The school where I taught had students from more than a dozen nationalities. For that reason, I attended in-services to become aware of cultural differences. I learned that Westerners think as an arrow flies—straight. However, those from the Middle East and Asia think in circles as in figurative language with possibly more than one meaning.
This means that when someone from the Middle East or Asia says or does one thing, he or she may mean something different.
North Korea Map
Recently, China has been under global pressure to condemn North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26 that killed 46 sailors. The Christian Science Monitor reported on June 8 that China has blamed North Korea for killing three of its citizens and arrested a North Korean government official for drug trafficking—something unheard of before.
Could this be China’s circular way to pressure North Korea to admit sinking the South Korean ship or to stop threatening war and return to the peace table? North Korea relies on China for food and financial aid and if China has a reason to limit or stop that support, the stability of Kim Jon-il’s government would be threatened.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.
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