A recent article by a Korean novelist in the Catholic Times on what she has learned in her quest for a mature spirituality was of great interest.
'I May Be Wrong'.This sentence is the title of a book written by a young Swedish executive named Lindeblad, who recalls his experience when he abandoned everything and entered a temple in the forests of Thailand. Lindeblad hears the words of a wise man. “When you are faced with a crisis in life and don’t know where to go or do, remember these three things, and everything will work out. First, think, ‘I could be wrong.’ Second, think, ‘I could be wrong.’ Third, think, 'I could be wrong'.”
The book she mentions speaks on how to relate to your thoughts and emotions in a way that makes you wiser.
Sometimes there are shocking incidents that make you think about what it means to be human, and one of these is the A6 murders that occurred in England in 1961. A man and a woman were dating, and the man was murdered, and the woman was raped and shot. The woman, Valerie, who was shot seven times, survived with her lower body paralyzed, and she pointed out James Hanratty from a list of suspicious persons as the culprit. He was an ordinary young man who denied the crime. The prosecution had no circumstantial evidence. However, the jury sentenced him to death.
Even in prison, Hanratty insisted on his innocence. Numerous media outlets participated in this war over his guilt or innocence, and human rights activists joined to support Hanratty. Beatles member John Lennon and his wife were among them. Circumstantial evidence that he was not the culprit was continuously reported. The police's poor investigation at a time when forensic science had not yet been developed was also brought to light.
British society was divided into two groups and continued to fight. The victim, Valerie, was accused of being an adulteress (they had an inappropriate relationship) who had pointed out an innocent person as the culprit. She was still paralyzed from the waist down and suffered injuries that made it nearly impossible for her to go out. Soon after, the British Ministry of Justice executed Hanratty. The day before his execution, he told his family his last words during a family visit. "My only wish is that my innocence be proven even after I die." Those who heard this were even more furious. The criticism of the victim, Valerie, grew stronger.
Due to the persistent demands of human rights activists and her family, the British court finally ordered a re-examination of the rapist’s DNA, which had been stored for 40 years, in 2001. The test results confirmed that the semen found in Valerie was Hanratty’s. The odds of it being wrong were 1 in 19 million. As we expected, some could not accept this result. It is not surprising when looking at today’s Korean society.
She used to think: ‘Can a person lie right before they die?’ After this incident, she knows that people can lie and pretend not to know anything, even right before they die. If all intellectuals come forward and deny it, will that make what is true become false?
When countless people were massacred in Russia, China, and North Korea in the 20th century, the communist praise songs sung by many Western intellectuals never formally apologized for what they said. She also never heard an apology from the intellectuals who remained silent about the massacres of people by dictators in South America supported by the United States.
What is humility? How is Christian humility understood among us? Knowing that we do not know all there is to know— one may be wrong. Only God is perfect. In this chaotic era, she fears those who read only one book, listen to only one type of broadcast, and think they know it all. She also concludes by acknowledging her own failures in this area of life.
