When asked how the United States could become a more effective broker of world peace, Dr. Jang Gyu Lee, an engineering professor at Seoul National University, responded: “Be prepared to be second…”

He explained that he was not suggesting a US defeat, but that “America needs a new attitude in dealing with other nations. You cannot understand the motivation of others unless you have walked in their shoes, unless you are willing to be among them rather than over them. Being number one brings arrogance, and peace cannot be achieved with arrogance.”

Professor In Seop Chung in the College of Law told me that the American people “need to be wiser. American thinking is the most parochial in the world”; and, he said (somewhat tongue-in-cheekily) “the only way Americans learn geography is through war. Most Americans probably can’t even locate Korea on a map.”

Simon Park, a Korea-born American who is working as a missionary at Hannam University in Daejeon, Korea (and who has also served in the Congo, Nepal and Singapore) emphasized that Americans cannot “continue to believe that we have all the solutions for the world. We need the humility to say that we have only one small part to offer, and to acknowledge that citizens of other nations understand their issues better than we do.”

Americans, Dr. Park said, usually start with good intentions, but the pressure to produce a result that favors the United States diminishes those intentions. Small voices need to speak up and say, “We don’t know all of the answers… we are here to listen to you and to help you find a solution that works best for you.”

Every nation, one student told me, has its own unique life and culture.  He said, “Instead of proclaiming your way as the best way, America needs to respect the culture and traditions of allies and foes alike. Respect will lead to understanding, and through understanding we can find peace.”

Please know that the above sentiments came from people who appreciate the United States; they are our friends. They see the US as a beacon of freedom, and our democracy as a model. Many Koreans want to send their children to the US for college, and three of the students I met are planning to study at American universities.

Koreans are people with a rich cultural history and a healthy, growing economy. But they are squeezed by a belligerent neighbor to the North, and by the economic giants of Japan and China.

I conclude from my conversations (with professors, students and people I  met along the way) that they covet a positive alliance with the United States, but they want an alliance built on equality and mutual respect rather than as lord and supplicant.

The foreign policy of the United States ought to be fashioned around a respect for the differences between nations. We need the humility to embrace other cultures as equals… being true to our own principles, but also appreciating the ways of others.

But, as Dr. Park pointed out, American politicians who try to educate their fellow citizens about the need for humility and respect for foreign cultures are often defeated by campaigns of ridicule, distortion and fear.

His analysis is right on point: Blaming all Muslims for our national security problems, blaming foreign manufacturing and Mexican immigrants for loss of American jobs, and blaming Chinese monetary policy for our economic weakness are classic examples of using fear and distortion in US politics.

I was once told that the secret to political success is in knowing whom to blame for my failures, and that seems to be a successful tactic in the current US midterm election campaign.

The politics of blame, distortion and fear work because too many Americans do not understand the world beyond our shores, making it easy for us to accept generalizations about the motives of others.

I believe, for instance, that our lack of cultural understanding led us into Viet Nam and Iraq with the expectation that the people would greet us with cheers, and this ignorance cost thousands of American military and local civilian lives.

Earlier in this project I spoke with Amelia Hadfeld, a professor of international relations at Cambridge University in England. She made this point when she said that Americans “have a stunning lack of interest in or knowledge about the world. The number of Americans holding passports is low (around 22%).”

She added, “Americans have a sense of patriotism and duty, a belief that America should be out there and active in the world… but they believe that American interests should be pursued first and foremost.

“They can’t talk in detail about who their allies are and with whom the nation should interact. That said, they have an identifiable sense of the need for USA visibility in the world… of greater service, but always in the national interest and without regard to another nation’s culture and tradition.”

Upholding the national interest is the primary goal of international relations. However, I have come to see that our national interest lies not in creating little Americas across the globe, but in forming relationships built on mutual interests that respect cultural diversity.

Instead of  trying to build a world in our image, we should step into the shoes of others and see the world through their perspective… we should promote a peaceful global community rather than shouting “We’re number one”.