The other day I was walking to the post office and I saw a student standing next to her friend's car at the gas station. I recognized her from one of my 12th grade classes, and smiled. She spotted me, and from the distance I could see her eyes widen, and, rather than greet me, which is a student's duty in or outside of school, or ignore me, which she might have gotten away with, she did something totally different, that almost shocked me.
Now my duty, as a teacher, was to report her behavior to her homeroom teacher, which I did. She knew it was unexcusable. In my own mind, however, she'd basically shot herself in the foot by not saying hello.
This brings me to the same few days ago, when I quit doing 'greeting.' In Japan, it is customary to greet your coworkers in the morning all at once, exclaiming 'Good morning!!' as you step in the door. Customarily, everyone shouts back 'Good morning!!' and we go about our merry ways. The same goes when leaving. I shout something like 'See you! Keep up the good work!!' and everyone shouts, 'Good work, bye!!' in response. But I noticed that the response from coworkers differs depending on who comes in or goes out the door. Everyone responds to the principle. The lady who comes and sells juice and biscuits rarely gets a response.
As for me, I've greeted in many ways, loudly, cheerfully, in a focused way, in a general way, and yet scarcely does my greeting generate a healthy response. The whole thing has never felt natural to me, and sometimes it shoots a hole in my self-esteem.
Well, enough with that. It's a very wonderful custom and all, but in my country, we don't have such a custom, and I am not bound to do it. I'll greet when I feel like greeting.
But the student at the gas station was bound to the school's policy to say hello to a teacher. Her skirt was pulled up short(trying to _find_ herself, I suppose), and I'd bet she was scared, so what did she do, she turned, ran away, and hid behind her friend's car! She ran and hid as if I didn't see her standing right there in front of me!! (I once saw a girl from my school get balled out at in the train station by one of the teachers in front of everyone because she was wearing earrings). I didn't really care about her skirt, but when she ran and hid I was offended, because it was rude.
You tell me, for someone like me, where does doing one's 'duty' apply? When I _feel like_ doing it?
I tell of my day-to-day experiences in a funky Japanese town from my American viewpoint. This blog could also be called 'Bizarro World', 'Notes From Kyushu, a Smaller Island', or 'Teaching English in Japan: Smash Your Ego in 10 Easy Lessons."
Saturday, December 02, 2006
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2 comments:
Have I told you before how much I don't really like rules or guidelines or even traditions...I will abide by some out of respect for elders and some for culture but rarely as the days go by. Does that make me disrespectful or a bad person? I hope not.
Tell me Jetblossom, I am going through a serious transitional stage in my life and I absolutely love it. It is long overdue and a much needed transformation...
I dunno, blu. The US's customs and traditions have kind of turned meaningless in a lot of ways. But here people take the customs and stuff seriously. I think it's good here--it's a very peaceful place for me. But it can be a huge pain when I don't understand, or the rules don't seem to apply to me. In that case, I sort of let go of caring.
As for you, you seem like you're getting some stuff out recently, growing a lot. You've been through some challenges, but you seem strong. Push on ahead!
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