Sewol

By now, we've all heard about the tragic sinking of the ferry that took hundreds of lives with it, as well as all of the shameful screw ups before and after the incident--the lie that everybody was rescued, the delayed response by the captain, the captain abandoning ship, wrong bodies being sent to families, and the Vice Principal's suicide. It's been one terrible revelation after another.

This past week, some of my students expressed frustration that their Sports Day was cancelled due to the fact that the country is in mourning. They asked why they're being punished for the mistakes of the ship's captain. I can understand their frustration; cancelling the festivities won't bring back the dead; and Sports Day has nothing to do with the accident. Above all else, though, they're just kids, and kids want to have fun. They're sad about the lives lost, but they know there's nothing they can do about it.

What I'm having more difficulty accepting, however, are the sentiments of some of my fellow foreign teachers. Not only is Sports Day cancelled, but many festivals have also been postponed, and celebrations for Buddha's birthday next week have been scaled back. Many teachers are upset about these changes and feel that the country is unnecessarily overdoing it on the whole mourning thing. Some even expressed frustration with having to teach on Friday.

That latter sentiment is the one that really irks me. Whether it's said as a joke or a genuine frustration at the idea of having to teach, that is such a self-centred and hurtful thought. Parents have lost their children, boys and girls have lost their siblings, and you've lost your Friday of desk warming. My heart goes out to you. God knows we work so hard, we could really have used that afternoon of respite from the grind of lesson planning and teaching.

And if it is intended to be a tongue in cheek joke, as in, "Gawd, I can't believe I have to teach today" *exaggerated eye rolling* then that's piss poor taste humour and you should check to see if your heart is still beating.

As for the issue of whether or not Korea's mourning too much, I don't think that's the case at all. This is a country that values respect and family over everything else. It is at the core of their being. I think the extent of their mourning shows their amazing capacity to love. It also shows how much they honour and value those lives that were lost. And the fact that the captain was evacuated first because he's older and therefore has to be respected shows a flaw in their value system, which I think has shaken Koreans up. They fucked up--badly--and now they're paying for it. Their grief, guilt, and shame must be immeasurable.

(Bit of a tangent here, but)...when the Twin Towers went down, the NFL postponed the games by a week. Football and 9/11 have nothing to do with one another, and yet people needed to mourn. Things will eventually go back to normal, but hearts need to heal first.

I leave you with this heartfelt message:

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140422001304