stomach more than it needs (that’s the time I starts to reject extra food).