Olympics--Where the East Meets the West

The winter olympics are not on regular television here...only satellite. Since we don't have satellite I was trying to find some videos on the internet. I came across the pairs figure skating short program.
While watching the NBC commentators told the story of the couple from the Russian federation. The girl was from Japan but gave up her Japanese citizenship in order to be trained by one of the top pairs coaches in the world. She changed her last name to a Russian spelling and had been training and competing as a Russian.
I was listening to the American commentators tell of how the Japanese people viewed her as a traitor, but their own personal viewpoint was that she was just following her dream. Japan doesn't have the history or success that the Russian pairs program has displayed so why not go? I thought it was interesting that there were two reactions to the story--two opposing viewpoints. Although as Americans we might not understand someone defecting to Russia, we do understand the pursuit of dreams. We know that sacrifice is part of it, and we understand the value of having goals as individuals.
On the other hand, there are societies that are much more collective than ours--their personal decisions affect more people than just themselves and their immediate family. The responsibility to your people group is very important to most of the world. I found myself imagining that there was much more to this story than a young girl following her dream no matter the cost. There's another cultural side--what are the values of that culture? Why do they view her as a traitor? Why do we view it as simply doing whatever it takes to follow your dream and be successful?
I can imagine in the past that I would never have thought twice about the story. I would have been excited that she made it to the Olympics and that she was fulfilling her dream. I would never have thought about how it looked to her home, family, and society. But now I'm working in a collective society also. The individualistic me thinks why can't people just do the "right thing" no matter what family, friends, or society thinks. But maybe I've been trained up that way since birth. I don't know what it's like to have the fear of my family rejecting me...disappointing them to the point of exclusion...choosing a Way that means I won't be able to "help" them (according to what they believe) when they pass on. Decisions are hard everywhere but sometimes we don't think of the huge price most of the world pays for decisions. Of course we rejoice when the Truth is chosen, but it should also remind us to pray, pray, pray. Life does not become automatically easy, but we do have the One who will stay with us through it all.