My wish 나의 소원

       (written in 2018)

One day, I took time to visit Kim Se-jung’s museum exhibition called “The Joy of the Arts” to appreciate the representative works created by eight Catholic contemporary sculptors including Kim Se-jung (1928-1986), Choi Jong-tae (1932-) and Sr. Choi Bong-ja, among others.

 This exhibit lasted for about a month up to July 20, with the theme, “A sense of beauty in modern and contemporary sculptures.” It is quite interesting to visit such a gallery located in a residential area near Hyochang Park.

 Probably because I grew up with various pieces of wood at home, for my father was a carpenter, I enjoy looking at sculptures made of wood, bronze, iron, or marble. Creating a work of art in a form of a simple line and unique contour from the huge wildwood or natural and rough marble is always so amazing and marvelous. It is just a wonder.

 Near this gallery, I found the Baekbeom Kim Gu Museum & Library which displays most systematically the life-long journey of Kim Gu (1876-1949). Visiting his tomb and the tombs of four other patriotic martyrs surrounded by pine trees is such a good walk under the clear and shiny sky.

 “If God were to ask me, ‘What is your wish?’ I would reply without hesitation, ‘My wish is Korean independence’. If God asked me, ‘What is your next wish?’ I would again reply, ‘It is the independence of our nation.’ If God asked me one more time, ‘What is your next wish?’ I would even more forcefully say, ‘My wish is the complete sovereign independence of our nation, Korea.’”

 This quotation titled “My wish” appears at the end of the autobiography of Baekbeom Kim Gu who devoted himself wholeheartedly to the independence of our country. As a leader of the Korean independence movement, he was the sixth president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in 1927, and later up to his death, he did his best as a unification activist and a nationalist politician.

 Since “Backbeom Ilji” (Journal of Baekbeom: Autobiography of Kim Gu) was first published in 1947, it has become a steady seller with the publications of various versions of over 100 titles. In 2005 at the Frankfurt Book Faith, this book was selected as one of the “100 books of Korea.”

 I quite agree with him when he mentioned “the power of a noble culture” as follows: “I want our nation to be the most beautiful in the world. By this, I do not mean the most powerful nation. Because I have felt the pain of being invaded by another nation, I do not want my nation to invade others.”

 At the moment, it is very encouraging and inspiring for both Koreans to realize various creative and courageous attempts to be integrated by means of sports, songs, moving images, cultural performances, the reunion of people, traveling, as well as economic sponsoring. Truly, realizing a noble culture with common goodness will free and save us all from pride and prejudice.

 

The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ July 24, 2018