We hear a great deal about the conflict between the North and South Korea these days: another reminder that we don't have a peace agreement but only a ceasefire.
Hopefully, the two parties will realize that 70 years with a ceasefire, and the continual threatening words and skirmishes on both sides of the demilitarized zone are not good for either side.
South Koreans are curious about the North and their way of life. South Korea has some 30 thousand defectors from the North living in the South, so knowledge of the North is easily available. A drop in the numbers coming to the South seems to be the situation at present, and we do have an increase in the numbers who return to the North. Reasons would be many, but the difficulty of adapting to a very competitive society would be one, but also the efforts of the North inviting them back with financial rewards.
In the column devoted to news about the North in the Catholic Times this week, the writer addresses the place of women in the society of North Korea. North Korea is very proud of their laws and policies in regard to the equality of the sexes-- "no place in the world is more welcoming to women than North Korea." The columnist does not disagree with this evaluation for in laws and policy this seems to be the reality.
North Korea had the laws in place even before the country was a political reality. Women's role in society was equal to the men, and their work in the house was recognized by society. On the books, women are equal to the men but the Confucian society, and the understanding of patriarchy is sill strong and operative.
During the famine years of the 1990s, the work of the women increased greatly. Although the treatment of women as inferior to men and the traditional patriarchal Confucian society were a hand down from previous generations, the sexual assault of women was not a problem, however, this has changed in the present society. The columnist finds that a lower status of women in society, despite the laws, has been accepted by the women and endured.
The open sexuality of the men and the expectation of purity on the part of women is making for a society contrary to the one intended. The lack of education in the schools and society is a reason for the change. The economic difficulties of society and the need for women to work to raise their families have increased the problem, and given birth to the trafficking of women and forced prostitution.
This has also increased the violence in the homes. No matter how serious the problem there is no recourse to the law. This abuse of women in the home, concludes the columnist, is a basic human right not respected: a problem in the North not perceived by society.
“If it should happen one day — and it could be today — that I
become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to encompass all
the foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church,
my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to this
country. I ask them to accept that the One Master of all life was not a
stranger to this brutal departure. I ask them to pray for me: for how
could I be found worthy of such an offering? I ask them to be able to
associate such a death with the many other deaths that were just as
violent, but forgotten through indifference and anonymity.
My life has no more value than any other. Nor any less value. In
any case, it has not the innocence of childhood. I have lived long
enough to know that I share in the evil which seems, alas, to prevail in
the world, even in that which would strike me blindly. I should like,
when the time comes, to have a clear space which would allow me to beg
forgiveness of God and of all my fellow human beings, and at the same
time to forgive with all my heart the one who would strike me down."
These
two paragraphs are from the last written testament of Dom Christian de
Cherge, the prior of the Cistercian -Trappist Monastery In Algeria. He
was one of the seven monks who died at the hands of terrorist on May 21,
1996 in Algeria.
Writing in the View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a religious sister reminds the readers of the many incidents in Korea in which people have suffered and their rights trampled, and we forget and move on. She writes about our lack of solidarity with those who are hurting.
She mentions a group of citizens who have decided to have citizens mourning for the victims of the Sewol tragedy. Every month on the 16th, they join in each village for a mourning ceremony that will continue until 2017, August 11: a thousand days with those who have suffered because of our apathy and concern for self.
Sister
mentions three types of solidarity that was expressed in the
testament by Dom Christian: solidarity in death, in life, and in
responsibility. This last solidarity is not just having a guilty
conscience but acknowledging our responsibly for the evil in the world,
and the need to do something about it.
In
the Sewol tragedy we have the pursuit of profit at all cost which is
pathological-- overlooking truth and justice for money and power followed by all kinds of vices. She wants more than sorrow for the harm
and injustices we have in society but solidarity with those
hurting."Not you are you, and I am me" thinking but understanding that we
are connected, and I should be moved by empathy and compassion for those
who are hurting and do what I can to improved the situation.
Mentioned is the web site SKY & SEWOL. Jesus came to be one with us- in solidarity with all humanity. This solidarity does not need theology to understand but a disposition of the heart.
Both
Catholic papers reported on the seminar on 'Trauma Focus Therapy' which
will continue at St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul. Korea has had more
than its share of trauma causing experiences: Japanese colonial rule,
the Korean War, the fight for Democracy, continues to influence
society. The recent Sewol tragedy will also, if not addressed produce
for years to come, trauma for the families of the victims and society.
One
article begins with the statement that with the external mental trauma
a person has to deal with, we often have a mental and a psychological
breakdown. Dr. Mary Kwan who arrived in Korea from the States is a
member of the team conducting a seminar for those dealing with trauma in
society. Efforts are necessary to train those who work with persons who
have experienced trauma: not treated the experience will be handed down to other generations. She mentions you can't treat all trauma in the same way.
She
mentions that in Europe and the States instead of dealing directly
with the mental and psychological difficulties in the beginning they
work with the body. Concern is for the way a person is feeling in the
body:
What are the physical sensations in the body? This is not what we do in Korea, she laments.
We often confuse psychological
treatment with trauma treatment. Dr. Kwan makes clear they are two
different approaches to the problems. In psychological problems
treatment is usually to bring up the events that have caused the difficulties, and speak about them and face the emotions that arise. She
maintains this is not what you want to do with trauma for it often makes
matters worse. Efforts need to be made to approach the emotions
aroused in a gradual way.
In
Korea we talk a lot about a nervous disorder they attribute to
pent up resentment: anger disease--"Han". The problems that come with
trauma, the scars are often deepened, and develop into unhealthy side
effects. The mass media has a great deal to do in the way they treat the
news--whether it will increase or decrease the trauma in society.
Those
in pastoral work should be conscious of the difference between
psychological problems and trauma producing experiences. People with
problems do not only go to the specialists with their problems but to
the religious people in their lives, which makes it necessary for
pastoral workers to be familiar with what is necessary to help those in
need.
In
the seminar she hopes to use many clinical examples that will make
clear some of problems that are faced dealing with trauma, without
speaking only abstractly. There are many who go to their pastoral worker
when facing trauma and often are disappointed, feel betrayed and in
anger leave their faith life.
Korea
does not have a healthy social safety net which makes it more difficult
for the citizens. She concludes with the reminder that people are the
best help in reducing the incidents of trauma. When we have mental and
psychological problems, and those in our lives are not at our side;
we have to deal with the problems alone, which increases the danger of trauma.
In View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a priest columnist gives us his thoughts on what he learned from the tropical fish left him by the previous pastor. They were fish from Malawi--an unknown world for the new pastor. He searched the Internet for knowledge of what to do. He bought the filters and did all that was necessary.
For him, it was trial and error. He decided to raise 20 of them. In the beginning, everything went well but gradually each day one would die. He had no idea why they died. The water quality and temperature were correct, and no external signs to warrant death. Those who remained alive were very active, finally only 5 remained. Before he bought any more fish, he wanted to find the reason for the problem.
When fed, one species of fish would attack the food, and the other species would go to the bottom of the bowl with their bellies touching the bottom. Even when he put more feed in the bowl after the others had eaten, the other fish weren't interested. In the human world, you would say they were depressed, and being bullied gave up, dying of starvation. He had heard that one breed of fish would not live with another breed, but he didn't believe it would be in this way.
He went to the Internet to find out what to do. In a small area, you were to give the fish little food. He put the five fish in another large fish bowl and bought a small bowl for another 40 fish that he was going to raise. Since the space was small, there was no fighting. He gave feed sparingly and not as much as they wanted; they were not governed by the territory.
He
was gone for a few days and told the priest to give the fish each day
some food, but he didn't tell him how much, so when he returned the
shape of the fish changed. Fish were dying, and he was told to put
medication in the bowl.
He got rid of most of the water in the
bowl and the fish were crowded together in a small area of the fishbowl, they
were like the roaches in a paddy field, had little water, and
squirming around. He gave them no food for two days and then he added
water to the bowl. There was no more bullying of other fish and no
fish were estranged from the others, no dying fish and all went well.
It was an interesting
experiment. When the fish had plenty of space and food, we had fighting,
alienation and dying fish. Isn't this what is happening in the world? With quick economic development, we overlook the mental and
spiritual growth of the person.
The Israelites were
told to gather just enough manna for the day. The fish when they had the
problem with little space and no food it prepared them for the open
space and their daily food. The columnist would like this to be the case
in our own world.
Prudence
is one of the Cardinal Virtues, and Wisdom is the first of the gifts of
the Holy Spirit. Both of these virtues are necessary for a life well
lived, and they help our minds to look on reality correctly. Wisdom is the
first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit, because it is the perfection
of faith. And might we not say that prudence is the way we apply
wisdom to our daily life?
In
a pastoral bulletin, the writer reflects on his work as a pastor and
the desire for wisdom and prudence in his work and what he has learned
in relating with his parishioners. One of the most important words he
uses is joy and hope. However, in his work with the problems many have,
he meets many who are not happy and have lost hope. When he meets those
with joy and hope he is glad and thankful.
He confesses that he finds it difficult to relate with persons who lack joy and hope and is fearful of meeting them and wants to avoid them. In prison work he meets many who are ex-convicts and who are overcome with sadness and lack hope, and often do not receive help from their families, and many of these are young people.
In his sermons and in his teaching, he stresses that one can find joy in sadness, and hope in despair: when one is in a hole one is able to obtain much, light when it is dark has more meaning for us, when we lose something we have more to gain-- similar flowery language has something to tell us.
When he meets people who are not happy and have little hope he is very thankful for the gift that he has of joy and hope. However, when he is feeling low he is not in anyway consoled to know that there are other people who are less happy than he is. We compare ourselves with others, and determine our satisfaction and non-satisfaction. We know that we are different from others but this is not what is important, we need to respect the other; we know this with our heads but it is not actualized in our daily lives.
Instead of accepting and respecting others, selfishly he considers himself different from them. When I consider that I am with the poor and do not live the poor life I am not one with them. Joy and hope, sadness and despair when we look deeply into these feelings and are able to enter into the feelings of those without joy and hope are we not in a position to understand joy and hope, sadness and despair?
In a pastoral bulletin for priests, the writer mentions that Buddha was seen by all as a failure living like a beggar. Do we have people becoming successful as beggars? He had the talent, intellect, and noble disposition to be a great leader, but remained a beggar.
If he attempted to be a great leader, he would have been a failure. He would not have been himself. What he learned under the Bodhi tree was genuine what he lost was fake.
One is not able to foretell success. There are many conditions necessary for worldly success. Happiness, however is mainly concerned with the person. Success is something quite different: competition is stiff, no matter how hard
you try there is always someone more cunning, wiser, more violent,
careful, diligent than you. Since so many conditions are necessary to
become successful it is a societal phenomenon.
Real
happiness is success. Buddha and Jesus talked about happiness as
success. However, we strive for success. The object of many is to satisfy
the ego which means success.
When people say that you have succeeded then really you have lost everything. You have lost your soul, the simplicity that would have enabled happiness to embrace one was lost, and the quiet and silence that one needed to approach God was possibly lost, and all will call you successful.... Finally you have achieved all you wanted but lost yourself in the process.
Therefore, don't aim for success. If you do you will be a failure in life. Think of the road to happiness. Every moment, think of the road to happiness. It may be that the world will call you a failure, but you will be one who has achieved much.
Jesus said: what use is it that a person gains the whole war and loses his soul? Who was successful Alexander the Great or Jesus, who died on a cross? Jesus died with no one looking upon him as being successful. He selected some followers who were country bumpkins who knew little, who abandoned him at the end. Jesus had no status in society, no wealth, no worldly power nothing that we would want.
He was happy, even in carrying the cross, he was happy. Those who nailed him to the cross lived longer but were not happy. Who was really nailed to the cross? Who was really nailed to the cross was it Jesus or rather was it those who nailed Jesus to the cross? That is the question he wants to ask.
This talk was given by the Indian mystic Osho, who died in 1990 and still has a following. His talk was used in this article. A non-Christian Indian mystic gives us a different way of looking at the life of Jesus and what success means for this Indian mystic.
Pope Francis has
designated Sept. 1, as the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation,
joining the Orthodox Church, which has had a concern for creation in
their calendar, from the 80s. The Peace Weekly editorial introduces the readers to some of our ecological problems.
In the encyclical on the environment the pope
said: "living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is
essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary
aspect of our Christian experience."
In
inaugurating the day, the Pope said it will be a time to: "reaffirm our
personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the
wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore
his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the
sins committed against the world in which we live."
We
are not the top boss of creation-- God is. We have been created to
take care of God's creation and to do this with responsibility. We need a
healthy moral code and ecological spirituality. The pope calls this
ecological repentance, and working for the common good.
The
young people in Seoul are giving us a good example of what it means to
have ecological repentance. It is to change our habits of consumption
to environmentally friendly, and with an orientation to the common
good. They are cutting out single use disposable items, and promoting
the use of handkerchiefs to cut down on the use of paper towels. We
should be leaders in this movement.
Seoul has a campaign to use handkerchiefs instead of paper towels or dryers, when using public toilets to conserve energy. Seoul Metropolitan Government has unplugged all hand-dryers. Using handkerchiefs instead of hand dryers or paper towels will save electricity and our forests. The editorial concludes by asking the readers to join the campaign.
