Living honorably, one of The Five Actions of Gratitude, is to live a life of dedication to people and places that either represent ideals that matter or people or places who have made difference in our lives. To live this way is to recognize that our lives impact others in ways that we may not recognize. As I read my son, Troop's blog post, The Daily Grind, this thought came to mind as he wrote about the relation between the American and Korean teachers in his school in Bundang, South Korea.
I ended up talking to the Korean teachers for almost the entire time at Funnybomb. Even after a few days of teaching, I had already noticed an invisible wall which existed within the school, in which the foreign and Korean teachers operated in different realms. Which is a shame, because the Korean teachers seemed like great people. I mentioned this to the other teachers later on and they had their own assessments. David, who is leaving on Friday, thinks it’s because the Korean teachers don’t think that we do Korean things. So if they knew that we wanted to go to a noraebang or go to a hof and get samgyeopsal and that they were welcome, they would want to come. But I learned from Chris, another fellow teacher, that there are other complicating factors. One is that many of them live far away, which makes a cab ride after a night out long and lonely and expensive. The latter problem is perhaps the biggest and the one which surprised me the most, especially when I found out the foreign teachers make about twice what the Koreans do, and that’s not including our housing.
I was surprised that they would pay the Korean so little and us so
much comparatively. When I’d done the calculations on my salary before
coming, I figured, Well, it’s not the greatest money in the world,
but my housing is paid for and the taxes are pretty low, so I should do
decently. But now I realize that I’m living like a king by their
standards, which is pretty unbelieveable considering my qualifications
and teaching experience (nil). I also reconsider the behavior of the
foreign teachers. What does that say about Americans when we’re out
late every night, throwing money around like it grows on trees,
shouting loudly, drinking beers on the street? That we’re just here in
Korea to make easy money and live a life even wilder than college? I’m
reminded of part of Hunter S. Thompson’s advice for surviving Las
Vegas: don’t abuse the locals. Maybe we’re not abusing them but we
might be flaunting whatever advantages Korea has graciously offered us.
...
I just found out today that my school is very seriously considering changing the way Korean teachers are paid. The Korean home room teachers will have their salary based on how many kids are in their classes and how many come in and, most importantly, how many leave. This is really big news and has big ramifications for us. There are three classes per block and the Korean teacher may teach one or two classes in that block. So if the foreign teachers fail to get the kids learning English and parents pull kids out, the Korean teacher suffers. But nothing happens to our salary. I think that the burden is clearly upon us to do our best because our fellow teachers’ well-being is dependent on it. We can’t really afford to slack off. I hope the other foreign teachers recognize this as well.
How easy it would be to ignore these social, cultural realities and play the selfish, ugly American? How much better to choose to live with honor by recognizing that one's privileges often come at someone else's expense.
While living honorably is an aspect of living with gratitude, it is also an integral part of leadership. The tradition of honor extends back to the time of Homer and the ancient Greeks. Honor was a dedication to higher ideals and in particular to the community and nation. It was the recognition that I am not simply my own, but owe gratitude to the community. As modern society has become more divided by narrowly defined special interests, the notion of honor has eroded.
Troop's post reminded that the links that connect us together are not all voluntary. Economics and social, cultural values play a role in how societies function. To live with honor is to make the hard to choices to live so that others may have the opportunity to better their lives.
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