During my first visit to Seoul, I was impressed by Koreans’ great respect for their parents, elders, and the average person. I remember riding a city bus for the first time and watching all the passengers bow to the bus driver as they entered. Giving up a seat on a bus or subway to a pregnant woman, an older adult, or someone who needs it is also traditional. These norms of behavior are one example of what makes the character of these people so humble and empathetic towards the situation of others. When you witness a manifestation of such a character, it cannot go unnoticed. It originates from filial piety, one of Confucianism’s primary virtues.
For example, when an older person remarks on a younger person, the younger person never responds harshly or rudely, even if it is not a relative who made it. I have seen this often with my eyes on the street and even in Seoul’s Namdaemun Market.
I would like to give another example from my experience of how Koreans get to know each other. We were a small group and got to see a group of Koreans. It was so strange that after we learned each other’s names, the Koreans started to find out how old we were. When we asked why they were so curious about our age, they said Koreans were addressed differently by older and younger people. That is, brothers or sisters can be both younger and older, indicated by entirely different words. What happened next was interesting. After learning the age, they asked everyone to sit in a circle according to their age. But what surprised us the most was that the oldest Korean unexpectedly disappeared and quickly returned with many different sweets and snacks. As it turned out, the older person also treats everyone. Such behavior is remarkable and differs significantly from the communication culture in Ukraine.
Filial piety was deeply rooted in Korea long before the arrival of Confucianism from China. Evidence of this is found in some traditional Korean tales, one of which is the “Story of Shim-Jong,” which will help to understand Hyo (filial piety). The story is about a daughter, “Shim-Jong,” who sacrifices herself to the Sea King to give her blind father the ability to see. Besides this example, many other stories about Hyo (filial piety) exist.
For example, a story from the book “History of the Three Kingdoms” dates back to the twelfth century, teaching us about young women behavior.
“Once upon a time, there lived a woman named Jiun. She remained single until she was 32 to care for her widowed mother. (In those days, it was difficult for a woman to survive alone since women depended on their husbands. They did not have the right to study and were mainly engaged in household chores.
Over time, their financial situation became so bad that Jiun decided to sell herself into slavery to get some rice for her mother and herself. Upon hearing this, Jiun’s mother cried with her daughter. A king who was passing by witnessed this, and being so moved by the actions of the respectful daughter, he sent her and her mother 100 sacks of rice and new clothes. This story got other wealthy nobles and followed the king’s example, sending the mother and daughter 500 bags of rice and giving them a house to live in.”
The moral laws and traditions of the world teach us to respect and serve our parents and to love our children. The ideology of devotion and respect in Korea can be an example of this!
Where does our life begin? It originates from parents who invest in us. There is an inseparable relationship between parents and children. Family is the place where we receive love and learn how to love.
Children learn to love in the family and grow and develop their shimjeong (heart), but they are still on the way to perfection and do not understand their parents’ worries and responsibilities. Children more often think about their needs and desires. At the same time, parents love and care for children, and parents are responsible for them. Although parents are also on the way to perfection, they have difficulties and hard times. Parents can only sometimes understand the needs of children, and they also need cooperation and support. Therefore, there are disagreements and conflicts, but still, parents are guided mainly by care and love for their children. It isn’t perfect for children if their parents stop caring about them and think only about themselves and their desires.
So filial piety begins when the child cares more about his parents’ problems than his own. A filial son takes responsibility for his parents’ issues. Despite the difficulties, he will go anywhere and solve his parents’ concerns to bring them joy and make them happy.
By studying the example of Korean history and tradition, we need to think about our behavior and what we can improve in our culture.
