Musings from Seoul

Last week, I was in Seoul, South Korea to celebrate the marriage of your Mamu (Uncle on Mother's side) to your new Korean Emo (Aunty). One morning, I found myself typing these words at a local hotel's keyboard as I listened to the distant sounds of a city of over 10 million people outside the window:

It is relatively quiet here, as your Mamu lives in a residential area where people mostly come home to sleep. Plus, it is Winter Holidays, so many people have escaped the pace of the city to a more quieter location. This city is typical of the big Asian cities of this region. Modern skyscrapers and ancient architecture. Shiny foreign cars and noisy scooters. Local authentic cuisine and McDonalds. And of course, a language filled with phonemes and inflections and characters unknown to me.

I've learned three phrases here: Hello, excuse me, and thank you. If in doubt (or if I just don't know what to say) the Korean thank you stumbles out of my mouth as I bow. Yes, they bow a lot here. Your Mamu's wedding had much bowing. The Bride and Groom bowed to each other and then to their guests. The mothers did the same. And even your Nana picked up the cultural norm and followed suit after his harmonica number.

I did some research and discovered that the act of bowing has roots in Confucianism. “Confucianism is a system of ethics and behavior that emphasizes the obligations of people towards one another. It stresses duty, loyalty, honor, filial piety, respect for age and seniority and sincerity,” (Tips on Korean Custom of Bowing, The Korea Times). I find it fascinating that this culture emphasizes its core values with a tangible act of physical submission. It is truly beautiful.

What about North America? What are the values we promote as key aspects of our society? Are North American values in sync with Asian views? Or are we opposed?

A., you are in Kindergarten. And I have learned in my past studies of curriculum that what we teach our children in schools is part of the political identity of our country. Our country encourages independence, equality, freedom of choice and speech, critical and creative thinking, and general respect of ALL regardless of age, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. While these values are not the antithesis of the Asian viewpoint, it does underscore the individual over the community. Since the concepts of duty, loyalty, honor, and filial piety emphasize a more communal relationship amongst others, these values are ranked lower in our society.

Your Daddy and I had the following sentence as part of our marriage vows: “I submit to you out of reverence for Christ and receive you as my equal.” I believe these words encapsulate both the spirit of Asia and North America. After all, our marriage is a collection of different cultural values from various parts of the world. Yet, the value of submission (or bowing) and the value of equality are not divorced from the Biblical worldview. Both ideas are present in Scripture. We are to submit to one another. We are all created equal.

In the end, it is important for you to seek out what the God of the Bible values. Not all values promoted by a society are morally right. Neither is the range of a value’s emphasis in a particular cultural morally wrong (assuming the value is an honorable one). Thankfully, in both cases, Christ followers have the Holy Spirit to guide us through process of embracing cultural values as our own.

As for Seoul? Kam-sa-ham-ni-da! I bow to you in honor. But I do look forward to greeting others as equals in Canada.

Popular posts from this blog

Is God Good?

During "at home learning", I helped my daughter design an experiment on plants. She set up four identical pots with the same amount of soil in the same location on our deck (controlling her variables, right?). She planted two bean seeds in each pot. She watered three out of the four plants with various amounts of water (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup). The fourth plant only received whatever water naturally fell from the sky. At the end of one month, her hypothesis was partially verified. She thought the 1/4 cup water plant and 1/2 cup water plant would grow the best, which was true in the end. On the other hand, she guessed the others would not germinate at all. Interestingly enough, while the one that was drench in water (1 cup) did not germinate, the one she did not water at all actually grew! It germinated late but had the most steady growth. Is God good? I have been thinking about this question a lot these days. A global pandemic is still raging over our planet decimat...
Read more

Daunting {But Not Impossible}

I rarely watch the news. I catch up on the world's happenings -- where often the horror is reported -- via Google News. Or the brief blurb before classic rock on our favourite radio station. But very occasionally, at the end of the day, I take in the images of national and global headlines. Yesterday I watched the masses trek across Europe, searching for a safe haven away from war-torn Syria. I witnessed little kids crying as they tried to rub away tear gas sprayed by unrelenting border police. The message? You are not welcome in this country. I choked up as a father and his son fell to the ground after being tripped up by guards. The look of desperation on people's faces was heart breaking. Our country is nearing a Federal Election in October. Many voters are curious how the next Prime Minister will address the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Here is an excerpt from The Globe and Mail : Mr. Mulcair [NDP] and Mr. Trudeau [Liberal] condemn Mr. Harper [Conservative] for lacking...
Read more

Banking in the Now

This month we are trying something different: banking in the now instead of the tomorrow. Oh, it is nothing new, really. I used to operate like this in my single days. But then the lure of credit cards with reward programs persuaded me otherwise. While I never gave Visa the joy in collecting any interest payments from our bank accounts and I always payed our credit card bill before the 21 days of grace were up, I probably spent more than I should have some months. Why? Because I didn't have to pay for it immediately . It was not until last year that my credit card habits started to bother my conscience. Up to that point, I felt proud of the fact that the credit card company was paying me to use their plastic. I received stuff for free, even after paying my annual fee. Free fuel. Free flights. Free hotels. Free is good, right? My perspective started to change after I read a blog post penned by my sister. Her and her husband cut up their credit cards after a series of events, o...
Read more