My Dear
Fellow Colleague,
For the last time, stop deprecating my country. I realize that your blunt remarks on South Korea have grains of truth in them, but I reached the limit on my tolerance for your nagging and haranguing. Jingoism and bigotry is not part of my love for Korea. I do not necessarily have an emotional connection to my motherland, and so I look at the country without wanting to filter what I see and hear. And from what I see and hear, what you claim about Korea is only one side of the story.
I have heard too many appalling stories about the dark and dangerous alleys of Seoul for my own good. The metropolitan is a bright, constantly active, warm city that welcomes both natives and foreigners with open arms, but it is also an ugly city with inescapable fingers that constantly beckons to the weak and the susceptible and ultimately proves to be their downfall. Korea has tons of issues and I know that many of its citizens suffer from living within its borders. The abduction of young women and children are common during the sinister nights, the pop culture consumes teens to a degree of obsession, the mass media sets absurd standards, and the obsession with English and foreign influence shapes and changes traditional values. An alarming number of teenagers go under the knife to meet the expectation of beauty and social requirements for acceptance, escape reality to the fantasy world of games, or lose the battle of depression by choosing suicide.
But at the same time, I cannot utter the name of my motherland, I cannot think of my country with scorn and distaste alone. After all, is there a single country in this world that can claim to be faultless? Every community and society today is tainted with issues and mistakes, and Korea is certainly far from being a pristine and perfect nation. But I am proud of Korea; I am proud of its growth, its flexibility, and its strength. Amid the ruins of disunity and suppression rose the nation, refusing to be content with a status of an underdeveloped country of mediocre power. Depression, sorrow and anger defines a big chunk of our culture, but far greater than this melancholy is the firm and unyielding defiance of joy and gratitude that supports the country. We have come far, and we have done much. We have destroyed, but we have rebuilt as well.
So please, enough with your snide remarks. It’s not like Japan’s completely perfect either.
From,
Your Slightly Piqued Roommate
For the last time, stop deprecating my country. I realize that your blunt remarks on South Korea have grains of truth in them, but I reached the limit on my tolerance for your nagging and haranguing. Jingoism and bigotry is not part of my love for Korea. I do not necessarily have an emotional connection to my motherland, and so I look at the country without wanting to filter what I see and hear. And from what I see and hear, what you claim about Korea is only one side of the story.
I have heard too many appalling stories about the dark and dangerous alleys of Seoul for my own good. The metropolitan is a bright, constantly active, warm city that welcomes both natives and foreigners with open arms, but it is also an ugly city with inescapable fingers that constantly beckons to the weak and the susceptible and ultimately proves to be their downfall. Korea has tons of issues and I know that many of its citizens suffer from living within its borders. The abduction of young women and children are common during the sinister nights, the pop culture consumes teens to a degree of obsession, the mass media sets absurd standards, and the obsession with English and foreign influence shapes and changes traditional values. An alarming number of teenagers go under the knife to meet the expectation of beauty and social requirements for acceptance, escape reality to the fantasy world of games, or lose the battle of depression by choosing suicide.
But at the same time, I cannot utter the name of my motherland, I cannot think of my country with scorn and distaste alone. After all, is there a single country in this world that can claim to be faultless? Every community and society today is tainted with issues and mistakes, and Korea is certainly far from being a pristine and perfect nation. But I am proud of Korea; I am proud of its growth, its flexibility, and its strength. Amid the ruins of disunity and suppression rose the nation, refusing to be content with a status of an underdeveloped country of mediocre power. Depression, sorrow and anger defines a big chunk of our culture, but far greater than this melancholy is the firm and unyielding defiance of joy and gratitude that supports the country. We have come far, and we have done much. We have destroyed, but we have rebuilt as well.
So please, enough with your snide remarks. It’s not like Japan’s completely perfect either.
From,
Your Slightly Piqued Roommate
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