Eternally Korean
When I turned five years old my parents told me I would be moving to “mikuk,” which refers to the United States in Korean. As ignorant as it sounds, I had no knowledge that there were countries other than South Korea at the time. And so, without even knowing my ABC’s, I cluelessly hopped onto a plane that took me to the other side of the world, where my life changed dramatically.
I was repeatedly taught a couple of phrases in English long before I even started school in Washington. One thing my parents made sure I knew how to do was introduce myself properly. On the first day of school, I put that knowledge to good use as I stepped in front of my classmates and said with a heavy Korean accent, “Hello, my name is Jimin, and I am from South Korea.” Once I introduced myself to the class, Ms. Suess encouraged my classmates to introduce themselves the same way that I had: “Hello, my name is Tara, and I’m from Germany; hello, my name is Annais and I’m from Italy” and so on. School in Washington D.C. was filled with diversity and every year we would introduce ourselves with our name and ethnicity. Why? It may have seemed like just a fun fact at the time, but ethnicity was something that shaped our identities from birth, allowing us to relate to each other on a cultural level and trade similar or dissimilar perspectives that helped us widen our worldview.
That ethnicity shows through our physical characteristics and is rooted in our ancestry. As a Korean I greet the elderly by bowing my head instead of waving like my American friends do. I brought homemade rice rolls and fruit while my European and American friends brought sandwiches or pasta for lunch. I realized that even in a multicultural environment we each did things the way we were taught based on our culture. These are only a few of the outward and behavioral characteristics that marked us as distinctly with ethnicity. How many of you complete tasks and view things a certain way due to your ethnicity? For me those characteristics shine through in everything I do and believe in, so I have always identified as someone inherently Korean rather than a “global” or “national” citizen. It is because I have such a Korean mindset that claiming to have a global outlook on worldwide issues feels dishonest.
In fact, the first time that I was ever questioned whether or not I was a Global citizen was during my second class of Writ 150 with Professor Dochterman. “Global citizenship” was brought up at least fifty times during the short lecture, yet I was still unsure what it meant to be a Global citizen. After many readings and discussions I finally understood that being a Global citizen meant having a certain “mindset.” Having this “mindset” meant you would view worldwide events and issues as if they were your own nation’s issue, signifying that you are no longer a citizen tied to your own country, but a citizen to the world as a whole. Once I recognized this term I realized I was surrounded by people with global mindsets. My classmate Namiha mentioned that she joined clubs like Unicef during high school in order to bring awareness to poverty in unprivileged countries. My high school friends told me they were creating clubs at their college to aid education for children in North Korea.
Though one thing that I noticed was that these Global citizens with a global “mindset” tend to criticize local citizens or national citizens for being ignorant of the unprivileged. One of my classmates in Writ 150 who identified as a Global citizen, stated that people who live in a more privileged country like the United States, should identify as a Global citizen or else it would be showing ignorance to unprivileged countries who still do not have basic necessities. Yes, I too think it is important to discern the unprivileged nations, but if we are baffled on how we can act for them shouldn’t we start by focusing on the small impacts we can make based on our origin? When I thought about my influence as a global citizen I was lost and overwhelmed. Should I emphasize providing aid for unprivileged countries? Should I focus on participating in the prevention of global warming? What do I do to think globally? These questions were answered once I thought of my influence as a Korean.
I became aware that I can carry out actions that are beneficial globally even more effectively as a Korean than I would as a Global citizen. The reduced confusion regarding my identity allows me to focus more intently on specific responsibilities that lead to larger global contributions. By focusing on problems or issues that I am knowledgeable about, I can make more of a difference than I would trying to partake in solutions to issues I know nothing about. To illustrate, I assisted Korean seniors by volunteering at an organization called KASA. KASA, which stands for Korean-American-Student-Association was a group that created study materials related to the U.S. citizenship test in Korean language for Koreans who were not fluent in english. In this organization I was able to complete many tasks only a Korean person would be able to, such as translating back and forth between English and Korean, and writing Korean scripts for practice interviews. I would not have been able to use my Korean abilities where it was needed if I were to help out a different ethnic group such as Chinese seniors or Mexican seniors. Once I identified as Korean my work towards global work was simplified and targeted effectively.
Even as a Korean citizen, I still feel the need to further educate myself on global events. Although I do not know the specific level of awareness required to be considered a global citizen, I do know that I am not aware enough. I will always have an inner dilemma regarding whether or not I am a global citizen, but I will never be unsure of my ancestral origins. I’m sure many many other people feel the same about global identity. How aware do I have to be? Will others think I am a Global citizen the way that I think of myself? In some aspects I believe the idea of ethnic identity itself is a Global theme. Everyone carries an eternal ethnic identity. This is the generation where people will start to have a better understanding of global identity. Therefore, for now I identify as a Korean. Though this “mindset” of mine may change in the future.
