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by Jae Hyuk Choi |
ISALC, Lewis and Clark College
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by Jae Hyuk Choi |
Did you ever feel that everything changes so fast like a strong windstorm? Here is a story about a man. In fact, it's me. If you ask me,"What do you think is the most important time in your life?" I'll say that it's my time in school. Because I am just 18 years old, I spent most of my life in school. In school, I have had many experienceswhich affected me, whether I wanted them to happen or not. School life affected me strongly, but if you want to know about the most important period, I'll pick my times in high school without hesitation. I had big changes in my personality and the way of thinking at that time.
Five years ago, my family moved to a beautiful little sea-town which is located in Chung-Mu, in the southern part of my country. It was a very big challenge for a 14 year old kid, because I had lived a very long time in Seoul. One sunny day in April, I went to school; it was the first day at school there, and the first time to meet a country person. At first, I went to the principal's office and greeted him with my father. He said, " Don't worry about anything, just do everything like in your home. It'll be okay. Have fun here." He was such a nice old person who looked like a big father. I felt comfortable because of his gentle greeting, but I did not know the next step, which would be more terrible.
When I entered the class, there were 50 students who all had tanned skin. And I could feel a different air in the classroom. I started to introduce myself and felt the eyes on me, all curious. " My name is Jae Hyuk, and I am from Seoul…" soon after I could hear many voices which were talking about me. They were laughing because my pronunciation was funny to them. The reason why they thought that my pronunciation was funny is due to historical and cultural differences in Korea. Chung-Mu is very different from the other areas of Korea because of the history of three old kingdoms in Korea about 3000 years ago. Because there were many battles between three kingdoms at this time, an antipathy existed throughout other periods of history, and even now there are many differences, from dialect to even the way of thinking. So their reaction could have been expected and understandable, but I was so nervous and young at that time, I thought, "They are so rude. Certainly I can not understand country kids." Yes. I had had a kind of discrimination, actually a closed mind. After, that I did not say anything to anybody in class.
The next class was PE class. I liked PE very much, but I stayed on the edge of the stadium because I was upset by my first experience with the other kids. They played soccer, which is very popular in Korea. They passed the ball to each other. " Pass the ball to me! Go to inside!" After a while, one kid got a goal and walked around the field. And finally he found me. At that time, his expression showed his strange feeling for me, and he came to me and said, "Hey! Seoul kid. What are you doing? Let's play soccer." Until that time, I had felt a distance with the others. I said, " That's okay. I will play next time. Thank you." But he did not give up. He asked me again and said to everybody in my class, "I want to see the Seoul kid's skill. How about you guys?" I thought that someone would tell him to leave me alone. But I was wrong. All the students in the class said, "Come on. Don't be shy!" They accepted the unfriendly stranger without hesitation. Then I could understand their feelings, which were filled with strong friendship and magnanimity. When the class was over, I was in a group with them already. I felt abashed because of my short sightedness. And I realized that I was a Seoul-kid who did not know anything about their town, their tradition or their soul.
Although it was just one day, this experience changed my personality and my way of thinking. From that day, I have been more friendly, and can make friends easily. I think that my strong personality is based on having an open mind, and this came from the first day in school in Chung-Mu. This experience changed my outlook, which was limited in my small world. That day's experience gave me the idea that there is nobody who has a negative impression of me on first meeting. If you do your best to get to know someone, you will have your companions and learn to live with many kinds of people. One sunny day, one Seoul kid could see the other world.
Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 9/24/99