Why Do I Have to Care How People See Me

Why Do I Have to Care How People See Me

Graph that Tells How Many Korean College Students Eat Alone.

  In Korea, there is something weird paranoid. I am very careful this time since it might not be weird thing which everyone understands but only me does not. One day I read the newspaper called 'Korea Economy' and there was the article about 'How Korean College Students Live Their Lives'. What the article mainly says about is the number of college students who eat alone are getting more and more and it means they are becoming more individual rather than getting together and cooperating. Plus, what the writer was saying is eating alone is not desirable just because eating alone implicitly means they do not have friends to have a meal with. When I read this article I was like "What are you talking about?" because I have been eating alone for a long time on the campus and there were no huge problem. Why I do it is because I don't have enough time to have a leisurely meal with my friends. I have no idea how western people see and think the people who eat alone often but in Asia countries at least I think they are more conscious of how people see oneself. I have been to a few Asia countries and people in Asia are more likely to hide their feelings. Honestly speaking, I did not understand the article and I will not understand. Why people care about other people's meal habits? I don't care if they eat alone or eat with one hundred friends because that is not my business.

어느날 신문을 읽었는데 '혼밥' 에 대한 기사를 읽었다. 혼밥을 경험해 본 사람들이 많이 있고 그 숫자가 점점 증가하고 있다는 그래프와 함께 혼밥하는 것은 바람직하지 않다는 내용이 적혀 있었다. 나는 혼밥을 해오고 있다. 이유는 여유롭게 식사를 할 시간이 없다. 서양 사람들은 '혼밥' 에 대해서 어떻게 생각하는지 모르겠다. 하지만 내가 생각하고 느꼈을 때 아시아 사람들이 조금 더 다른 사람이 어떻게 자신을 보는 지에 대해 신경을 많이 쓰는 것 같다. They do care more about how other people see oneself. 이유는 모르겠다. 나는 다른 사람이 혼자 먹든지 친구랑 먹든지 자신의 일도 아닌데 이상하게 보거나 신경 쓰는 것 자체가 이상한 시선이 아닌지 모르겠다. 자신의 일이 아닌 일에 너무 많은 신경을 쓰는 것은 아닐까.