Becoming Self-Aware

In deference to protect the delicate sensibilities of some, I am changing the identities of certain people in this essay.

I was walking with a buddy yesterday, and we were talking how one of my friend's co-workers (hereafter to be referred to as "Penn")is painfully Caucasian to the point of being targeted with every "white boy" joke in the book. Penn looks kind of like Andrew Daly of MADtv, and that doesn't exactly help him out to further any arguments that he is anything but an ofay honky. My friend has a pretentious cunt of a boss (hereafter to be referred to as "REMF") who is also painfully Caucasian and aside from being a less intelligent than a corn-studded loaf of shit, REMF deserves every "white boy joke in the book. REMF truly is a "cracka-ass-cracka."

The difference between Penn and REMF is that as far as I can tell, Penn became self-aware whereas REMF wouldn't know an original though if it teabagged him. I share some degree of sympathy with Penn aside from the fact that he has a good and twisted sense of humor and as far as I've interacted with him, he's been fun to chat with. While I may appear to be just an average Korean, I am not the motherfucker who does your dry cleaning, who sells you your groceries, or who delivers your takeout orders.

I like country music. Not country pop bullshit, but Hank Williams sr, Johnny Cash, Randy Travis, and Dwight Yoakam. I love to cook and bake Italian food. I have TWO liberal arts degrees. I love tequila. I could go on to describe any number of other things I enjoy that aren't stereotypically viewed as "Asian" or "Korean," but that's less important as the fact that at some early point in my life, I took a look at not only what Koreans were like, but how the people around me (i.e. white people) saw me. I didn't want to be their Charlie Chan or even their Jackie Chan.

It's important to keep an open mind about what the world has to offer. There's a lot of fun to be had, and as a warning, if you don't keep an open mind, you're by default setting yourself up to be marginalized by people like REMF and other morons. I'm assuming Penn had that same sort of self-realization and tried to cultivate his own little world of stuff that brings him joy & fulfillment or at least offers him respite from the bullshit that can piss you off.