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2004-04-03 - 1:35 a.m.
The following is another man's view of the phenomenon of crying in public here in Corea.
A farewell to tears
Foreigners may wonder why Koreans cry so easily and so often. Koreans don't only cry from sorrow, but also from happiness. Even at the happiest moments of their lives Koreans shed tears, such as when they win a soccer game or the first prize in a contest. A Korean gold medalist at the Olympics almost always weeps at the winner's podium, listening to the national anthem and watching the raising of the national flag. As the medalist begins to cry, the cheering crowds cry along, too.
Should you need further proof of Koreans' predisposition to crying, simply watch the TV evening news. On the day of the impeachment of President Roh, for example, quite a few Korean congressmen from the ruling party burst into tears. They were all adult lawmakers who are supposed to be highly rational, and yet they cried and wailed like sentimental adolescents. Even the president himself often shows tears while talking in public, and so do many of his supporters who participate in candlelight demonstrations.
In Korean television soap operas, actresses frequently cry whenever they part with their beloved ones, break up, or get lonely. Even when they are happy, they cry. Korean actors and actresses can cry splendidly and even amateur extras can shed tears on cue. Crying is so contagious that the audiences, too, cry while watching sad soap operas or movies.
Koreans also cry when accomplishing something difficult. It is not surprising, therefore, that the actress who starred in the popular television drama "Daejanggeum" wept after shooting the final scene. She must have been very happy about the huge success of the drama, and yet her eyes were full of tears.
Indeed, no other country can surpass Korea when it comes to crying. Perhaps we have inherited the ability to cry easily from our ancestors. Traditionally, Koreans describe many things as crying. When birds sing, we say "birds cry." And when bells toll, we say "bells cry." Hearing the sound of a stream, we say, "The stream cries." Indeed, Koreans seem to hear many things as crying, for Korea has long been a country of sorrows. "With cry and moan/The birds fly overhead," sang an anonymous poet during the Goryeo Kingdom, "Tremendous sorrow nests in me/And cries and moans after I wake."
Until the 19th century many Korean women spent the day crying due to the relentless reality of a Confucian society that disparaged women and children. Young girls wept, secretly missing a handsome boy accidentally encountered in the neighborhood, and married women sobbed, suffering from the tremendous amount of stress caused by in-laws. Oppressed by various social institutions, Korean women often expressed love with crying and tears.
Koreans also cry while praying or at confession, at graduation ceremonies, and at farewell parties. At family reunions between South and North Korea, all the people burst into tears, and soon the whole place becomes a "sea of tears." Indeed, no other people can equal Koreans when it comes to shedding tears.
In Korea, therefore, no social stigma is attached to crying. On the contrary, there goes a saying in Korea, "A crying baby gets another piece of cake." In some Western countries, however, crying is by all means discouraged. If someone cries often in English-speaking countries, people often make fun of him, calling him a "crybaby." No matter how sad, therefore, one should bite the bullet and refrain from crying in those countries.
When the commander of the U.S. Army in Korea shed tears on the television program "60 Minutes," therefore, its impact was tremendous on the American television audience. As he was referring to the American flag being torn by angry anti-American demonstrators in Korea, his eyes welled up. The fact that a military general wept in public surely shook the American people, for it could only mean that the situation was extremely serious.
Rest assured nothing is wrong with crying itself, but the question still remains: "Why do Koreans have to cry so often?" Isn't it about time we brightly smiled instead of crying? The world is watching us now.
~~~~Dr. Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English and the executive director of the Language Education Institute at Seoul National University. -- Ed.
2004.03.31
From The Korea Herald
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Alert: A nasty bunch has googlebombed the word Jew The way to help people avoid their hate-filled site is to link to the en.wickipedia.org definition. If enough of us do it, the bigots will be squeezed off the top spot in Google. This information came from Tamar by way of Michael.
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