[Opinion] Hopeful Signs on a Fall Plain

It was the time when I had aged enough to begin wearing reading glasses. When I opened the newspapers and couldn`t read the letters, I realized that this was also a part of the course of nature. I felt like the letters were telling me that I had lived long enough to know what is written in the articles after reading the headlines. `Why go through the trouble of actually reading it?` the letters seemed to ask me.

As the government announces strange views day after day, I wanted to stop feeling so much despair and kept my newspaper reading just to the headlines . . . , laughing to myself sadly as the reality of my age dawned on me.

With a heavy heart I took a trip to Yang Pyong and came to the southern Han river. The riverbanks were filled with color and Yang Pyong was ripe with the autumn air. On the open plains, through which runs highway 6, a group of scarecrows stood about.

Passersby stopped their cars on the side of the road and took pictures with their arms around the scarecrows. The scene made yet another beautiful fall picture and made me smile.

It had been several months already since the national farming campaign to grow crops without pesticides. The grasshoppers were coming back and rice paddies could be seen in different places. These were the fruits of people`s effort to create environmentally friendly farms where fireflies fly about and grasshoppers jump around.

During my school days when we were taught that diligent study is a public good, I remember catching a firefly and trying to see whether I could read in its light. Those fireflies I chased and the grasshoppers are now returning to the farms. Visible changes are taking place in Yang Pyong which guards the water source for the capital.

On Saturday, I went to a discussion at Haewon Girls High School. People were talking about the school falling apart and the crisis in education, but the beauty of the school campus made it feel as if all the trouble were irrelevant. The teachers were open and warm, and the students walked through the hallways with confidence and bright eyes.

The school principal who was hosting a thrifty bazaar of student-donated clothing laughed heartily and was warm and bright. One class jointly wrote a book report and conceived a brilliant plan to organize a competition for dramatizing the report on stage. When I saw and heard all that was going on, I felt something filling up my heart.

The protagonist of `Crime and Punishment`, which the students put on stage, argues with a person who mocks his religious beliefs and struggles with the problem. The performance was such a powerful seed of hope. Who are the people talking about a crisis in public education? I felt my hope renewed as I stood next to these passionate teachers watching the performance.

Last Spring, I liked the simple color of the flowers outside my office entrance and decided to plant some day lilies. The lilies took root even in the long draught and yellow flowers blossomed in the summer. In my garden, I planted cucumber trees because I wanted smaller flowers and delighted in them when they flowered in the Spring.

Those trees are getting ready for late autumn now. When I look at the plants and trees whose orderly needs for growth, trimming, and care are so clear, I recall the saying, `I have nothing to reap this year because I have sown nothing . . . ` and feel ashamed for the smallness of my effort this Fall.

Why is it that we feel no peace as we peer at the splendid waters of the river? In the distant fields, I see the Siberian chrysanthemum whose leaves drop the morning dew and shine in the early sunlight. It is a flower that blooms in concealment, opening its petals as the other flowers begin to close. This is also a great sight.

I wonder whether the greatness of humanity lies in not losing its hope, despite the fact that our society does not seem to get any better as time continues to pass us by. Perhaps it is time to speak of hope, hold onto hope, and learn from the wisdom of nature in this beautiful Fall season.