Let the People Cry

Looking around the world, I was reminded of what my wonderful Hahn Dongsin told me a long time ago. Her grandmother told her when she was still very young that "Korean people went out of their mind going through the suffering and trauma of the forced occupation and the Korean War." the scars and the damage are heartachingly clear in the present. I sensed this a long time ago, but, now, I see it in almost all of us. The scars and the damage we carry are not entirely the result of historical burdens. Being human, itself, implies the scars and the damage, and that is why we have been making such dumb and horrendous histories.

The examples happening right now in the world are too numerous to list all. Every continent, country, community, and individual has them. The only difference is the slight difference in degree and intensity.

In the U.S., paradoxically, under the Obama Presidency, the evil of slave system and its horrendous consequences are becoming clearer, at least to me. It is one of the most troublesome burden the U.S. is carrying with no effective resolution in sight.

www,en.wikipedia.org

I'm watching the Middle East with a certain despair. Here, again, there are no effective resolutions in sight. John Kerry put enormous effort into the Israeli-Palestinian situation, only to emotionally erupt in great frustration. This, of course, many experts in the region had predicted while holding onto a miracle to happen. The miracle never came as expected. The other parts of the Middle East, well, no comment at this time. It is too painful just to analyze and describe what, why, and how events are unfolding.

The mistakes Putin is making is beyond understanding. When your priorities are based on your problems, the decisions you make invite only problems. We've seen this many times in history. I just hope that not many people end up with scars and damage.

Looking at South Korea and North Korea, the Chinese come to my mind. Both Koreas need cultural revolution. Let the Chinese Cultural Revolution be a case study. Why and how of it and its consequences could help a little in forming new policies. Obviously, the Chinese way is not the way to go. But, in why, we could learn and, in how, we could improve.

Creating a new vision require honest dialogue, discussion, cool and sharp analysis, decision on where we want to go, and want to be. We need a layer of smart leaders who could explain simply and clearly the vision and who could form a consensus, and who could effective in mobilization, and act decisively. But they can't just say 'follow me' without clear and logical roadmap.

But, at this moment, I say let the people cry for once, then we get on with our task.