A
peace activist writing in a Catholic Times' column on Korean
unification and reconciliation introduces the readers to a folktale all
Koreans know. It's the story of two brothers: Nolbu and Heungbu. Their
father left the family inheritance to both equally but the older brother
kept it all and threw out his brother. The brother did not complain and
accepted his life of poverty.
One
day Heungbu saw a swallow on the ground with a broken leg and treated
the bird so it could fly. The following spring the swallow returned with
a seed. He planted the seed in the yard it became a big gourd. When he
cut open the gourd all kinds of good things came out: gold and gems. He
sold them and became wealthy.
This
news reached his brother Nolbu who asked his brother how he became so
wealthy so quickly. The brother explained what happened with the
swallow. Nolbu went home and broke the leg of a swallow and waited until
the following spring. He also was given a seed which he planted but
this time all kinds of bad things came out and he lost all that he
possessed.
The
younger brother helped his older brother without his knowledge. In
conclusion the older brother apologized for his greed and the younger
brother shared his wealth with the brother and they lived happily ever
after.
Do
we have this type of opposites in real life resolving in this way? We
don't find persons who are all good or all bad. Usually we cast our
light on what we want to see and ignore what we don't want to see. We
can bring to the fore the good or the bad.
Behind
any conflict or fight there is another side that's developed over many
years in the way participants grew up and were raised. What is the
secret for a resolution? Is it to continue maintaining one's viewpoint
or to consider the other viewpoint if one wants to see some resolution?
Brothers
quarrel and go to their rooms and lock the door is this not what we
experience in our world? Mother is in the kitchen preparing a delicious
meal but anger blocks them from the enjoyment to their great loss.
Rather
than have a third party do the knocking on the door when it is one of
the brothers, elder or younger and they have a desire for
understanding, the opening of the heart, the knocking on the door is
not a problem. This has a greater possibility of resolution than having a
third party doing the knocking, where defensiveness and revenge often
appear.
We
are all weak deficient human beings. However, despite this we we make
the effort with the strength and freedom we have and if we don't have
the strength we know it will be given to us and quietly go to the door
and knock. "Let's resolve our problem", these words gives us a hope for
change.