First Responders Across Countries

So this picture here is in the English room at my school: 

It is one of the blinds that does keep the sun out when it is down (hence it being a blind).  Anyway there are seven total blinds and the pictures are of different landmarks including the Eifel Tower, London Tower Bridge, Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers, etc.  It is safe to assume that these blinds have been here for some time now and that the various landmarks portrayed could have changed.  In fact today there is currently one new tower instead of the two pictured above.  It has been twelve years now since that horrible day and in that time frame a lot has changed.  I did ask my higher level students if they do know about that day in history.  Now keep in mind these kids for one aren’t from the United States and also were babies when it did happen.  Some of them did know while others did not. 

Each day I do see the blind it does make me think of all the people who were lost that day.  The various different types of first responders and citizens trying to help everyone out.  At the same time though it does allow me to think how lucky everyone is in the United States to have such dedicated individuals willing to help out. 

Here in Korea that isn’t the case.  Since talking to some co-workers back when we were having the fire drill it was interesting their reaction to the firefighting profession.  Here in Korea it is something you do not want to do and in fact the profession here is kind of looked down upon.  Basically if you are a firefighter than you are at a lower status than some other people.  Instead of being a firefighter it is better to be a business person, a doctor, a teacher, a general manager, or an engineer.  I know throughout the United States that isn’t the case.  You can go into any elementary school and some of the kids there would want to be firefighters when they grow up.  I personally have never seen a fire here so maybe they have nothing to do.  At the same time there is a lot more things firefighters do on a daily basis (at least in the United States). 

So the outlook on the fire profession here is different but what about the law enforcement.  Law enforcement here is in kind of the same boat as the fire profession.  It is something that isn’t a dream for people to pursue.  From what I can tell they basically are the individuals who didn’t do well in school or have no other job prospects and so they end up being a police officer.  A funny part to this though is that crime in Korea doesn’t happen.  Now I am not making the place like a utopia, but since living here I have not heard of anything illegal happening or seen the police have to deal with anything (the ‘crime’ numbers also back this up).  I know some people who leave their apartments unlocked all the time and nothing has been stolen.  Now I don’t think this idea of no crime is because of the great work the law enforcement does here.  Instead I would claim it is more of the culture and Confucianism playing a role in society.  Koreans have a very structured society and so I think that is what keeps the streets free of crime.

I just simply wanted to write showing that between different countries there are different outlooks on people who are first responders.  I guess it is a good thing that I am from the United States since one day I want to be one of these professions.