2008.06.25 14:49
June 25, 2008, A Personal Reflection - 이한중
The number one topic all day was what the Federal Reserve will do to the interest rate. I learned that it kept the rate same at 2 percent. Then I watched CNN for the presidential candidate, Obama’s press conference. Not even once he mentioned what happened 58 years ago. No one asked him what happened 58 years ago, which was before he was born. Then I flipped the remote control to the next channel, where a woman anchor was making a brief presentation of what happened 58 years ago, i.e. Korean War. There was a portrait of president Truman and a few seconds of the beginning of his radio message to the American people, “ Today, what happened in a little country, Korea, in Far East is an important event to every American, etc. ....” I felt that has to be one of a few understatements of the 20th century. Then there were brief interviews with two surviving Korean War vets and one Korean-American young man. The first vet stated, “Every bit of freedom Americans are enjoying now has been paid for dearly by all the lives killed in wars, including the lives of 3,7000 American soldiers during Korean War.” The second vet said, “Look at South Korea now and see what Koreans have achieved in 58 years. The lives of 37,000 American soldiers lost in that war brought on that miracle.” The Korean-American young man stated, “The least I could do on this day is to come here at this Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC, and to pay my respect to those 37,000 soldiers killed in that war. Without their sacrifices my parents couldn’t possibly immigrate to America and fulfill their dreams, and I couldn’t possibly be part of the American dream.” I worked a half day in the office and came home early in the afternoon. Nowadays I’m pacing myself not to overwork myself as a semi-retired senior physician. Ever since I woke up this morning my mind has been racing all day going back 50 some years to 1950 and the subsequent years. I was 10 years old and in the 4th grade. On the morning the War broke out it was just another peaceful, early summer day, except I heard the constant cannon firings and machine gun sounds from the north. My hometown was only 4 kilometers from the 38 parallel, the north of which is North Korea then. President Truman, the two vets and the Korean young man spoke the truths, I felt. Every word they uttered resonated with my heart. They said 3,7000 American soldiers were killed in the War. They said millions of Koreans died in the War. The one thing I learned quickly as a ten year old boy was the fact that war is an animal act of humans like that of beasts in the jungle. That was the only way I could understand what the war is. Otherwise, I couldn’t understand why humans want to kill other humans and why soldiers want to rape women at the battle front. I was convinced that war also turns most humans into animals so that they are ready to fight for their lives. This realization for a ten year old boy was a fateful one, which changed his life for the rest of his life. I became a determined young man who had decided to focus on his inner world, which he could control, and ever since, has avoided at all cost whatever has to do with politics of any kind in outside or external world. My going to medical school was part of my earlier determination and realization. Quite the contrary my older brother took the opposite decision and succeeded in becoming a good politician in many ways. The Korean War was indeed a fateful event for me and millions of other Koreans in one way or another. If I remember correctly off hand, the philosopher, Aristotle, stated that the happiest man on Earth is the man who has freedom of thinking, freedom of speech and freedom of act. According to the definition, I as well as millions of other Koreans have been able to live a happy life, thanks to the tens of thousands of American young men killed in action and all those Korean young men fought in that War. What else can I say on this day other than saying, “Thank you all from the deepest bottom of my heart for your sacrifices!” Somehow I feel so inadequate after saying those words. Words can’t certainly express the gratitude enough because they sound too cheap and don’t seem to have any measurable weight in face of the gravity of the meaning of all their sacrifices. Once again as I often do, as I get older, perhaps I can only pray, “Thanks be to God for all the mysterious works YOU do all the time.” We creatures will never be able to figure out how He works. We can only pray to HIM “with all our hearts, all our minds and all our souls.” |
2008.06.26 00:58
2008.06.27 02:43
I was in Seoul living in Myung-Dong near Si-Gong-Kwan Theater,
having been just a happy kid who was trying to memorize the multiplication table in math.
In the morning of June 25, 1950, we also woke up hearing the sounds of guns from the north.
As usual, my father didn't say anything but my mother seemed to be in a deep worry.
I think it was next day, June 26, that our class teacher got our class of about 50 students
on the roof deck of the Chung-Gye Primary School.
There used be a large flat concrete replica of the entire Korean peninsula,
and we gathered around it. He, then, quietly announced that the school was closing.
He said we should go back to home and he would notify us when the school could open again.
He said he would not know when it was going to be.
Of course, I never heard from him again.
We didn't even realize how serious, sad, and fateful the situation was to be....
We thought we would be out of school just a few days.
I don't know why he took us to the roof deck of the school.
But from there, we were looking to the northern sky where the sounds of guns coming from.
We came home early from the school and, except only one friend in the class,
I have never seen the teacher and the other classmates again since.
That was the end of my attendance at the Chung-Gye primary school.
On the same day or next, a few north Korean fighter flew over my house and
machine guns were fired either from the ground or from the fighter.
South Korea was totally helpless then.
Of course, as you all know, Seoul was under North Korean regime in the darkness of June 28.
When I woke up in the morning of June 29, the street was red with red arm and head bands.
Soon, we left Myun-Dong home that we've never returned again.
That was the beginning of the eternal wandering life of my family and myself.
Even today, I still consider myself to be a wanderer away from home.
I really don't mind to be a wanderer though.
Life was a bit more tougher but it could have been a blessing in disguise.
Somewhere along, I have come to believe that it's in my blood.
At a page of the Supreme Being's recipe book, my dish might have been prescribed as such.
I believe one has to be in love with his fate, good or bad, and make the best out of it.
I am neither unhappy nor sad about what happened to our life afterwards.
My family and I took it well and walked over defiantly whatever needed to be overcome.
But, for some reason, thinking about it makes my eyes warm and wet.
Why does it do that again and again?
I don't know why these dreadful memories are still so vivid in my mind
as if it happened just yesterday.... Or, maybe it was yesterday.
Dr. Lee, many thanks to you for giving me a chance to reminisce an early chapter in my past.
It's always a reflection of eternal preciousness. So is yours, I am sure.
2008.06.27 05:44
2008.06.27 14:26
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on the day, June 25, 1950, the War broke out.
Every one of them will have a story to tell, some of which undoubtedly are too traumatic to tell.
Nontheless, it may well be worthwhile reading and listening for our second and third generation
children and grandchildren, like the young Korean man who was interivewed.
I felt proud of what the young man said and was doing on June 25, visiting the Korean War Memorial.