Uncharted World

Uncharted World 

    When I was 10 years old, I went sailing the sea with my boat. Sometimes, this tiny boat needed to be anchored at the harbor to supply food and water for my crews. Many people would like to travel the world in order to gain new experiences and have fun, but traveling is not easy to do because it requires us to have time and money. However, I could have those experiences through the games, “Uncharted World 2”

    I was a lucky kid who had a computer. When my mother went to work, I put the floppy disc into the computer instead of downloading the games from the internet. Then I played the game, “The Lion King” Perhaps younger generation wouldn’t know what a floppy disc is. This is like a CD-ROM but it can only store 1.44 megabytes, which is almost 1,388,888 times less than my external hard drive. Only one game can be installed in this disc. I played the games when I had finished homework from school, but after my family had a problem, I became more focused on playing the games than before. At that time I discoverer a new game, “Uncharted World 2” 

    In this game, you will be playing one of the important characters who should sail the seven seas. Each character has their own purpose of why they should go to sea, such as to make money, to find new worlds, and to become a famous person. This game changed my thought about games. I learned many things through this game. For example, I memorized tons of cities' locations. In this game, I should trade a lot of special goods to the other cities, because of that I could automatically be able to memorized location of cities.. Sometimes I became a pirates who had fierce ships. Sometimes I became a trader who had enough money that can buy anythings in the world. Sometimes I became a very first explorer who just completed the world map. I was really enjoying this game, and I was learning the world. 

    A few month ago, I tried to play this game again. I just wanted another taste of those experiences, but after a few minutes, I deleted the games because I didn't feel anything. I think playing the games are similar to traveling somewhere. The first time, you will be amazed by new environments, but this memory will fade after time. Even you try to visit that place again, you will not experience like first impression. I believe that a special moment doesn’t matter whether it comes from real life or virtual life, it will still be cherished in our mind.

Don’t Judge Others

Don’t Judge Others

    There are 196 countries in the world today, and those countries have their own identities that are distinguished from the other countries. It means that we are living in the world that contains many languages, behaviors, customs, and religions. While some people might urge that their own cultures are more variable than the other countries, I think we can’t judge other cultures based on our knowledge. Otherwise, it can bring several problems. 

    Comparing two cultures is a trigger to make conflict between two people and seriously two countries. Here is my personal example, One day, I had an opportunity to have dinner with my friend who is from Saudi Arabia, and he served his country’s traditional food, called “Kabsa”. I was looking for a spoon and chopsticks as a usual, but it was useless acting, because that food should be eaten by hands, so I tried to eat without any tools. I felt weird, but I tried it. If at that moment, I complained about using hands, it would make them feel unpleasant. In the history, we can find many examples that the wars were begun with neglecting other cultures or underrating other ethnic groups. The most terrible example of this is nazi Germany. During that time, Adolf Hitler deceived germans that their country was better than other countries in order to erase the experiences, World War 1.

    Ethnocentrism is not only meaning of judging another culture solely by the values and standards of our own culture, but also it could mean judging other groups, such as job positions and races. We are already encountering many groups that have ethnocentrism in our society. For example, some community groups who want to be the best group of the their society can blame other groups without any reason, because they believe they are superior to other groups, and it will become ethnocentrism. Sometimes, it is difficult to figure out what ethnocentrism is, and it can have an ambiguous barrier between having self-conceited, but certainly our society has ethnocentrism in some form.

    I agree that ethnocentrism has certain power that ethnic groups have strong relationships. They will be tied by an unbroken rope so that they can be together forever. However, this rope can kill those people. They will be isolated from the other groups. Hence, we need people who have different backgrounds, cultures, religions, and customs so that we can grow together.

Writing Techniques from "the letter"

Writing Techniques From "The Letter"

    A few days ago, I read “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, written by Martin Luther King JR. I had already known his achievements that inspired me somehow, but it was the first time to read his writing. His writing skills have such an elegance and have enough power that can attract my attention. I know his “Letter” includes so many writing techniques, but this time, I would like to write about his three writing skills, which is a personal connection with readers, repetition of key words, and having acknowledged opposing viewpoints.

    First, the author of “Letter From Birmingham Jail” tries to make a connection with readers throughout his letter. He appeals to the readers’ sympathy. If we are able to connect with his feelings and emotions, we will be easily persuaded with his main claims, because we can understand his difficult situations. For example, he assumes that if we have a six-year-old daughter, and we have to explain why she can’t go to a public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and tears wells up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, what will we have to say to her? Perhaps, the readers shouldn’t answer these questions, but will understand his feelings and emotions. I could read many questions throughout his writing. Many of questions are not easy to answer, and it makes us think again.

    Another his writing technique is using repetitions of key words. When I read his letter, I circled the repeated words every single paragraph, then I realized that the circled words are almost key words in the each paragraph. For instance, brutality(brutal), postpone(wait, until), nonviolent, wait(waited, delayed), hope, “Now is the time”, extremist, “I have watched”, commend, and “If you were”. As you can see, we can guess with just repeated words what kind of letter it would be. I think this is very effective means of communication because it will remind the readers what the author wants to say.

    Also, I felt King had acknowledged the other viewpoints and opinions in a formal way. If we don’t know about other side’s ideas, we will not be able to acknowledge the other side. So, I think knowing the opposite side of viewpoints is an important part of writing a persuade essay. 

    Sometimes, I separate the books, whether those are having values that I need to read again and again, because some books give me advice when read again. Sooner or later, I should read this letter again. Perhaps I might find other valuable lessons. 

Who Is “A foreigner”

Who Is “A foreigner”

  I do like to travel to other countries where I can meet new cultures and environments. Mostly when I visit other countries, I will probably look around famous places, such as Egyptian pyramids, Angkor Wat, Petra, and the Sydney Opera House. I remember that when I visited Petra, which is in Jordan, I couldn’t say any words, and I just shook my head, because I couldn’t believe what I saw. Perhaps, many people have had similar experiences. However, they are not always exciting. Sometimes we can feel uncomfortable in other cultures that are very different from our own.

  In early 19^th century, America suffered with racism. The skin color of Americans, particularly those who were black, were discriminated against the dominate group. White didn’t accept others, who were different from them. They didn’t try to understand others, and just tried to keep their authority. Gradually, they were forgetting where they had come from. The black people would feel that they are foreigners who couldn’t fit into white society. I had a chance to watch, the film, “Number 42.” It is about the baseball player, Jackie Robinson. He was the first black baseball player. While I was watching the movie, I could understand about racism. Everything is separated including education, restrooms, and job positions. 

  Now I want to talk about nowadays. Many people say that we are living in a Global Age. I agree with this main idea. We can easily find other countries goods, food, and people around us. Also we should consider outside markets when we try to sell products. For example, when I was working at a game company, after finishing the developing level, we had to convert Korean to other countries languages. This meant covering to more than 10 countries. Global markets are already open. However, sometimes we are discriminated against based on races, money, religion, and culture. A few days ago, I watched the video about how people deal with rich people and homeless people. When a homeless person wore a suit that was given by staffs, but still crammed that he was poor, people gave him money easily, and listened his voice. However, when he reverted to his normal homeless dress, and tried to beg the money, most people just ignored him.

  I think that we are all “foreigners” who have different backgrounds, religion, and many other things, and we already know how it feels  when we become foreigners, and we already know how to deal with foreigners. We can not avoid or ignore them, because we are living in the Global Age.