I attended the Korean Peace Day event on December 3, 2009. The event was really eye-opening for me; the Korean War is not over, even though the fighting ended in 1953. No peace treaty was ever signed and fighting can resume at any time.
This event gave me a whole new perspective from America's view of North Korea. For example, the rocket that was fired on April 5th that President Obama mislabeled a "missile launch" had a huge political impact on North Korea. The Gallaxy II was an economic initiative for science and technology for the country; calling it a missile served to condemn North Korea, and according to the speaker, spoke volumes about the scrutinizing mindset of the United States.
I also learned about the National Campaign to End the Korean War. Did you know that wounded veterans from South Korea have yet to be compensated for their injuries by the United States? Many veterans are still consumed by traumatizing memories of war and are anxious to see a peaceful end to this war.
As a future educator, this event truely stressed the fact that wars do not have a clear right and wrong side. There are multiple perspectives; I never really took the time to even think about the other side to this conflict. Differences in language and culture can have a huge impact; a negative impact if someone is not aware of the potential repercusions of their words.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's so interesting that even something as large as a war just goes back and relates to that one fact ... there are just multiple perspectives! That's what history is all about. I never knew about the entire the "missle launch" that Obama labeled it. I have my own doubts about how America treats other countries, and it's just sad to see it really happening. Even though some may think the Korean War is over, there should be people still fighting for Korean War wounded Veterans! There deserves to be some justice on and end. I can't believe that fighting can just pick up any time. It really is scary to learn about and it makes me wonder about my own teaching of this.
ReplyDeleteHow will students react? Will they feel like they would want to fight for this? Would they become scared? I would also want to learn beneficial ways of bringing up "scary topics" to young students.