Even though I was born in Cambodia, one of the South East Asian countries, I still feel ‘touching one’s head and receiving anger in return’ is quite a culture shock. Several times, I have touched my friends’ head lightly to show friendship, but they took it for offense.
I heard that for westerners, they do not mind at all touching their friends’ head to show, you know, how much you like them. I saw my Cambodian friend gently touching her Italian friend’s head. He did not mind but smiled and liked it. When I was trying to use a pair of scissors to cut a friend’s hair, he turned away quickly, his facial expression changed and he finally said to me that everybody owns different values. So he really values his head. But for what’s been happening in Cambodia, superstition happens so much so that everybody can get confused with the sacred places.
I wonder why they take their head seriously especially just when you gently touch them. I just found out that a lot of Asians are very sensitive when someone touches their head, whether it’s a gentle or rough touch. That’s quite strange to me. However, it is too much for them sometimes especially when I find it simple when others don’t. But I of course understand that it’s a right. Nevertheless I don’t agree with people who get annoyed or angry when their head is touched. They should understand they don’t lose a thing when it happens. 😉
3 thoughts on “Just a head touch, wat's wrong?”
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They don’t lose a thing? Well, when you’re holding scissors, they might be under the impression that they’ll lose hair. In that situation, it’s not their head that their worried about; it’s their precious hair. Some guys here in PP seem to value their hair more than women.
Seriously though, I don’t understand it either. I remember a few years ago reading about a person that was attacked with an axe because he was playing around and touched his “friend’s” head.
Thanks for your comment, Mony. It’s a matter of one’s culture which we have to be aware of, really. Cheers. 🙂
It’s not a good idea, when touching one’s head in Cambodia, but the problem is because we have different culture. Besides, in some countries like as Burma (Myanmar) , India, and especially in South Asian countries they do not mind when their head are touched but in our culture as we consider and valuate the head as the most important part of our body that’s is why, when somebody touch their head they happen to get irritate with that person. But remember that although, the most important of our body whether or not you can see its decaying and dying everyday then you will not get angry and think that it is just a touch what’s wrong with this? As the Buddhist teaching (Everything is impermanent so what can we cling to, if the body is the beloved one and it will vanish one day) So as you were born in a Buddhist country (Kampuchea) known by many Buddhist countries in the entire world and accepted by them. therefore, i cannot recommend anything, just the idea for you to reconsider it again and find out what is the matter with touching one’s head..
(^_^)