There are so many special days in Korea. I'm not talking about national holidays. I mean just "days,"like Valentines Day, White Day, Kiss Day, Teddy Bear Day, Rose Day, Pepero (chocolate stick cookie) Day, and more.
   Aside from these, there is also another days on the 11th day of each month. But the only reason for most of these days is commercialism; they are a marketing technique targeted at couples who are afraid of what others might say if they don? make a purchase to commemorate the special day.?Unfortunately, our culture seems to put so much value on celebrating these days that couples feel pressured to celebrate, and singles feel pressured to date someone.
However, this is not a healthy environment for young people, as it can lead couples to feel negative about each other and themselves when they cannot celebrate the day, and singles have negative feelings when they have no one to care for and receive care from.
   The real culprit is not the marketers who have created these "days," but our own national psychology. It is not in relationships that people care and think about, but the exterior of the relationships: how they will be viewed by others.
   In other words, couples celebrate the "days" to show other people how healthy their relationship is, and how caring their partner is, by boasting about the presents they gave and received. This is the psychology that the marketers take advantage of.
Likewise, it is a problem with our national psychology when singles feel less confident about themselves if they don't have a date to celebrate a special day with or no tales to tell others.
   Singles, too, put too much emphasis on what others might think. In this case, they worry that they will not be considered attractive or popular if they have not received a present on one of those "days."Overall, Koreans simply care too much about how other people think about them, and take that under too much consideration during speech and action. People try to conform to the norm and follow the standard procedures. I believe this is what has made these "days" so much of a source of national stress.
   So, I believe that young people need to speak up and reject this "day" culture that promotes only the shimmering exterior of a relationship and of a person.
   As a cute marketing gimmick, Teddy Bear Day or Pepero Day might be fine. But we have gone too far and taken these "days"too seriously. We need to take pride in who we are and who we really care for, not in how the others see us.
저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지