Thursday, October 13, 2022

Beads of sweat 땀방울

                               

As if the earth is soaked with sweat,

Sweat runs down the whole body,

Whenever I move my feet.

 

The struggle of the globe,

Getting so hot day by day,

Is becoming mixed up with sweat.

 

If the sea level becomes higher,

Because of the melting glaciers and natural disasters,

The globe might burst with a bang someday.

 

Our lovely planet is dripping with sweat,

Day in and day out with attachment,

And excessive desire to be more convenient.

 

Let the earth be free from selfish desire!

Let the earth be filled with verdure!

Let the earth be saved!

 

Sea levels are rising. It is reportedly said that the sea level around Korea has increased 3 or 4 percent recently. The Earth is changing and getting warmer and warmer. With this serious phenomenon of global warming, nobody knows what will happen next. We only live in this moment.

The extreme use of heat, electricity, and gas is uncontrollable. As a result, various signs of climate change have been noticed in hot weather, the change in seasonal fruits, flooding, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers.

The impact of climate change will be more serious and negative. We still have plenty of water, trees, and mountains in Korea but we can't avoid the impending influence of global warming because almost all the countries in the world are interrelated with one another.

It is good to see many people put into practice various ways of saving energy, resources, and the Earth.

My nephew who lives in a religious society practices a special way of saving water. He gathers all the water from sundry uses in a washbowl and pours it onto a nearby field to cultivate vegetables. He also tries not to flush the toilet after urinating; he urinates into a plastic bottle and uses it to fertilize the field as well.

Being conscious of the use of light, I try to save electricity and water. There is neither an electric fan nor air conditioning in my room. With light clothes, I just rely on a breeze naturally passing through the window.

With much vitality and energy, I sweat easily, even with a slight motion. Especially this summer, I feel like I am being cleansed and purified with sticky sweat.

When I drive to various Catholic churches, I just let my face, hands, and arms become sunburned by the sunlight shining through the front glass of the car. At midday, it is almost like a vacation walking on the seashore.

I enjoy letting my skin become burned because I don't like to use suncream. Probably because I grew up in a rural country and enjoyed walking in the fields, I don't feel my skin smarting. Some people warn me of skin cancer, but it doesn't matter to me.

The hot weather is becoming fiercer year by year. In this weather, I remember laborers living by the sweat of their brows day to day and I do my best to perform my mission to drive to the Suwon diocese.

From Tuesday to Friday, I regularly visit 7 to 12 parishes with boxes stuffed with books to take care of the parish bookshop. On weekends, I usually join a group book exhibition for the laypeople at the church. Sometimes, I lead the mini audio-visual retreat for migrants.

I spend summer this way. Sweating a lot, I feel more hungry and I am more enlightened. As sweat runs down my body, I just wish every kind of attachment and instinctive passion be flowing far away. Sweat cleanses not only the body but the mind and the soul.

It is said that those who sweat much in summer can have a good harvest in autumn and don't die of hunger in winter. Being soaked in sweat is truly one of the beautiful signs of life in praise of life’s ups and downs!

  

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2012/08/137_116864.html

The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ Aug. 8, 2012

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