Protocol

Have you ever heard of “Protocol”? I hope you have. What is protocol? In accordance with the Oxford Advanced Genie Dictionary, protocol is a system of fixed rules or conventions and formal behavior used at official meetings or ceremonial occasions, usually between governments. Now, let’s take a look at a family, shall a family occupy a protocol or not? Honestly speaking, family is an informal entity which shares a very strong relationship with the each member inside. Since protocol is used in a formal purpose, so we don’t have to implement in the family. OK, it is logically correct.

Then, I asked myself: “How can I continue to finish my fifth small text?” Everything is true as I open my first paragraph above. There is no argumentation inside my text, so how can everybody spend time to read my text anymore? I walked away from my laptop and thought for a while. I claimed out “No, it isn’t gonna happen like that. However, protocol is also practical in the family.” I sat back and continued with my real text below.

Building a good and happy family is the responsibility of the family managers. Parents are playing an indispensable role to make it up and take care of it. Parents have never wanted their child to be a gangster or a burglar. They want to see their children, are able to get into society and have a good job. How can parents build such a great family? Enacting the family protocol is the only good reason. As we have seen above, protocol need to be used at the official meetings or ceremonial occasions. It means that in all of these places, we are going to use it officially and correctly, so why we don’t study this protocol since we were born in our family. From this reason, I suggest “PROTOCOL” to be officially used in the informal family. WHY? There are so many reasons.

First of all, if we use the protocol in our family, we will feel familiar with it. So, it takes us very easy to use it in formal manner. OK, let me tell you this. When I was a child, I lived with my grand mother who is now living in Australia. She taught me how to eat with respect in front of the older people. She told me that I had to wait for the first oldest person in the group ate first before I started. It is an action to show that you are the knowledgeable person and know who is who. Moreover, she also told me how to eat the fresh vegetable without making the sound of crackling while we are breaking it down inside our mouth. Until my age, I still remembered this protocol and I also used it while my boss and CEO invited me to each something outside with a very formal purpose.

Secondly, protocol in family can help us not to feel of fear while we are invited to join the formal meeting with the high rank people. If you are inside the Intercontinental Hotel of Cambodia during the lunch time, there are so many people who are entitled as His Excellency or even Prime Minister. What will you do? Close your eyes and imagine of the time when you are having lunch with them. What will you do? You may say “I eat with a lot of spoons and folks. The convention is I have to take each of them from outside-in.” It means that the spoons or the folks that are far away from you, you have to use first in accordance with the different foods on the table. Yes, then you can do it properly and perfectly without scaring.

Finally, family protocol can also make us to be an organized person. Since you are learned to follow the proper rules in our family, we are also able to create a very specific duration on what we are doing or going to do. Remember one thing that “Tight rules, tight mind.” Please don’t do like that, just make some example of protocol in some specific behaviors not all. Hey, let’s a good and flexible rules of life. Enjoy your day and every day enjoys your life!

By Sochheka Ong
15-Sep-2007