Thursday 10 February 2011

Unpatriotic Swede

A somewhat signifant difference between being raised in Korea compared to Sweden that I havn't yet discussed is the fact that Sweden hasn't been in a war for many, many centuries. No kidding. We don't even have mandatory military service like they do in South Korea and (I havn't been raised in a country that's on standby) meaning the North Korean situation.

(And no I'm well aware of the fact that Sweden has deployed an army in other countries, but that's not the point of this particular post)

Because of this I have been raised in a country that has started to take peace for granted, my personal conclusion nothing else. Did you for example know that Sweden don't even allow men and women that are interested to do military service to join? It's sort of like trying out for the Swedish police academy training. Crazy right?

Maybe I'm overexaggerating now but I believe that since Sweden has been a peaceful nation from the Gustav Vasa period Swedes have losed that natural patriotic feeling. We can only attempt to recreate the same kind of feelings and unity by participating or watch sports events or competitions.

I suppose people tend to get confussed when it comes to my personal name, since I actually isn't making things better by constantly having an artefact in another name with me...


© Taste of Kimchi, Elle


Related posts:

General Election

Swedish Politics

Korean Conflict

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