On debt and us

It wouldn't be wrong to say that everything around us is held through debt. Or, to rephrase: Debt has become a major driver for everything. We often hear of national debt weighing on us or future generations. Different cultures view debt differently. It is often simplified to a relation between “borrower” and “lender” in the Western sense. Responsibility lies with the individual and being independent is perceived as a virtue. The side effects are obvious — you may hear about people carrying their student debts their whole life. In Islam, the view is that debt is a larger matter of spirituality and divine judgment for both sides. Philosophically speaking, debt means we are never fully independent. In the West individual autonomy is often seen as the ideal: the self‑sufficient individual who forms contracts but is not bound by unearned obligations. Korea’s more traditional approach complicates that ideal. It suggests that we are always already indebted simply because of our existence — be it to parents for life, or teachers for education or elders for guidance, and even t

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