Glimmerings of Pansophy: Musings

I don't get much time to speak with my "sons". But when I do, I feel so incredibly blessed that my daughters found such wonderful young men to spend their lives with and to bring "home". Truly, I love them as much as if they were my own - of course, you already knew that I had that kind of heart. But these young men are THAT special - loving my daughters, protecting them, and being the kind, compassionate men that they are. I watch them as they attend to my girls - and to their babies - and my heart just swells with joy (and love).

They may not always understand me - but they listen to me. And I love the conversations that we do have time to have. I like hearing about their work - their interests - and their dreams. One recent comment stuck with me - because it brought back echoes from my past : "I wish the world thought it was cool to be Korean". Wow! That one caught me off guard. I thought that "the world" had come a long, long way from my college days. I thought it was "cool" back then. In the 70s, I dated a young man who was half Korean/half Japanese who told me that he had been "stoned" every day after school in Japan because he was "half Korean". The Asian world (China and Japan) looked down upon the Koreans and he couldn't "hide" it because his name was Korean. He came to study in America to escape that kind of prejudice.

Honestly, I've always thought that Asian men are the most beautiful men in the world. Examples from my childhood? Yul Brynner (yes, I'd call Mongolian Asian!), Bruce Lee, James Shigeta, George Takei, Keye Luke, Philip Ahn....(Won Young Cho, Byung Sun Kim, Denny Minami, John Kuo, Moses Lee - oh, yes, you don't know them! My, they were so gorgeous! And, my roommate and best friend heard an awful lot about that - especially since I went out with a couple of them). But, take a look now - Asian men have become even more beautiful! So, why isn't it considered "cool" to be Korean? I've been pondering this. For days.

Korea = Samsung. Hyundai. LG Chem. Kia Motors. POSCO (4th largest steelmaker in the world - backed by Warren Buffet!). K-Pop (yes, this is becoming HUGE! Nickelodeon is going to be producing a show about a K-pop group backed by Nick Cannon) and K-dramas (my "bias" is showing - pun intended - better than American TV because it still concedes to morality and leaves a lot to the imagination). Korean Baseball. Soccer. Golf. Taekwondo. Who hasn't cheered for some of the Koreans in the Olympics???? Rankings of Math/Science students in the world? Korea is usually up there in the top 5! Really? Not cool to be Korean???

But, I did see something disturbing at my niece's wedding at West Point - my son-in-law got profiled. That long line of cars going through to the wedding - his is the one pulled over. Big Bro is the retired policeman so he had to show that he wasn't packing - but that was expected - my son-in-law being requested to pull over wasn't. He handled it so well. His Uncle Rick was very proud of him (as was I). However, is that what he feels on a daily basis? That's one of the many things that I've been pondering. If so, then that makes me very sad. Because he should be so VERY proud of his heritage. It's awesome, you know. Just like with any of the rest of us. We should all be able to look at our roots and be loud and proud. He's a totally American kid - raised in the Buckeye state - half Korean/half Chinese by heritage. What a rich heritage to pass on to their babies in addition to our side of the family! What a great melting pot America is - and should be! (My other set of grandbabies are part Chilean! :) )

However, I think Korean is SO cool that I am learning the language. Immersing myself in the music and the K-dramas. Reading the stories and studying the history. (Just like when I studied Russian in college). Someday, I hope that I can be fluent enough to become a translator and I really do want to go to Korea with his mom when she retires - and take our shared kids and grandbabies and enjoy her country!

I'm not the only one who thinks K-pop is awesome - check out Uzbekistani figure skater, Misha Ge: