[Opinion] Repentance

We are all made to feel compassion toward those sinners who are repentant and ask for forgiveness regardless of gravity of their crimes. The difference between humans and animals is that the former has feelings of remorse and knows how to ask for forgiveness. There are a good number of confession books in this regard. The three great writings of that kind, written by Augustine, Rousseau and Tolstoy, are still widely read by people. Those books seem to deliver messages with soul, which are hard to find in writings these days. Reading the books, we learn that those great figures in the world history were also only humans with fragile souls. Poet Yun Dong-ju also wrote, `I will have to write a line of confession tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or just one fine day.`

▷The writing of confession that drew keenest attention in the history seems to be the repentance released by the Vatican in 2000. The book confessed that Christianity`s wrong doings in the past two thousand years from persecution against the Jews, the Crusade, witch hunt and condoning massacres that happened in the new continent. Germans also admitted their responsibility for what happened during the World War II by saying, `it was not just done by Nazi followers, but millions of Germans knew about the death of the Jews,` which stands in stark contrast to Japanese people who are still very unwilling to admit their past wrongdoings. Confession, indeed, takes a lot of courage. The problem is that we now too often too easily use such words as ` repent ` and ` remorse.`

▷We cannot but feel sorry watching the Ministry of Education release a document that admits their policymaking mistakes for the last five years. `We did not listen enough to those working in the field throughout the decision making process, and with ministers replaced too often, it was not possible to have consistent policies,` the document says. It seems to be the first step toward positive changes since it has been very rare for a high-handed government agency to write a letter of confession and the education authorities have been reluctant to make drastic changes. It is also too harsh to give the cold shoulder to the ministry trying to something better. Yet, lingering in our mind is whether the ministry is truly feeling repentant.

▷`Repent` in English means that you are feeling sorry for what happened and try to do something to fix it. When one is truly repentant, therefore, it means the person or the organization tries to fix the past wrongdoing. The document must not be a mere gesture for the ministry to cozy up to the new government. It shouldn`t be. We cannot know for now, however, what its true intention is. It will take time for us to find out whether they are just saying sorry or trying to fix the problems.

Hong Chan-sik, Editorial Writer, chansik@donga.com