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.