R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me

So sitting down for dinner in our teacher’s office the other day, a Korean colleague, Alice, asked me and my American coworker, Matt a good question. She wanted to us to name one person that all Americans respect-and it can’t be a religious figure.

Matt and I were both thinking about it…Matt said Abe Lincoln and then I said “I think America is a culture of disrepect.” Okay, I was mostly joking, Matt got offended, and Alice was a bit confused.

I was thinking about how teaching is somewhat easier here because of the level of respect kids show for teachers and adults in general.

Also, I was stumped to think of One Person All Americans Respect. It seems the country is so vast and diverse that our cultural icons are always being debated.

I said possibly Goerge Washington but I didn’t feel sure of my answer, I didn’t feel like I could speak for most Americans. So, I was quite stumped.

When we asked Alice she easily said King Sejung and General Yi. I have mentioned King Sejung before, he is credited with creating Hangul from Chinese- taking the characters and creating the phonetic alphabet.   

General Yi founded the Joseon Dynasty, which lasted from 1392-1910, supposedly the longest Imperial Dynasty in history.

I think Koreans have a much easier time answering the question. What do you think? Who is an American that nearly Everybody Respects?

Then Alice asked what Americans think about Paris Hilton and why she is so popular.

 I was stumped again.