the problem

so as many of anyone who reads this, i'm back home from my "year". i sit here quite satisfied with my rich experiences but at the same time hungry for more. it is a matter of interpretation and perspective how much i have grown in this year and how much i've learnt about the world around me and more importantly, myself. now no one wants to read a highly conceptual/abstract/impossible to actually understand blog about myself so heres about the world around me.

When I arrived in Shanghai, I preached tirelessly to my relatives and colleagues how great Seoul was and how much Shanghai could learn from Seoul. Both were huge cities with a huge population, one was classified as a developed, the other is still developing. In truth, both are still developing.

Something I noticed on the Seoul Metro is the number of elderly passengers, they seem to be everywhere. Seoul also has a pretty defined curteousy system, where of course you give up your seat for someone who looks over 50, usually female. Everyone does it, it is just a matter of fact. Of course that is a great thing but I found myself afraid to sit down as I probably have to get up for someone within a few minutes.

Now I preached how great that was in Shanghai and how rude it was of Shanghainese people that no one gave a crap about the elderly when they came on the train, especially if they looked like they were from the country side. Now I practiced what I preached in Shanghai and many times the elderly were unexpectly grateful. But eventually the spirit of the city seemed to hit me, when I got up for someone and they didn't see, instead a schoolgirl sat down. I thought to myself, if no one expects it and no one else does it, why should I do it? why should I be the one making sacrifices? ...and I stopped giving up my seat.

Another thing that was eating me was when I saw a limbless beggar on the metro system in Shanghai. People gave him change here and there and then when i reached into my pocket, i found it empty, i only had 100 yuan notes. I thought to myself, I was buying jugs of beer for 120 yuan each last night, jugs of beer that i don't need. 100 yuan is so much more to him, if i bought one jug less last night, i could have made this man so happy. But I didn't want to give him 100 yuan, it was too much, I could buy a drink to woo a girl at a bar...

we're all apart of the problem