[Opinion] Yellow Ribbons

Bingo, a man imprisoned in a state penitentiary house in New York, writes a letter to his wife back at home that she can forget about him and find another man. Then, he cannot hear from his wife for three and a half years. Days before his probation, he writes a letter again and asks her to tie a yellow handkerchief around the old oak tree if she still wants him.` As his bus approaches the entrance of the village, he gets nervous and other passengers, having heard his story, hold their breath. Then, people jump up from their seats and shout for joy. Outside the window, Bingo can find yellow handkerchiefs covering the old oak tree. There are hundreds of them instead of one.

It was a story from a best-selling nonfiction titled `Yellow Handkerchiefs (translated by Oh Cheon-seok, published by Samteo)` about a decade ago. Many people remember the song `Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree` sung by Tony Olland & Don in 1973. Since then a yellow ribbon has carried a message of family love. It is a symbol of long waiting and forgiveness. In this sense, we can say the yellow color represents Korean people and their `Han,` an emotion of sorrowfulness. In the U.S., yellow ribbons, as a symbol of family love, were once used for an anti-suicide campaign targeting young students.

Then, they came to carry a political message. Sometimes it was `People Power` and other times it was a wish for `Peace.` When Filipinos ousted dictator Marcus in 1986, yellow ribbons reflected the wrath of people. When a young Irish girl said to U.S. President visiting Ireland in 1994 for peace negotiations that `She was so sad when her father died because of grown-ups` fight,` it was a wish for the end of a war. It was a means of discrimination when the Taliban regime forced Hindus to wear a yellow ribbon during the Afghanistan war. We have also seen yellow ribbons at rallies or political campaigns. When President Roh had hard times during the party nomination process last year, his fan club members wore yellow to save the embattled Roh.

Now the yellow ribbon campaign is back in the U.S. as its troops march through Iraq. In fact, Americans used yellow ribbons during the Gulf War and the Kosovo War, too. The hometown of American fighter pilot, who was captured by the North Korea in 1994, even marked a yellow ribbon day. Yellow ribbons now represent the so-called American patriotism, a kind of patriotism that costs tens of thousands of deaths of innocent people for dubious reasons.

cclim@donga.com