The Price of Freedom
Seoul is an enormous city, with high rise apartments everywhere. I was really surprised to find that my friends let their sons, ages 16 and 14, to go alone on the metro system - at night, no less. One of the first nights I was here, Junseo, the 14-year old, was out until 10 p.m. on the metro. He was attending an English practice class for a few hours (during his summer vacation, no less), and had an hour-long trip to return to the apartment.
I also noticed two nights ago that for all the people living around me, it's amazingly quiet at night. No stereos blaring, no loud TVs - nothing. That night Yun-kyung and I were out for a walk along the Han river. It was about 10 p.m., and there were literally hundreds of people out walking, including women walking alone. I asked him why this was possible. In the U.S., parents who let their kids out at night in a large city would be considered negligent or idiotic. Here, it's common - and safe. The crime rate is very low. One reason, my friend said, is that there are strict gun control laws, so if someone wants to rob someone, they might use a knife, at best. But then, in a land that invented taekwondo, you never know if your intended victim has a black belt or not!
But more importantly, he said, people have a sense of respect for others, and a sense of community uncommon in a more culturally and ethnically diverse like the U.S. Here in Korea, the culture has been profoundly shaped by Confucianism, which continues to effect how people behave. In the university where he teaches, he said, within a few weeks freshmen are including the suffix indicating "elder brother/sister" when they address seniors. Individualism has not taken hold the way it has in the U.S.
In the U.S., we constantly are out to protect our individual freedom, whether it is to carry heat, play our music at our desired volume, or whatever. We seem to interpret "freedom" to be able to do whatever we want, but when separated from a sense of community, responsibility, and the needs of others, it leads to a lack of freedom in some respects. I can't really do some things I'd like - take a walk at night, for example.
More on this later - I have to leave with my friends for a trip to Kyungjoo, the ancient capital of the Shilla dynasty, which ended in 918.
posted by Fr. Mike, O.P. @ 4:00 PM
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I lived in France for three years. One of the greatest gifts as a woman was being able to walk the streets of major cities at night with no major concerns for loss of life or limb or a sexual attack. The worst that I feared was a pick pocket or purse snatcher.
I noticed that in Europe (and I believe in many other countries) that the police spend few resources on petty crimes. The idea is that you are supposed to do what is necessary to protect yourself from these. Crimes that do not involve violence have a low probability of the perpetrator being caught and they also result in light sentences when the perpetrator is caught. Crimes that involve violence on the other hand, have a much higher probability of finding the perpetrator and, once convicted, the sentences are very long with little chance of parole. The problem in the US is that we treat big and small crimes the same. Worse we often devote more effort to enforcing laws governing non-violent crime than violent. Even when we convict criminals, we too often let violent criminals out on parole while keeping non-violent criminals (drug users, property crimes) in jail for long periods of time.
I've always felt that the whole concept of misdemeanors and felonies needs to be rethought. We need more categories and a way of separating those who are truly a physical or grave financial danger to the community if set free from those who commit nuisance crimes. It is much more sane to treat the latter with nuisance punishments: curfews, ankle bracelets, mandatory substance abuse treatment, etc.
Ah, but what might we do to instill a sense of common good and responsibility for one's actions so that even petty crimes become unthinkable? Why don't we try to cultivate virtue in ourselves and our children, with the belief that virtue itself is its own reward? Laws and punishments for breaking them, whether the punishments be harsh or lenient, indicate we have failed in self-governing and in the raising of our children as Christians.
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