Like thousands of people in the world, I grew up in a multicultural environment. My mom is a Korean from a big city in South Korea, and my dad is a Caucasian from a small town right outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They met while my dad was stationed at a military base in Korea and that was the start of our culturally diverse family. Growing up, I ate different food, watched different programs, shows, and movies, and practiced different customs within my home. We also moved around quite a bit, but have more often than not ended up in El Paso, Texas, a city heavily influenced by its sister city across the United States and Mexico border, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. For the most part, I grew up within a tricultural environment and that taught me some of the most important values and lessons I could ever learn.
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Being Open Minded
I’m not the type of person who thinks certain aspects or values aren’t as important or valid because they’re not my own, and I have the multicultural environment I grew up in to thank for that. El Paso is rich in Mexican culture. Things said, watched, eaten, and celebrated in most El Paso homes are mostly different from what is practiced in my own home and family. Tamales for Christmas was something I was never able to experience; however, I did experience the typical Korean traditional custom of seaweed soup for birthdays. Additionally, I celebrated major American holidays as well. Being able to experience these three vastly different cultures and customs have taught me to not be afraid or condescending of values, customs, ideas, and ways of life unfamiliar to me and to learn more about them.
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Accepting Others For Who They Are
Being mixed, I’ve never really felt like I fit in anywhere that I went. I was one of the very few Asian students in my schools growing up, and although being only half-Korean, I was always associated as an Asian. There hasn’t been a place or even a grade level where I haven’t been made fun of for my ethnicity. The feeling of being left out or not belonging still applies when I’m surrounded by Koreans, be it in South Korea or the local Korean church. Knowing how isolated and ashamed these experiences made me feel, I’ve learned to accept others for who they are. I might not like their personalities, the choices they make, the things they do, or the words they say, but I have always accepted people for the way they are, and most of the time, I’ve been able to look past the aspects I disliked and gotten along well with other.
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Learning to Accept the Things I Can’t Change About Myself
This one goes in hand in hand with the last lesson I learned. Like I said, I’ve been made fun of A LOT just because of my ethnicity — something I don’t have any control over. I used to feel so ashamed and embarrassed of being Korean because of the people who would tease and bully me over my race. I didn’t want to bring the food my mom would pack for me to school, and I definitely didn’t want to eat it around my friends or my fellow classmates. I hated when my mom would speak Korean to me in front of others, and I didn’t want to speak it ever, which unfortunately caused me to forget how to speak a lot of it. After 10 years of this shame and embarrassment, I finally realized that there wasn’t anything I could do about my ethnicity. It wasn’t something that was ever in my control, nor will it ever be. I finally learned to stand up for myself and not accept the rude, racist jokes, statements, and questions slung at me. I learned to accept the things I can’t change about myself, and even love them. Now, I’m so interested in my Korean heritage, culture, and customs that I want to minor in it.
Different places and people have different cultures, customs, and values. It’s okay to stand out! That’s the beauty of living in such a culturally diverse world. Growing up within a Korean/American household in a heavily Mexican-cultured city has taught me so many things that have helped me grow as a person, improve my character, and accept myself and others. Looking back now, I wouldn’t trade the painful, upsetting experiences that I went through because without them, I wouldn’t have been able to learn these important, life-changing lessons.