Click the photo if you want to go to the blog where they were first posted.

Now, being all new to adoption two years ago, I wasn’t quite exactly sure what people meant by the word entitlement bandied about by anti-adoption adoptees, but I knew in other circles it meant the haves thinking everything can or should be theirs.  I also knew that adoptive parents really resented being accused of exercising their entitlement to adopt, especially since applying is viewed as an ordeal by some.

Living here in Korea and thinking about the war and Korea today, I’ve come to appreciate just what entitlement means.

Harry Holt, who is portrayed as a simple man of extraordinary magnanimity, was in actual fact a rather wealthy zealot:  wealthy enough to quit farming and travel the world to participate in missionary work without anybody missing bread on the table at home.  He claimed God spoke to him by pointing him to a piece of scripture which he interpreted as a command to take children from the East and turn them into Christians.  Because he was an evangelical zealot, he saw the entire population of Korean children as fodder for easy conversion, and it was his goal to bring as many as he could to God by removing them from their heathen country.  And so, in an amazing PR move, he set about making himself a precedent and getting the government to sanction his efforts by calling it war relief;  thus creating a mechanism whereby he could ship a steady stream of these children to America to live as Christians.  And which later he was able to permanently change adoption law…long after the war was over and continuing to the present day.

What he did by coming to Korea and starting International adoption was he carefully crafted the marriage of charity with the acquisition of children.  Social workers at the time were appalled that children would be uprooted from their native cultures and worried about how (or if) they would assimilate into a country where they would be a minority and possibly marginalized. They questioned whether importing these children was in the best interests of the child.

The first children he brought over were Amerasian children, who would have been targets for discrimination and difficult lives.  Were his intentions charitable, or were they exploitative?  Helping those Amerasian children was admirable, but was bringing them to America for the children, or were they being used as an experiment in gaining future evangelical Christian recruits?

I’ve talked to some of these older adoptees, and the stories are pretty horrific.  They were used as servants and laborers.  They had doctrine hounded into them.  They had the Korean LITERALLY beaten out of them.  They were abused in many ways.  They were denied shares of inheritance.  OR they became almost evangelical themselves, preaching the word of how Harry or God saved their lives.

But let’s get back to the topic at hand, entitlement. People around the globe were fascinated with this act by Mr. Holt.  FASCINATED.  My mother included.  Why, you mean we can be charitable AND get a child by doing so?  We can help a child and get to keep it?  And this is where entitlement comes in.  Because people who would have never considered helping a local orphan suddenly wanted a child that came delivered from a plane.  Or, the inverse:  the fact they could get a child previously only seen in magazines might prompt them to suddenly become charitable.  From that time forward, helping children overseas only became desirable if it gave an immediate and direct benefit to the benefactor, and in this way have the lives of children been com-modified as a luxury item.

And the reason for justifying the transportation of children 5,000+ miles away from their country was that they had the means.  EVEN if it was a struggle or sacrifice, they still had the means.  And having the means allows one to entertain one’s wants with less consideration.  And THAT is adoptive parent entitlement.

And that is by no means an indictment of adoptive parents:  I too am guilty of this on occasion.  It just is what it is and should be recognized, so we can really look at the whole picture honestly.  It’s like me recognizing when I’m being a racist.  It’s uncomfortable but necessary so we can work harder to make more informed decisions in the future before we’ve gone and contributed to this mess.

Not much has changed since then, except that Christianity is no longer the prerequisite for obtaining a child from another country.  And that’s only because the U.S. government made them…

No.  Wait.  I forgot what a strategic genius Harry was.  When the stock of Amerasian babies ran out, and when the economy improved and starving families ran out, he managed to convince Koreans that the children of unwed mothers should go to him.  So that he (and now his daughter) may call them motherless and homeless.  (they counsel the mothers to give up their children and then call the children motherless and put them in foster care and then call them homeless!)  So that people who want children from magazines can continue to think of their wants as charitable and totally ignore the social conditions that don’t improve because of the intervention of adoption agencies.  Adoption is to social services as the ajumma is to street cleaning, who arrives at dawn so the streets are spotless when the business day starts.  Yup, adoption is a wonderful thing for the Korean government.

It’s quite the marriage:  Harry Holt + Korea.

And now + Ethiopia, +China, +the Philippines, +India, +Thailand, +Vietnam, +Nepal, +Uganda, +Haiti.

And if you notice, Holt continues on in Korea almost 60 years later.  And notice too that Korea is the only country that isn’t in poverty, with China rising in ranks.  And that is because Korea has the dubious distinction of being the first country from which children have been taken for International adoption.  And you will no doubt notice that, if Holt International has their way, they will continue to “help” all those other countries long after their fortunes improve. And they will be there at the first international disaster, ready to lay the foundation for a continued presence in whatever country is currently on their knees.

Staying long after you’re no longer needed.  Creating a need where none exists.  Fighting efforts to improve social services.  To me, Holt and the other international adoption agencies are no charity.  They are exploiters now only pandering to the entitled.

All I’m saying is look.  Recognize.  Let’s stop the madness.

So I’m a little late posting this, but here is an excellent (and grisly) photo essay on the Korean war.

Back then, adoption may have been necessary for some children bereft of family. But comparing those conditions to today, and it’s clear there’s no compelling reason for adoption to exist in Korea.  It’s elective.  (Adoption and relinquishment are two words that really have no business being used together, in my opinion)

There’s also no reason why Korea can’t take care of its own citizens.

Today, Korea can spend 6.5 million U.S. on sidewalk signage in one district that can take photos of you, email them to your friends, and surf the internet.

Today, Korea sends millions of dollars in charity to third world countries every year. They also send doctors to perform cosmetic surgery on children so they can lead a better life, but Korean children with the same affliction get put in orphanages.

Today, Koreans are spending millions again on programs to integrate foreign brides and migrant workers into society, who will marry full-blood Koreans and produce mixed-race children because there is an exodus of Koreans out of the country and the lowest birth rates in the world, coupled with the highest abortion rates in the world.

Korea has the money.  But Koreans are so preoccupied with appearances that they will throw away their own people if they aren’t image enhancing.

So what’s more immoral?  That your daughter/sister laid on her back?  Or that you forced her to throw away her child, a human being, because it made you look bad?  What kind of honor is found in that?

A.  None.  It’s Korea’s greatest shame, this preoccupation with looking honorable.  It turns honor into a lie:  not really earned or deserved.

The grisly photos of atrocities against civilians on both sides and the oppression of Korea’s daughters to me suggests the same thing, and that is misspent passive aggressive rage.  Rage at being oppressed:  by outside forces, by those born with more power, by men.  Rage at being divided into unclimbable social strata.   Listen to what the old folks have to teach about culture.  Don’t listen when they tell you you’ll be better off without your children.  I hope the old folks here go to a better place.  Let the rage be buried with them.   Let us build a better society.  Let all young Koreans fight that legacy and create something healthier and more honest.

So while looking for a salvage yard in Korea, I ran across this:

So many things you can do with used LPG tanks.

I always get soooo excited when I see anything like this in Korea.  Art doesn’t have to be in a gallery, surrounded by pretentious snobs.

I guess Korean blogs are the way to go if you want to learn about Korea – makes sense, right?  I get around the language barrier by looking things up in a free on-line translator, then typing in the hanguel into a google IMAGE search.   Voila!  Then, Willie showed me the nifty Google translate function, which sometimes helps, especially with navigation.

God, I wish I didn’t have to work and eat and sleep…

So actually the decision to make a cigar box guitar was not as arbitrary as you might think. I know, from having put my mitts around other people’s guitars, that my hands, which are the size of a ten year old’s, wouldn’t be very happy playing most acoustic guitars, and that I would end up quitting in frustration.  The boy had suggested I get a travel guitar, so then I wouldn’t have to add the problem of having to hug a huge guitar body, and they’re a bit pricey.  Electric guitars have thinner necks, but I don’t really want to play that kind of music and have to shell out the kind of money that a good amp requires.  Then, when I was thinking about guitar lessons again I did some research and found out you can get short chord necks, which would help (since my arms are also short) and 3/4 size bodies. But all that seemed like a lot of expense for something I most likely will barely visit.  Mostly I’m just interested in portable accompaniment for my own private karaoke.

But then I realized I could make one of these D.I.Y. guitars and have a toy that, unlike a toy guitar, actually sounds cool, is fun to make, and has a long history of people like me not really having a lot of means and yet wanting some music in their lives.  Better still, I can choose to make it 3 or 4 strings and thus can make the neck as narrow and as short as I want it, I can make the frets be as high or as low (or flush or fretless) or whatever I want, and the body is small enough that my hand can span it so I don’t have to lose precious arm reach wrapping myself around it.  How great is that?

Yesterday I found the Cuban cigar shop and the owner let me have two boxes.  Most of the boxes are cardboard these days, and I wanted to go with wood.  Although, the cardboard ones are far more interesting and colorful.  I hear the cardboard ones sound almost as good, though, which makes sense – the box just functions as a sound chamber, and if the neck extends through or past the box, then it doesn’t matter how strong it is.

This beauty will be my acoustic guitar.  I’m hoping the glue job on the rounded corners will hold up.  And the paper label has some bubbles in it, but I’m sure Uncle Clem cared more if it could hold up to his pickin’ than if it was perfect or not.  Anyway, I thought it was a nice choice for a little girl (me) to hold onto.

This guy here will be my electric guitar.  It’s barely over an inch tall, is well-made with dove-tailed corners, and and will take a nice stain and finish.  I’ll put a pick-up in it and move on to making a ghetto amp.

I found this video to be really inspiring.  Maybe I can learn to play this spooky kind of slide guitar blues.

I picked up this stainless “tin” at the Seoul Folk Flea Market thinking it would make a beautiful banjo, but unfortunately the lid-side makes a pretty dull sound and the bowl side which sounds good is really ugly.  I only paid 5 bucks for it, so I guess if it doesn’t work, then I have a new used bowl to eat out of.  Although, all might not be lost.  Maybe I can use it as a resonator somehow.  Like put the bowl inside and then punch holes in the lid and put it on another sound box.

But I just realized – omg – that Korean hanji  paper boxes would make a perfect banjo.  So I’m off to Insadong in Seoul to get a hanji box kit for tourists, and I’m going to drill holes in it and decoupage it and decorate the bottom and NOT the top…What a perfect marriage of low budget need with local materials and musical traditions.  Good thing I won’t be in a class – everyone would think me insane.  Maybe I can find some techniques on-line or in a book somewhere.

What a nice, adoption-free weekend!  Yayy!

ADDED:

I am Navin Johnson, trying to get my groove on,  on the porch of my imagination…

This is an iconic joke to us transracial adoptees, btw… “you mean I’m gonna stay this color?” Only with me, it’s “Things were never easy for me.  I was raised a square white child.” !!!

I’m having a bitch of a time finding translators for my shoe-making aspirations.  So, while I research how to get some I’ve found something equally rewarding and with a shorter payoff.  And that is (drum-roll please): guitars! banjos!

Yup, I’m gonna make my own home-grown instrument experiments.  Tomorrow I’m picking up Cuban cigar boxes, supposedly the head teacher in my office does wood-working and can tell me where to get some wood for the neck, and I can probably find the hardware and strings I need at Yamaha music stores, one of which I know exactly where to go.  Fortunately, with the internet, there is excellent instruction on how to make and play these things.  Also tomorrow I’m heading back to the Seoul Folk Flea Market to scavenge for cookie tins or mess kits and other found items I might be able to use for bridges and decoration.

I love DIY culture!

Yeah I know – it’s not social.  Ah, who the hell cares.  Maybe I’ll start something new here in Korea.  Maybe Korea has some found items just screaming to become hybrid home-grown junkyard instruments/art.  This is yet another project I probably won’t finish and which I shouldn’t air publicly to spare myself embarrassment later, but it’s exciting to me and interested people are interesting people and that’s when I meet people, when I’m interested in something and not because I’m out to meet people.

So I’ll probably be writing less and being activist less and spending more time trying to let out my inner muddy waters.