care for a drink/smoke?

found another article titled "Where's the Respect?" by Alfonso Delgado in The Korea Times which i really like because of it's accuracy so up it goes on my blog for future reference.

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Where’s the Respect?

I have lived in Seoul for about two years, and have observed certain Korean cultural traits which both impress and confuse me.

All that drinking

Drinking in Korea is a way of enjoying life with friends and colleagues, and also a way of strengthening business relationships. But does it have to be done every day? Why do Koreans, men mostly, end their drinking at four in the morning, go home drunk, get up at eight, and head back to the office sometimes vomiting on the way.

Their families suffer. The time spent away from the family may not have an immediate effect, but it will in the long run, especially when their kids have grown, and the medical problems caused by drinking begin to emerge.

Smoking

Then there’s smoking. Even the awareness of the ill effects or laws against smoking in some places does not stop smokers. In my office building, some guys will smoke inside a cubicle in the restroom, rather than go outside the building. So even though I’m not a smoker, I smell like one after returning from the bathroom.

Reverence and respect for seniority?

After I arrived here, my initial impression was that seniors are accorded reverence and respect. I saw younger people extending both hands in giving an object to seniors, and noted the way an older person is addressed in conversation. When I saw a couple kneeling in front of their parents at a wedding ceremony my first impression was ``wow!’’

But I get confused when, on a bus or in the subway, an older Korean is not offered a seat by a younger passenger who is busy listening to an MP3 player, or when I see the elderly pushing cleaning carts on the streets, or when I see them begging and lying on the cold pavement in the Seoul Station.

I get confused when I read that Korea has huge currency reserves and a huge economy but I see elderly people abandoned, hungry, homeless and ignored. Where is the reverence and respect for elders?

I hope someday I’ll find out.

11-28-2006 19:29
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Source: http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200611/kt2006112819292367660.htm