The Problem with Korea's future

It comes down to the children and the teenagers. They are the problems who will have to lead and form Korea in a few decades. However, the problem does not start because of the kids, but because of the parents, especially the moms.

Before getting to the main point, I would like to point out to the fathers. Although this is a societal problem, which I will get to in a future post, Korean fathers are pretty much absent from their children's lives. They disappear throughout the week and are there on the weekends mostly sleeping or yelling at their sons and daughters. They easily get annoyed and do not talk much to their children. They would rather spend their time watching the 9 o'clock news or some tv shows, rather than conversing with their families. Rather than coming home, they would rather go out to drink with their colleagues and friends. In the list of priorities, their children will probably be on the bottom of their list.

The main problem with this is that the kids come to think of their father as an intimidating and distant figure. The fathers are only there to punish them when they do something wrong. The moms wait for the dads to come home so they can tell him what the kid did wrong that day. As the kids hate their dad coming home (and go directly into their rooms to avoid him), they don't really get a chance to talk to their dads about their daily problems. Thus, when dad comes home early, it makes everything awkward.

Especially for sons, they need their father in their lives. Dad is somebody they could really talk to about things that moms don't understand. Dads are those who you can go out to exercise with or play ball together on the weekends. Sons and dads are supposed to be best friends. In Korea, however, that is nonexistent.

The real problem arises with the moms. Korean moms are the definition of "helicopter" moms. They are involved in everything that is going on in their children's lives. They decide which school and academies the children will go to, when their kids are able to go hang out with their friends, and even which friends they can hang out with. The kids' lives are totally controlled by their moms that they live like zombies. The funny thing is, most kids hate their moms, but eventually they don't know how to go about living their own lives that they come to rely on their moms.

This doesn't just stop at high school. Going into college, it almost seems like a lot of kids go to school for their parents. So that their mom has bragging rights. Once a kid gets into one of the top schools in the country, it is time for the mom to go out and party. (It's quite crazy to see how devout mothers get religiously while their kids are in their final year of high school. Churches are always packed daily with mothers praying for their kids) She goes out and buys everybody dinner (while bragging about her child). This makes all the other moms jealous and they come back home and nag their children for not being as good as the one that got into the prestigious school.

I would say throughout college is when parents let their children loose for a while. This is because kids finally have to live a little after all the studying they did since middle school. Some kids go crazy because they have never experienced such freedom before. They go out and drink every night that they lose control of their lives. However, as they become upperclassmen, the parents come back into the picture. Now they are busy finding internships and part-time jobs for their kids. They nag their kids on how important it is to get employed and advise them on what type of job they should apply for.

If you think the controlling parents are gone after college, you are mistaken. After graduation, parents are also trying to find jobs for their kids. They also try to find the right girlfriend or boyfriend for their sons and daughters. I mean they obviously have to try to arrange a marriage for their kids now too, right? Once their son (daughter) gets a job and receives her first paycheck, guess who that goes to? MOM.

I was actually discussing this with my mother and was shocked in her beliefs. She believes that it is right for the son to give his whole paycheck to his mother and still receive allowance from her. Now the job for the mom is to save the money in a bank and eventually with enough money, start investing in buildings and stocks. As for the son, he doesn't know what is happening with his money since he is still receiving allowance from his mother. I am not trying to say that we can't trust mothers in how they invest the money. The problem with this whole situation is that their sons and daughters will lack the ability to manage their own bank account. Even as they grow into their 30s and 40s, they wouldn't know how to manage money since all their lives they lived by getting money from their moms.

Overall, the main problems with Korean kids is lack of independence and lack of bonding with their fathers. Even with their mothers, the relationship is pretty much a dictatorship, controlled by the 'helicopter' mothers. Korean moms have to let their kids live a little. Let the children go out and play. Let them experience things on their own and learn on their own. Let them learn life lessons by getting hurt a little. This will make stronger men and women in society. And with stronger people, there will be a stronger society.

A post related to topic on Time : http://t.co/i3N388S via @TIME

Ip Man

I was finally able to watch Ip Man 2 today.

Although a little bit cornier than the first movie, the sequel still did not fail to impress me. The actions, story line, and acting were all great. (Except the acting of the Englishmen were a bit awkward at times)

The only problem I had with the movie was that it ended up being kind of like a 'Rocky' movie. It was a boxing match between a world champion and a Chinese martial art master (Ip Man). Although the world champion seems invincible, Ip Man successfully defeats him and runs to his loving wife. (typical Rocky movie ending)

The movie had great action, just like the Jackie Chan movies when he used to be young.

It's always great to get to see Chinese martial art in movies.

What makes the Ip Man movies most memorable are the plots. Similar to Korea, China suffered through the imperialism of Japan and the Westerners. They had to endure the the pain of racial discrimination. In this chaos, Ip Man is a type of hero for the peasants. He is a poor martial art master, who can't stand injustice. He is sympathetic and cares most about his family and his pupils. By teaching a form of martial art called Wing Chun, he teaches that you can attack by defending. Thus, his way of fighting is not aggressive, but rather passive.

The most memorable lesson viewers should get out of the movie is the modesty shown by Ip Man. Although he is the best fighter in his city, he never is pompous. Rather, he uses violence as a last resort. Unlike other martial art masters, he never even forces his pupils to pay, since he understands the hardship everybody is going through due to the imperialistic forces. The contrast shown between him and the European boxer is the epitome of modesty. The press conference where Ip Man directly challenges the European seems to symbolize the European Arrogance vs Asian Humility.

Overall, the Ip Man sequels are both well made movies. I love the acting of Donnie Yen as Ip Man. Maybe for the third movie, it will be based on the rise of Bruce Lee as his pupil.

Taiji- Dolphin Slaughter

Having three days left until I go to Omaha, I didn't really have much to do today other than to go shopping for some athletic shoes. After I got back, I turned on Netflix and flipped through the programs to see if there were any interesting shows. After surfing through the documentary section, I found "The Cove". It was a documentary dealing on dolphins in Japan, and the summary mentioned some secret that nobody knew outside of the town of Taiji.

The town of Taiji is a small neighborhood known for whales and dolphins. They have a museum dedicated to the sea animals and also have dolphin shows in their park. This is the attractions for tourists who visit the town. Ironically, while having dolphin shows and having logos and posters showing cute dolphin characters, they also sell dolphin and whale meat. (Kind of disgusting to watch dolphins and then to go buy their meat to eat)

What these tourists don't know is where the meat came from. On the beach of Taiji, there is a lagoon where nobody is allowed to enter. There are signs around the area warning intruders from entering. The fishermen and local officials physically stop individuals from attempting to get into the area. Now, people can see that dolphins are gathered from the sea and brought into the shore of this lagoon. However, since people aren't allowed near the lagoon, nobody knows what happens to the dolphins in the lagoon. (Although everybody can assume that they are slaughtered in there)

Dolphin activists, led by Ric O'Barry, try to infiltrate this area in the documentary. They use the night to enter the area to set up hidden cameras throughout the lagoon. What they find out and see through this covert operation is the mass slaughter of dolphins. Japanese fishermen are literally stabbing at the helpless dolphins after they fence them in the lagoon. It is said that an average of 23,000 dolphins are killed in that lagoon annually. After the slaughter, the body of water turns and remains dark red for a long time. The underwater camera can hear dolphins' high pitched screaming.

It is depressing to see how this type of massacre can still happen in the 21st century. With so many animal activists and organizations formed throughout the world, I cannot believe this practice is still allowed.

Obviously, some might argue that this is similar to what humans do to cows and pigs. Japanese actually say it is a form of pest control, since dolphins consume a large quantity of fish. However, the difference between killing cows and dolphins is that dolphins are actually very harmful for humans. It has been tested that dolphin meat contains a large amount of mercury which is poisonous to humans. Consumption of mercury can have devastating results for humans as their body deteriorates.

The practice of such animalistic behavior needs to stop now.

I went to the website below to sign my petition to end this practice.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/724/210/624/

If you are reading this, please help the cause.