The premise of Confucian teachings are centered around the idea of virtue of humanity (Ching 68). To accomplish this, five relationships must be honored: ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother (not blood brothers this can just be acquaintances, they refer to other people as brothers, uncles, sisters etc. when they are of no relation), and friend and friend. It is very important to treat your seniors and juniors differently. I think of it like saying "Wazzup?" to my grandmother. I just wouldn't do that. In my book Integrated Korean I am learning how to speak to juniors and people my own age then I have to learn a completely different word for when I am talking to someone older than me. To say rice to a junior I would say "pap" but to a senior I would have to say "chinji" house is "chip" or "taek" eat is "cha-da" or "Chapsusi-da" It is very confusing but very important.
Confucius said humanity is to "love the masses". The overall development of everyone's potential ability is the most important part of Confucius' idea of humanity. He practiced good moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education.
I'm currently reading about America, the west, in contrast to the east.
If anyone is interested in what I am reading I was trying to find an excerpt to copy onto here so I didn't have to type it all but I found this excerpt instead... it's long because its like a whole chapter but interesting to read if you have the time http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/r/reid-confucius.html
I decided to type this out because it really made me think. "Yes, it's true, if standard of living means the number of square feet in your home, or the number of channels on your television set, or the number of horsepower in the driveway-then, yes, America leads the world. But if standard of living means not being afraid to go outside that home after dark, or not worrying about what filth your children see on all those channels, or not wondering when you get up in the morning if all that horsepower will still be in the driveway-if the standard included safety and decency and security, the our East Asian societies have the higher standard. By following the insights of confucianism,'says the Japanese scholar Katsuta Kichitaro, 'we can avoid the social catastrophe befalling the West, the result of centuries of individualism and egotism.' They feel it so strongly, in fact that there is a growing movement to export Asian values to the United States and Europe."
This chapter was especially interesting to me because I am finding myself on the defensive side while I sit back and listen to how horrible my country is and how wonderful Korea is. Most of this pressure comes from Danny but I feel it everywhere. I think what people see is the drugs, rapes, extramarital sex and corruption. I am not a patriotic person and I think there are a lot of things wrong with America but there is a lot of good too. When I think of home I think of my little Olympia town and my friends and family. I used to go jogging at night or buy something at the frog pond grocery down the street and not have enough money so I would bring back the money owed next time... I think about walking down the street and having people say hello or smiling back. When we were out on the lake at my Egret house our neighbor across the lake threw us an extra oar when we needed it. I can think of so many wonderful experiences and friendly faces and when I see all the corruption here its hard for me to see how much "better" Korea is. When I grew up we only had one channel, my dad drove a Festiva (a really tiny car), and my mom worked at home and took care of the children. It saddens me to see how terrible we look from far away now.
Here are some facts comparing East to West
A joint study by the national departments of education in twenty-six nations in 1996 compared school children's performance on standardized tests of math and science. Here are excerpts from the results:
Fourth Grade Math
1. Singapore 625
2. South Korea 611
3. Japan 597
4. Hong Kong 587
5. Czech Republic 567
6. Ireland 550
8. United States 545
AVERAGE 529
12. England 513
17. Thailand 490
Fourth Grade Science
1. South Korea 597
2. Japan 574
3. United States 565
4. Czech Republic 557
5. England 551
6. Canada 549
7. Singapore 547
AVERAGE 524
14. Israel 505
19. Thailand 473
Eighth Grade Math
1. Singapore 643
2. South Korea 607
3. Japan 605
4. Hong Kong 588
5. United States 500
AVERAGE 513
Eighth Grade Science
1. Singapore 607
2. Czech Republic 574
3. Japan 571
4. South Korea 565
5. United States 534
AVERAGE 516
Source: U.S. Department of Education, "Pursuing Excellence" report
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So I'm about halfway through the scarf for Eddie and realizing yet again that I wont have enough yarn... I looked up a yarn shop and apparently there is one in dongdaemun! YAY! Thats close to me! So I think I will be going there soon! I also found out there is a big Christmas tree near city hall tomorrow and ice skating so I'll be dragging Eddie there tomorrow for our little Korean Christmas!
I found a map so I can show people where I live and work.... So I live off the green line near Hongik university number 239 in Hongdae. Kenny and Eddie go to School in Shinchon number 240 and Kenny lives near Ewha Womans university number 241. I teach Jihyan in Yeouinaru which is near the 63 city building on the purple line number 527 and Sally in Yeouido number 526. Danny lives in Cheolson number 747 and Amy and sery live in Sangdo number 739. So I don't ever have to go too far. So I'll go shopping in Dongdaemun which is number 128.
Danny told me I should read about Gottman because it really helped his marriage. I decided since he was so passionate about it I should take a look and I found this site. http://www.nj-act.org/article8.html He is a lot bigger than I thought he would be. Anyways I'm off to check that out...
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