Stressors in a mad, mad world (pt. 2)

As regular readers of this blog know, I live in Korea. What you see above is a map of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). As I was thinking about what to write for this week's blog, I saw that on the bottom of that list of stressors was violence. Earlier I wrote about actual violence, but now I am going to write about the constant threat of violence and how it may affect children.

I have lived in Korea for 3 years now. And in those 3 years, there have been for me, very shocking developments between North and South Korea, who by the way are in a continuous state of war.

1. Sinking of the Cheonan

2. Bombardment of Yeonpyong Island

Surprisingly, none of these events seem to phase the population. Even the children are unaffected. The fact that approximately 10 million people live less than 40 miles from the most heavily defended border in the world has no effect. This must be a way to cope. This has no basis in science and it is just my theory, but it seems the constant threat of war has desensitized the general population. I was teaching at a English academy for young children when the Cheonan was sunk. I literally freaked out, because I thought there were going to be bombs flying any moment. I even had the quickest route to the US embassy mapped out on Google. But the children in my classes, did not seem concerned. I do not know if they did not care, or did not know, but it was shocking.

Is this the way people cope? Do people become numb to constant violence and constant threats of war? I wonder how it is like in the West Bank, and India and Pakistan. Are the children as nonchalant about war there as they are in Korea?