Fighting For The Truth

Activists who take what they  believe seriously, and want to do something about the wrong they see  are not always welcomed in "polite" society. They rock the boat and make us uncomfortable. It is better not to see, or hear if is going to change the way we have been accustomed to live. 

A religious sister in her article in the diocesan bulletin tells her readers about two fathers she admires: the father of a girl who died in the Sewol Tragedy, and father of a girl who worked in Samsung's Semiconductor Industry and  died of leukemia. 

She met the father of the girl who died in the ferry tragedy and asked him why he continues the fast. He told her that he wants to know the reason for the death of his daughter, and since he has no money  and no power he resorted to fasting and is willing to risk death to find the truth.

By watching the  movie 'Another Promise'; she met the father of the girl, who died of leukemia, a taxi driver, struggling to meet family expenses. He was proud, when he  heard that his daughter got a job at the biggest conglomerate in the country. Within two years, however, she returned home with leukemia from which she died. The daughter before she  died asked the father to show that working in the semiconductor section of the company was the reason for her leukemia, and not something that came from her. The company kept denying any responsibility for the sickness. The father gave up his job and spent all his time trying to make the company acknowledge their responsibility. 

Her article shows how a father sacrificed the life of his son to save the lives of those who were riding in a train that had come to a drawbridge over a river. He was the railroad worker responsible for the working of the drawbridge. That day he brought his son to the workplace, the son fell beneath the tracks as the train was coming towards the bridge, there was no time and he chose to save the passengers, and sacrificed his son. This was the theme of a short movie that the sister remembered seeing, and relates it to the love of God for Jesus and all of us. There are times when we are called to sacrifice our comfort, our money and even our lives for something greater.

The two fathers on the occasion of the death of their daughters decided that the situations which caused the death of their daughters was not an act of God but of human culpability and were prepared to risk everything to bring this to the knowledge of the world. The sister admires these two ordinary men, who were willing to sacrifice for truth. There has been some success in the fight of these two fathers but the curtain has not come down on the final results of their efforts.