All of us got a shock because of the gunman, Cho,Seung-***. The Korean Government thought about making
an apology to the U.S. because of his actions and for him personally. If Korean Government does so, many
Americans will be surprised again. As a Korean by birth, I understand the thought behind the government’s
reasoning for an apology. Because Korean unlike Americans, think as a collective group. These are from different
culture and I can understand both sides.So if someone has a conflict maybe she/he will focus on the opinion of
the group(she/he belongs to the social consciousness was very different) and then she/he will take their side.
When I was a little girl, I always listened “my country is the first, my society or family is the second and I am the
last” Because of this mind, Korea made a big improvement economically in such a short time. And Korea has a
strong “we-feeling” for many generations. We have one language, everyone is of the same race and a very similar
background. About 50-60 years ago, Korea was a very poor country. So we have very funny stories. If one lady has
baby but she couldn’t ***-feed, another lady, a her friend or a neighbor will give her *** milk instead of the mom.
When I was a little girl, I watched lades who gave *** milk to her baby or changed diapers everywhere on the benches
at the park or at the market or in the bus many times. It was very natural. Maybe we believe all of us are a kind of family.
The “We-Feeling” ties us together very strongly as a family, friends, members and as a nation. But at the same time it
has disturbed our variety and creativity. Perhaps we believe we are same. We tend to ask same feelings and same
opinion about one event for each other. And if somebody has a very opposite opinion to majority, some strict person
hates it or her/him. Here in the US there are many different backgrounds. I think Americans focus on an individual more
than a group or a society. They seem to love to encourage and enjoy a variety and creativity. This is a wonderful culture
for an individual to make herself/himself independent. In my opinion, American has very good attitude for everybody and they
trust each other. Privacy is a very important thing for them. When we were in Michigan, my husband was a student of the
Western Seminary. One day we had chapel, my daughter cried because she was sleepy so I moved to go outside,
I didn’t want to bother anybody but a professor came to me and asked to join the worship. He said even though my daughter
made a noise, she was also an important member of our community. That is one aspect of American society. However it is
a small thing, they want to pay an attention.
But sometimes some American seems to focus on only themselves. Here Honors Review has many teachers. Some teachers
cancel their classes too easily just before 2-3 hours from beginning the classes. They just said “my sister took my car yesterday
so I have no ride.” Or “my pat is sick, I can not go there.” And American focus on their difference too much. Because of that, they
sue each other too much. I heard from my friend(he is American) that in the US everybody sue everybody. If they focus on the
other’s situations they can handle their problem without sues.
Let’s go back to Cho’s story. The Korean tends to believe that he is a Korean who made big and serious problem in American
society, so almost of Korean has guilty-feeling to some degree. But perhaps the American tend to think that he did it personally
for his own reason and for a long time he had stayed here US, so his origin is not point for American.