Are Race and Nationality More Important than Humanity?

The 2007 Pulitzer Prizes Winner of Feature writing was Andrea Elliot of the New York Times.
She wrote about a Muslim leader who lived in Brooklyn, NY, trying to reconcile with two cultures, Islam and America. In the movie, The Visitor (2007) directed by Thomas McCarthy, the illegal immigrants’ A Syrian musician and his partner, a Senegalese vendor, are struggling to live in America. Unlike the other many movies, The Visitor represents the illegal immigrants as HUMANS. They are expressed not like moving mannequins, or greedy animals, but as a human. They love and understand art, they are caring and they have self esteem. After the Syrian musician, Tarek Khalil, was arrested his mother visits the professor Walter Vale, who provided his apartment to Tarek and his partner Zainab. Tarek’s mother Mouna is represented as a very decent woman. Although the professor Walter sympathized with the illegal immigrants and Mouna looks like a loyal woman, they do not have any solution to the problem. They are in pain and trouble. And the initial causes are their race and their nationalities.

When I was in my home country, I believe that I had never thought about my race and nationality. Almost everyone around me was the same as me. I did not have to think about my race and nationality. But while I am in America, I have to think about my race and nationality almost every day, every second. Somebody might say that “Why don’t you go back to your home country and stay there forever. Then you don’t have to have any conflict because of your race or nationality.” Of course I could agree with the opinion, but it is not that simple.

Since Korea became one of the affluent countries, many foreigners came to Korea to seek to work. I saw many foreign workers but have never thought about their situations or loneliness or struggles. People usually have never been thankful for their health when they are healthy; people usually have never been thankful for their youth when they are young. I was the same. When I was one of the natives, I had never been thankful for my privilege. I just took it for granted.

It is true that sometimes I have a hard time in America. For example, on March 11, 2010 somebody scratched all over my car while I was sleeping and on Apr. 6, 2010 somebody black sprayed all over my car again during the night. I was so scared. I was horrified and terrified because at the first time, I thought it happened just randomly but the second time, I thought that someone might have a certain purpose. Thus, I was so scared and freaked out because someone might attack me or hurt me. I bought three security devices but I am still freaked out. My old car became a very unique figure all around the campus. Maybe somebody hates me, or maybe I have enemies but I could not guess the exact reason or the person who might have done it. That was why I was more sad and terrified. If I knew the person or the reason, I could think of some solution to help overcome the problems. I can fix it. But I still don’t know any reason and anyone.

Even though sometimes I have a hard time, I still strongly believe in having a warm heart. Because I love travel, I traveled a lot about 30 countries and I have met many people all around the world who have different races and different nationalities. Since I have a terrible sense of direction, I have got lost almost every time I traveled in different countries and I got into difficult situations while I was traveling. Whenever I got into trouble or got lost, there were friendly, nice, kind and warm hearted people to help me out regardless of race or nationality. When I was in Moscow, Russia, I was almost kidnapped, but somebody shouted to the police and I was saved. I got lost in Budapest in Hungary, Toledo and Barcelona in Spain, Prague, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, etc., every time there was somebody who saved me willingly. Especially when I got lost in Greece, I asked a middle aged- man how to get to my hotel. The man knew how to get to my hotel, but he wanted to let me know the best way or the short cut, so he asked the other man which and how the best way was. Suddenly, people who were waiting for the bus started to discuss very lively which and how the best was for me. The bus stop became a conference ground. It took over one hour and a half. Over one hour and a half!!! I believe I will never forget that joyful memory.

In 2008, I was in Pennsylvania and I drove cross-country alone, in my old car. As always, I got lost countless times, and whenever I got lost, there were kind, nice, warm hearted Americans who told me the right direction or way to go. Among those memories, I have to tell about two episodes. In South Dakota (or North Dakota, I am not sure), I got lost in the wild plain. There was no house, no passengers, only a wild, wild plain. I got out of the car and tried to find out the direction depending on the sunlight, and an old farmer appeared. Before I asked him the direction, he asked me if I got lost. I said yes, and he suggested that I could follow him. He drove the farmer’s tractor which runs 10 miles an hour, so I had to follow him 10 miles an hour. Finally he took me to the entrance of the highway. And when I was passing by Montana, I could not find a hotel to stay for that night until 10 pm. I was hungry and scared because I could not have dinner until then, and besides it was rainy. I thought maybe I had to sleep in my old car. Nevertheless, at the gas station I met a lovely family, father and mother and two daughters, who introduced me to the nice clean hotel for me.

As I said above, I have a lot of evidences that I can surely believe in humans’ warmth and that is regardless of race or nationality. I believe maybe our opponents are prejudiced but not for our race or nationality. Maybe someday the words, race or nationality, will disappear or become meaningless because as a human who lives on this planet we have the same red blood and the same body temperature and more importantly we have the same heart and we all have the same goal, a happy life. Without doubt, happiness and a better future are more important than race or nationality. Will I one day discover that people will stop dividing one from the other for having different races and nationalities?