Experience Makes Me Cast Away Prejudice

By Hodjiyeva Kamola, Guest Reporter

　
　I have traveled with my father since I was two years old. I was born in Tajikistan and lived in Uzbekistan. Though I am an?Uzbek citizen, I finished elementary, middle and high schools in different countries. I have been?traveling and studying?abroad for many years, and I have great life?experiences abroad encountering international cultures and languages. When I first arrived in Korea, I could only speak Korean as a novice, though?I used to use?it in a?Korean organization where I worked for a few years as a guide in my country. I like using Korean very much.
I ask myself sometimes?if I thought I understood Korean culture well. The answer is that I have known this country so long and its culture is very similar to the culture of my mother?country, Uzebekistan, especially family?traditions. Korean people are almost the same as the Uzbeks who are always smiling and kind. I have many friends in my country who?seem like they are Korean.

My hometown, Samarkand, is a region located in the heart of Uzbekistan. "Pearl of the East”, “Eden of the East” and “Face of the Ground" were the names given to my city by poets and great leaders of the past. It has more than a thousand years of history and nobody knows the exact age of my city. Conveniently located, this fact made the city an important crossroads, heart of the Silk Road.
Samarkand is one of the most ancient cities of the world along with Rome, Athens and Babylon. It is also the most popular tourist center to both Uzbekistan and the whole of Central Asia. The most prosperous time for Samarkand was under the rule of the Great Emperor Temur. Born in Shakhrisabs, the Temur (Emperor) made Samarkand the capital of his great empire stretching from the Ind River up to the Bosfore.?For many centuries it was a cultural capital and the trade center of the Silk Road. Registan Square was and still remains the heart of the city. Samarkand has always been a multi-national city in which more than 120 nationalities live together. They all live in peace without that word, prejudice.

　As a result, before?moving to Korea, I knew very little about prejudice. Even if I had?a general understanding about prejudice, I did not know exactly what prejudice is. Generally, you should become aware of the relevant facts about things before forming an opinion about them. If not, you have a prejudice against them. For example, some foreigners feel insecure about Korea,?and others still feel?a war with North Korea is still an immediate threat. However, Korea is peaceful, and an example of a country that maintains social order?very well. There are so many different worlds and suns. And we have just one world, but we live in different ones. That is the reason prejudice comes out. What about the place where you live?