Why Greetings are Important

    Recently a friend (I'll call Sally) from my church called to ask for some cultural advice.  She leads a small group of girls (age 10 or 11)  during the Sunday school hour at my church.  Several months ago a gal from Korean, whom I'll call Kyung Hee. Her whole family has just moved here).  Kyung Hee speaks English quite well, but her mother not so much.
    What puzzled Sally was the hurt on Kyung Hee's face when her mother came into the Sunday school room before the group ended one Sunday.  Sally saw the woman, but just kept interacting with the girls.  In her mind, giving attention to these kids was her job then, nothing else.  But in the days following, Sally couldn't get out of her mind the hurt expression on the Korean girl's face.
    Why?  I believe it was because Sally didn't show respect to Kyung Hee's mother by greeting her or going over to speak with her. That is what respect would commonly mean to someone of Korean or Japanese background. (If you're of another culture where you would also interpret respect similarly, write me a comment!  I'd like to know - but I'm trying not to overgeneralize here)
    By not showing respect to the girl's mother, it felt devaluing to this girl with Korean sensibilities.  Like, "Isn't my mother worth noticing?  Aren't we important?"  An eleven year old of the dominant culture here probably wouldn't care, wouldn't feel that the teacher's lack of recognition of her mother implied a lack of valuing  the two of them.
   I told her right off that I thought she had shown dis-respect according to this cultural viewpoint.   Sally cared - she just didn't know the way to show it important to Korean culture, The next week she greeted Kyung Hee's mother and everyone was happier. 
    Often just a simple change, that doesn't cost us much, can communicate so much more of God's love.
    Tomorrow I'll pass on the advice given me from Collin's mother, who's quite close to Korean culture, for helping this girl feel at home in the group.