SHOWING RESPECT

I took off from the photos, film and reporting to simply hold the white Chrysanthemum tightly and feel the hearts around me. Somehow the loss is universal. We lose our innocence at each step. Across the border a nuclear explosion deep underground is heard around the world. How Sad they could not have a waited a few weeks in light of Roh Moo Hyun’s death. How sad it has to be happening in the first place when it could have been avoidable. Yet, hardening those who reach out to you does little good.
The stark contrasts between North and South reveal themselves deeply on this trip. Last time I was here I was looking for the commonality, but now little remains. I did thought think I saw Mr. Bong, my DPRK ping-pong nemesis, on the street a few times. The stark physical similarities and expressions still abound. Unmistakably from the same tree, but how different they have been trimmed by circumstance.
I have watched the tears all around me and cannot shake the ocean of tears shed by these people since time immemorial. If someone you respected, who seemed to take on the world (“I’m not going to how-tow to Washington.”- Roh) loses the strength to carry on, what does it mean for me, asks many. Add to it the earth shaking North and peace can at times appear beyond remote.
Yet behind me in line to pay respects stood two small girls with their father. Their giggles wafted above the sorrow and their flowers became not tokens of memorial, but magic wands of delight.
They followed me to the alter, they bowed with their father to the ground, prostrations to the great loss. But for me they held the hope of tomorrow in their smile. On a certain level in this crazy and unpredictable world, peace is that simple.

What we leave for the Seven Generations that follow is our legacy. Restoring the world’s balance is possible. Even when our circumstances may seem unfair - our deck stacked, the wall so high, there remains the sparkle of life, a child’s laugh, or a flower’s brilliance, to remind us that beauty abounds. Hope is as strong as that fear and despair a and just as a accessible to us all. It is what we choose. It may be “the road less traveled,” but without it, the twists and turns of this oft-fragile world can keep us on the path in darkness.

Will there be more suicides, more despair? Or will this death reaffirm that each must move off the habitual and refocus our attention. After WWII we created the UN and its charter of peace and saw a new era of hope merge. Yet, it was moved to the back seat behind geo-political conflicts and we quickly forgot to reach for the best.

We are connected in so many ways. We all live, die, grieve, hope and dream. It’s time to use these events to remember our commonality and build a world that reflects this rich heritage. Model it, live it and yes demand it of our leaders and each other. I will never forget that your humanity is intrinsically wrapped up with mine.

The state funeral is Friday here in Seoul. It might nix my trip south the the TRC excavation site. A seven day funeral begins. But what I am seeing here is more than the death, but a reaffirmation in the streets and and on television of Moo Hyuan’s principles. Who he was and where he came from. People are appreciating that he stood for peace, reconciliation and justice. That he was, why withdrawn to his home in the South and doing some Organic gardening, weathering an attack from his conservative successor’s regime that reminded me of the Hunting of the President (the film about Clinton’s Whitewater/sex days). He was accused of corruption and it had been his life work to challenge it. He was, as two young Koreans told me last night, our Obama. Not because of race, but really class as he did not have a degree, yet studied and passed the hard bar exam to become a lawyer - but never part of the “ivy-school” elite of politics. To them he was a hero. Death happens for a reason and it appears that this death is opening Korea up to deep reflection - a wake up call as powerful as the blast to the North.

posted by Eric Sirotkin from NLG Korean Peace Project Trip to South Korea May 2