Word: customize
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...usually mean a confluence of attitudes, values and assumptions that drive Americans' centuries-old quest for a better life. What they fail to acknowledge is that legal, educational and economic changes continuously alter the priorities within that same set of social variables. A few generations back, religion, race and custom superseded all other considerations. When Kathleen Hobson and Atul Gawande, both 27, married last year, however, they based their vision of a shared future on a different set of common values: an upper-middle-class upbringing in tight-knit families, a Stanford education and a love of intellectual pursuits...
...Confucian world of Korean business, the practice of naemul signifies respect and deference. Most businessmen see nothing unethical about this custom. They point out that Koreans have practiced naemul ever since their country was freed from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and have still enjoyed a rather spectacular rise from agrarian backwater to industrial power...
...ritual of naemul is an outgrowth of the Confucian grounding upon which Korean society is based. Just ask any Korean or Korean-American about the New Year's Day custom of parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and other adults handing out envelopes of money to children, who respond with a long, ceremonious bow and a wish of good blessings. Because of this fundamental grounding, naemul in one form or another has penetrated almost every other aspect of Korean society...
This omnipresent custom raises a serious question: Where to draw the line between a monetary payment made out of respect and adherence to tradition and outright bribery. It is this dilemma that Korea's newly-elected president, Kim Young Sam, has tried to address. His answer has been quite clear...
...outlawed the "gratitude fees" in commercial activity, government operations, education and almost every other aspect of Korean life. The scope of the legislation extends even to "wedding solicitations." By custom, when a couple is to be married, the families of the bride and groom send an announcement to everyone with whom they are even remotely familiar. The real purpose of the announcements, of course, is to solicit money to pay for the wedding...