Response to Thoreau "Why I Went to the Woods"

By: Natalina (Sogang University)
From the experience, there is nobody who doesn't love the excitement they feel after they got new items, especially items that they want so badly in their lives, although the excitement passes quickly. To get things they want, people need money. They need it, likewise, to live their lives. All of us know that money is all it matters to stay in this world. With it, we can get and do things we want. However, in today’s world, most of the people aside from using money to stay alive for basic necessities, such as: food, clothing and shelter. More than that, “To prove to others and the world who is better” seems to be the main purpose most people use money for. This can be said also as the reason why people cannot get simplicity in their lives. It is true that getting to simplicity is not always a simple process, since there are lots of distractions around, so it becomes a journey, not a destination. Some say “Why Should I live simply while I can still be able to get to the top?”. Since everyone has strong desires and their own way to live their lives, nobody has power to stop them, only their own awareness does. I have not been to many countries, but in my short time in South Korea, today, I see how everyone is striving in life, trying to show off their material possessions and status. I see many of these people. Of course live a meaningful life means differently for everybody, but, it seems to them, live a meaningful life as they get things they desire for

It doesn't surprise me (or most of us) that in reality, almost people are always unsatisfied with what they have got. So, they look for another option, try to add more and more treasures to justify that they win the game of life. Until they are stuck in a really complex problem, they start to look back on their lives and wonder if they wasted them, or they will regret when they meet their final stage, death. 

It was hard for me to figure out why South Korea is still categorized as a stressful country. Believe it or not, it blew my mind at my first year in this country when I saw people around me wore brand name outfits and shoes, used expensive bags, and carried fancy electronics devices. They had all the things that I had dreamed about to have so badly. Even though they all have things that they want to, they are still complaining that they are unhappy. Seriously, what are the reasons then? I was haunted by this question for so long. Until I got acquainted with Korean culture, I then finally discovered the answer. Most of people here are super-busy due to competition with others for getting higher image instead of being simple. They do so because others put too much pressure on them to conform. They don’t want to be blame or criticized, or to be rejected by others, if they don’t have at least one expensive item. In this case, in my eyes people are becoming so materialistic. Another reason is the happiness could be reached if they got the expensive fancy materials that make them feel superior. 

I can say from what I see that peer pressure here is huge, especially in knowledge area and material environment. Peer pressure in the area of knowledge, I think it is good, because people give motivation to each other to study hard and getting something for their better lives in the future. However, in material part, that’s horrible, because people will never give up on this no matter how hard it is. It is not wrong if people found their happiness by getting big items with the expensive prices. It is not a bad thing. But, sometimes people cannot control themselves from distraction. Sometimes, people suddenly want to have something that they thought unimportant to get before because of the distraction they saw around, for instance the advertisement from the TV, or through famous people from anywhere they saw. 

I have said many times to Korean people who I met that I like Korea for all things I saw, when I was asked by them how much I like their country. They were wondering why I said so, while I was wondering why they kept asking me the same question. However, once I get to know about the life style here, I came to know that, life here is too much pressure. Every single day I must feel this. The only way to escape from the life here is I must go home, because I yearn for a simple life which is full of happiness. 

My life back home was absolutely good compared with the life that I live in now. Everything changed dramatically after I stepped my foot in this Ginseng country. After a couple of months starting my life in Korea, everything started to flow from the best part slowly to almost worst part, which is totally on opposite direction with what I have expected. I thought that after I got freedom of staying away from home, I can go wherever I want to go and do whatever I want to do without spending much time begging for my parent’s permission. Also, I don’t need to do house work as well. But I was wrong. On the contrary, after getting things that I was dreaming about to have such as freedom, plus having my own laptop, and phone, I feel more pressure rather than happy.

Whenever my mom calls me, the thing that I do first is complaining. I always complain about the complex and unhappy life that I live in until present. Life back home was full of happiness. I recalled my life 18 years back, which everything went so good without laptop, Smartphone, or any fancy things. However, my mom supports me and gives me motivation with her thoughtful words that a problem makes people always alive because it keeps people’s brain and body work. I agreed with what she said, but I don’t mean that. What I mean is the life I feel right now, here in Korea, which is I feel unreal. People really turned things upside-down. They make their live so hard, so other people should work hard to keep their lives balanced. 

It is just scary for me to imagine if I live here for the rest of my life. I remember many times I feel uncomfortable when some Korean people stared at me inside the subway or at any crowd places. They are obsessed with appearance, that’s why they want to know what brand my clothes is, or my shoes or my bags are. However, there is a sentence “Nobody is perfect” that always keeps my head high and motivates me to ignore what people think about me. Frankly, I got so much stress though when I saw Korean people’s lives are so perfect, whenever I go, I see people dressed up as if they are going to the party. However, later on I learned and found out that all of these are just fashion. 

After reading an essay from David Henry Thoreau, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”, I felt the same way as he did, that the world around me was very shallow and superficial. Actually, life is simple if we live it in a simple way, but people make it hard. That’s because people are so snobby and let their snobby blinded their eyes and minds. It forces them to get extra money for getting trivial things. When I heard people said: “I cannot live without my laptop”, “I cannot live without my Smartphone”, “I cannot live without my Louis Vuitton purse”, I said “Liar!”, because this is totally doesn't make sense. If people cannot live without basic needs such as: food, water, air, these make sense. 

On the other side, I disagree with what Thoreau argued about in his essay that the only way to really understand one self and the meaning of life is to slow down. I do not think people have to slow down and look at what they have done, and I definitely don't think you have to move out into the wilderness. The reason I said so is when people slow down in their lives, they will waste time, and sometimes it can hamper them to reach their dream too. 

Therefore, to make life less complicated and less stressful, there is a best quote that can lead us “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify”-Thoreau, which means that people spent too much time thinking little thing instead of living in it to the fullest. Of course, a simple life has different meanings and values for everyone. For me, it means to make life less complicated and eliminating the stress. I consider that it is easy say to live a simple live, but it is so hard to put in an action because most of us are not aware of the truth reality, and we were blinded by the unconscious world. We seem placing the importance of live in physical life as the first one in list of life instead of spiritual life. 

In short, live simple life doesn't mean that you don’t have to work hard. It is a different story. Frankly speaking, apply simplicity in life isn't easy for most people who live in developed countries, or if they have really made up their mind to chuck off all the worldly pleasures, it can be easy. Once when they decide in their mind and heart to find deeper meaning to the life, it wouldn't be difficult to leave the life they have been living. Put in mind that, there are lots of successful people who have shared their experience of live that we can learn and chose which one is the best to follow. Most successful people who only care about materials during their live have said “The more successful they became, the less happy they are”. So, if we don’t want to regret later about our lives, then reflect the saying above. Also, try not to see the pleasure in the hands of others, while we have ours in our hands.

Why Horror Movie?

Why People Watch Horror Movie

By: Natalina (Sogang University)

Talking about horror movie, our mind will never escape from all the movies or films that contain blood, ghost, something that is mystery, and those that make you express your emotional and give your negative reactions when you watch them. Even though they are scary to be watched, but some people feel comfortable and excited (or maybe they tend to) when they watch it, while some people don’t. Personally, I am not a horror movie fanatic. Although I am a chicken for horror movies and get scarred really easily, and I cannot watch one if I am alone, but I found myself sometimes enjoying watching a good horror movie, and there are reasons for that. 

First of all, I want to hide one of my weaknesses that I am one of those who are scared of such horror things, especially blood. I want to prove to my friends my bravery towards horror movie, so I took way that I better challenge myself watching horror movie with them once, in order to prove that I have ability to be able to have courage. I was introduced to ghost story from my sisters and my cousins when I was around 8 years old, but I had not watched scary movie until I was turning into 11 years old, because we had no TV that time. I remember my very first time watching a horror movie entitle The Exorcist in my house with my friends and my sisters once my dad bought us TV and complete with CD/DVD player. It was one late Saturday night I invited some of my friends to come sleepover in my house. Since no one was silent while watching the movie, I then proved that we all felt the same fear and dread.

It’s supposed to happen to many kids, where I got really fear after watching The Exorcist, I promised to myself never to watch such genre of movies again. However afterwards, when I grew older and got to see many different types of movies, I decided to give horror movies one more opportunity. It was on my second year of high school that I experienced of sleepover activity. I and my best friend, every two weeks we went to one’s house for sleepover, and it had become the tradition of our group to watch more than one movie overnight. The movies that we watched the most were horror and thriller movies. We did watch this kind of movies because we wanted to get the feeling of fear, and screamed out as loudly as we could. And, it really did help us to relieve our stress too, since our parents didn't allow us to drink when we got stress due to school works. Therefore, I can say that horror movie, on the other side, is a good movie to be watched and it can help a person to be a strong against their own fears toward something that not even exists.

It is fun watching horror movie with friends

Another reason I watch horror movie is I am bored of being bored by watching routine movies, so I want to try something new in my routine life instead of keep watching the same genre of movies over and over again. As we know that people always desire to get something new in their life or in their activities. So, by watching horror movies, I can feel something different. I understand that after watching horror movie some people keep watching it because they began falling in love with horror things, however, some may stop watching because of the fear that it will happen to themselves in their lives.

It is true that everybody who likes watching horror movies has their own purposes and reasons. However, I think the main reason is because people are curious and obsessed with the unknown. The fact that this world leaves space to fear, doubt, concern, and it becomes interesting for human being to have a close encounter with it. I do enjoy horror films, but only the ones that are psychologically thrilling. It's not so much for the pleasure of watching people suffer as it is for this morbid tendency I have towards disturbing subjects.

People who like horror movies somewhat they enjoy watching it very much, but many things can change their mind depending on some horror movies. Horror movies seem to make the mood very interesting because it makes a person want to watch it, but then it doesn't because of its horrifying elements. The mood can be different depending on the movie, which makes the whole horror movie very interesting. In my opinion the best thing about horror movies is that it can make the movie’s scenes realistic to life. Everybody has different perspectives on horror movies depending on their interest. Therefore horror movies can be determined by the viewer’s discursion. This is what I think can make a horror movie horror.

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

By: Natalina (Sogang University)

There is an old and famous saying; “Don’t judge book by its cover”, which simply tells us not to judge someone or something based purely on what we see on the surface, because usually after taking a closer look, the person or thing will not be what we had expected him or her to be. We have been told this by many people who have good intentions for teaching others valuable lessons. For, as human beings, we are not flawless. Although we have been told numerous times not to judge in such a manner, for their outer look is not the mirror of his or her inner self, we sometimes let our egos get the best of us and we fall into the judging habit. Some say judging others based on their skin color is as wrong as judging them based on their appearances. I am one of them who thinks the same way and for several reasons. 

Judging people based on their appearances is blind judgment. When we judge people by their outer look we will incur various disadvantages. For instance, a person who has the perfect ability and deserves to get a job, however because of the way how he or she dresses, unfortunately, it causes them. Meanwhile, an unqualified person may be hired simply based on his appearance before actually knowing his ability. 

In contrast though, sometimes, it is valid to state that the way we dress shows ones personality. People's outward appearance can say a lot about who they are. I don't mean their face; but rather the clothes they choose to wear and how well they take care of their bodies. I can say it is pretty normal to judge them based on this observation. However, judging people by their skin color is indefinitely wrong and the biggest time waster if one is to do such. Skin color, like the name suggests- is just a color, so people shouldn't be judged on what that color may be, because everyone was born the way they are and the way they look.  

One fine day, when I and my African friend went shopping at Edae, some old Korean women, came near us without us noticing. While I was inside the clothes shop, one of the old Korean women started laughing, and exclaimed “This is my first time seeing this skin color directly” and she said this while touching my friend. When I went out from the shop, I saw a lot of people staring at my friend. I'm not sure whether they were staring at her for the same reason as the old woman was or rather because of her attitude. That time I couldn't help but feel bad for my friend. I asked her if she felt alright and she said she did, so, we decided to leave that place. Once we had taken some steps, another old woman came again and asked my friend an unacceptable question, “Don’t you feel so hot in this kind of weather”, asked the woman. I couldn't see my friend’s reaction, because I was staring at the woman with anger. I really wanted to slap her, but my friend told me not to. I realized that people around us felt so sorry, that the shop owner came over to us and apologized on behalf of the woman, and approaching the old woman, she pushed her to leave as quickly as possible. 

I have never understood what the color of someone’s skin had to do with the kind of person they are. We seem to spend so much time focusing on someone's appearance and not enough time on what is in their heart.  

I know, maybe we all do, that many people feel uncomfortable around black people, and the fear of the African-American race by white people is so deeply rooted in their culture and would be hard to eliminate even today. As Brent Staples said in his essay-Just Walk on By-that he often sees women who have the worst fear of him. He mentioned that he is not an aggressive person but due to the actions of some stereotypical thugs from his race he is then characterized to be one; and therefore seen as likely to commit crime. 

To overcome one’s fear of black people, I think the best way is you have to learn to live with it and rather make friends with them. Personally, I used to feel like this too. When I first went to Itaewon with some friends from Morocco, Tanzania, and Sweden, excluding my Tanzanian friend, we all found ourselves feeling uncomfortable around the black people there. Although we knew that we shouldn't feel this way, we couldn't help it at the time. My Tanzanian friend, then, told us that, if feeling that way towards them, is the same as feeling that way towards her too. But fortunately, I then learned how to talk to people and made a lot of friends from different countries. I have to admit that I had also made the error of judging someone without knowing them first, and this happens to me most of the time. I sometimes do so without meaning to, but it is already in my head. For example, sometimes if someone comes up and has baggy pants and is black, my mind shoots to gangster. I know it‘s wrong, but I can't help my reaction. 

I was struck by the title of one of Lady Gaga’s album, ‘I Was Born This Way’. I think this title means several things. The first thing is, you cannot criticize me. I didn't choose to be this way, and just as it’s not right to make fun of the handicapped, no matter what you think about what I am doing, you have no right to criticize me. I was born this way. I had no choice in it; it was gift of a fate to which I was condemned. Secondly, beyond this, the most important thing a person can do is to bring their hidden essence to the surface for all to see. That is, to transfer their interior core of beauty or talent to shine with the light of day, out in the open, through an act of self-expansion, actualization, or fulfillment. 

When you start to treat people based on their outer looks, whether in a good or bad way, you might get the same treatment from others. A treats B, B treats C, C treats D, and D treats A, is a cycle of this society. You are also somewhere in this cycle. So based on this logic, it is not difficult to understand that if you want to be treated nicely, you have to start a sound cycle from the beginning or even break a pattern in the old cycle and edit it with one of your own. It might work somehow and ultimately, surely have an impact- if my math is not wrong. And I must state, I am pretty good at math.