Sunkyo Kang / pg 136 / summer writing

Having Manners: No No Manners

             Every culture has its own golden rules which is shaped throughout generations and has become the norm. For example, in the Korean culture, people tend to avoid causing harm or inconvenience to the people around them. Also, since age is an important factor, it is the norm to respect elderly people. The Korean golden rule may somewhat be similar to the Biblical one: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" which is the most standardized rule. However, nowadays, people are more likely to be inattentive to their surroundings. Therefore, it is different from the Biblical golden rule because realistically, even if they do not show manners, they try not to be impolite to others and do not expect much manners from others.

             We get to notice in public transportations especially in buses or subways where there are seats for the disabled, pregnant, and the elderly. Even throughout the world, showing some respect for the elderly may be a universal manner. However, Koreans are more sensitive to age. It is almost a must to make seats for them if they are standing but nowadays not many people tend to yield seats due to some misuses of this. Once I have heard from the news that an old woman asked a young, healthy man in his twenties for directions and has asked him to lead her the way. It was a street and as soon as they arrived, about three men were waiting to kidnap the man—human trafficking. We are not supposed to always have a pessimistic view but these freaky incidents did happen. Therefore, the golden rule which is must show respect to elderly is changing and people are beginning to not show too much respect.

             If you "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," you would probably be gazed by people, meaning it is sometimes regarded as over-exaggeration. There are many kind people with good manners and show respect to others of whom they do not even know. However, most people have become not to cause harm and also not to show enough manners. This may not be selfish because trying not to cause inconvenience can also be viewed as having manners. For example, if a person did not cause any inconvenience to you, then you would not think that the person has no manners and also you would even most probably not think that the person has manners. Either way, that person becomes nothing to you but if that person did try not to cause any harms, then the person has showed manners to you. Not causing harms may be an obvious norm but there are many who do not know that they are causing inconvenience.

             It may sound funny where the logic is that not causing any interference to others can also be viewed as having manners, but it is becoming the norm. Doing unto others as you would have them doing unto you may not be the golden rule in Korea. Obviously, there are more people with good manners but due to the minority who do not even recognize it as bad manners, people just try to be themselves. Also, too much manners can create an awkward situation and sometimes even lead to a dangerous situation. Therefore, instead of trying to show manners, just try not to cause harm or disturbance to others.