Discussions on the tragedy surrounding the sinking of the Sewol Ferry continues with prayers, condolences and diagnosis. Writing in a pastoral bulletin a priest explains Heinrich's law:1:29:300. The theory says for every serious injury, there are 29 minor accidents that precede, and cause minor injuries and 300 accidents that precede these minor accidents with no injuries. Looking at all the facts surrounding the sinking of the ferry it was just a matter of time before we had this disaster take place according to the priest. We are given many signals that we choose to ignore but there comes a time when our eyes are opened.
There is no reason to quibble about the truth of Heinrich's law, for our common sense would give us plenty of reasons to believe that cause and effect are operative when we deal with catastrophes. The familiar proverb: 'A stitch in time saves nine' and 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,' are saying the same thing in different ways. Korean society has been hearing of the corruption that has been uncovered in the aftermath of the accident and wants to see some changes made. The President has in her message to the nation vowed to take some very serious steps to prevent future problems.
In a society in which money is all important, the big corporations and business enterprises consider that when they do well the smaller enterprises and the society at large will benefit with the 'trickle-down effect' of their success. With this understanding more than persons and their dignity what is important is money and ways to make more of it.
The
writer lists different problems that we have in society when money
becomes all important to the disadvantage of the persons involved. In
one case, workers who were recently fired from one of the big companies, 25
of the workers and members of their families have died or committed
suicide. There are many accidents and diseases that workers suffer on the job, and
are overlooked by the companies.
The numbers of suicides in Korea are the highest among the developed countries. The numbers of the young who have thought of killing themselves is also the highest among the developed countries. There is a need to set some new priorities and values for our society.
Many in society see a need to change our standards and ethics. or we are asking for more problems in the future. Money does influence the way we think and what we choose to see. The culture that material success has nurtured influences all of us. Pope Francis says it well in Evangelii Gaudium: "One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption" (#55).
Recently, in one of the daily papers, a foreign visiting professor has been quoted as saying Koreans have a dual personality. He is considered a world authority within the medical community, and told the foreigner who was replacing him what his image of Koreans was. A priest writing for a pastoral bulletin uses this article to speak about a very important issue in society and the Church, and quotes the words of the professor.
"Koreans are very friendly. However, if you think that is their personality you would be mistaken. They are excessively kind to the powerful and the famous but to those who are weak, and those they consider weaker than themselves, they can be surprisingly arrogant and proud. When in a restaurant, the way they treat the help, the higher their place on the social scale the ruder they are. Humanely speaking I don't want to associate with them."
We all have the dignity of our humanity and should respect this in all whom we meet. However, rather than accepting all as equals we see the power and the wealth. A person's wealth and place in society are what is considered important. In this kind of society, there are many who feel inferior and lack joy. Even those who are flawless have a difficult time within this society.
Within the Church, we also have clerics who enjoy the company of the wealthy and hear often that the poor are having difficulty in coming out to the church. These priests who associate with the wealthy are not in any way rejecting the poor, but the lack of concern for the poor, and the associating with the rich is sending a message to them that hurts and alienates.
In Europe, we have the case in France and Italy where during the industrial revolution, the workers were not a concern for the Church, and because of the alienation they left, while in the United States, there was a concern, and we did not lose them like in Europe.
We have the example of Jesus, who associated with all the different segments of society and was criticized for this by the leaders. We need to stay close to the poor for when the poor no longer find a place within the Church it means the Church has distanced itself from Jesus.
Tragedies bring out the best and the worst from those involved. The columnist in the Catholic Times, in the View from the Ark, reminds us of this in a revisit to a topic that he admits has been given a great deal of space in the media. And yet he wants to visit the topic again with a great deal of sensitivity for it was a devastating blow to Korean society.
The Sewol ferry was not the first disaster Koreans experienced. In the past there was the criticism and proposals for the future. But they had little effect on the way things were done. This situation has demoralized the citizens and many see little hope for the future and remain pessimistic.
Great anger was felt at what happened. The behavior of those connected to the accident that continued to make the news was hard to accept as the actions of fellow human beings. "How could people have acted in that way?" In urgent circumstances our true self comes to the fore. The columnist makes note of the ugliness of what was seen in the behavior of those involved in the sinking of the ferry.
This disaster came at a time when we are asked to make a decision to be optimistic or pessimistic towards the world and its people, despair or have hope, be skeptical or believe. We need to take sides. The way reported, it was easy to be dragged along to lose hope and become skeptical in hoping for change. The columnist compares what we heard on the disaster as a peeling off the many layers of an onion, only to find something harder to accept than what came before, fostering more anger.
He does see the need to make known what happened and why, but at the same time not to take away hope that we should have for a better tomorrow. Where are we to find this hope for a better tomorrow? This hope is to be found in our brothers and sisters. This is where we will see the change. We will never be free from accidents, but we can hope that those involved will act like human beings.
Change is a possibility. All we have to do is look at the actions of many of those involved with the disaster. We had a women, member of the crew, who gave her life jacket to one of the passengers and remained with the passengers. We have a school teacher despite danger staying with the students, a student who returned to the ferry to be with his classmates. The families of those who died who pleaded: "Don't be sorry for us," and gave all their compensation money for scholarships.The many who worked without any fanfare doing the difficult tasks that came with the disaster, and the many citizens who felt the loss as if their own.
He concludes his words by telling us that we are to see the truth of hope in these examples of humanity at its best. Better to keep our gaze on persons who have given us hope than on those who have disappointed us. They are the ones that give us hope for the future.
The poet farmer in two recent articles in the Catholic Times tells us of a farmer who is now in his nineties and wants to make the island of Jeju into an organic farming center. He began a group that espouses correct farming methods: not using pesticides and chemical fertilizers: farming that respects nature and humans.
Our country, he says has asked the farmers for many decades, to increase productivity by using pesticides and chemical fertilizers. There are many who did not listen. Fortunately, the government has changed and is now actively favoring the organic farmers' movement.
In order to learn more about organic farming the poet along with the old farmer went to Cuba some years ago to learn about their methods. When Russia was no longer able to help Cuba and the embargo on trade to the country made the importing of fertilizers and pesticides difficult there was a change to organic farming out of need. They began to rely on natural farming methods and with great success.
Pesticides are horrible. There are those that say it is no problem because it disappears in the air. Some say when you spray the small plants it will dissipate as they grow. Is that the case? he asks. When the pesticides go into the air where do they go? Where does the pesticide go that enters the earth? Rain and snow will bring it to the paddies and the dry farming areas, from there it goes to the rivers and the water we drink.
The farmers knowing how bad the pesticides are, he says, don't eat their produce that they send to the cities.They are produced for the cities. There are few farmers who will eat produce that has been recklessly sprayed with pesticides.City dwellers have to start changing in what they buy. They have to buy produce that has not been sprayed with harmful pesticides. There are all kinds of problems that are connected with the use of pesticides. The government has banned many pesticides, and one of the beneficial results is the number of those ingesting the pesticides, as a means of suicide, has significantly decreased in Korea. This is just one of the many good results of a ban on environmentally harmful pesticides.
The Catholic Farmers Association, along with many other groups are working diligently to make the produce of our organic farms available to our cities. Results are satisfying to both the farmers and the city dwellers.
Divorce is a common occurrence in Korea. Few are the people who do not know divorced couples among family, relations and friends. Divorce is taken for granted, there are no negative influences on their position in society, sense of self-worth, or the way they are accepted by others. No one considers it a fault, which is a great change from the past-- the divorced do not see it as a failure. These are the words of the Desk Columnist in the Catholic Times.
The numbers of divorced are numerous. From the year 1950 we have a 13 fold increase. Without knowing the facts given by statistics we sense it by living in society. It is a serious matter.
What happens within the lives of a married couple are known only by them, and one has to be very careful in what is said. There are cases where it is necessary for them to separate. We can't consistently condemn or be sympathetic in all cases.Seen as an individual problem there are two possible responses. (We are not talking about the separation that comes because of abuse or repeated marital infidelity.) One understanding would be seeing the circumstances and being sympathetic with the separation and the other: Why change one person for another? -- the pessimistic philosophical view.
Even with a serious crime, circumstances can mitigate the sentence imposed. The couples are desirous of an harmonious life together and when this is not achieved we are sympathetic to the separation. There are those that can't live together. The relationship has turned into hell, and the best thing is to separate. Children are important but today it is not the decisive issue. The writer, making his private opinion known, is not for the changing of partners when things are not going well. The reason for the divorce is not usually, solely the problem of one partner, but the suspicion is that both are responsible. When the sincere concern for the other and failure to abandon an excessive attachment to one's own will, the possiblity of separation enters. There are many couples that live with this stress and conflict in a tunnel in which they continue to journey together.
It is true that we have little to say about the relationship of couples but the number of divorces in society is something that can't be overlooked. Our religion tells us that the covenant that was made at marriage was not a temporary one. Couples are bound together with a promise to God and to each other to live as husband and wife until death separates them.
"I can't live, let's change" is not the way we should recklessly express our feelings about the problems that arise in married life. However, there are many actions that are a dereliction of duty and condemned by the citizens as undemocratic and self-righteous in regards to the government. In these cases looking at the way the government has acted, the slogan let's have a change, is appropriate.
Poets, writers, artists, thinkers of all persuasions attempt to expand our vision and make life more meaningful, enticing and
beautiful. Certainly there is nothing that can compare with our belief
in the Paschal Mystery, the meaning of the Resurrection, to give zest and
great joy to the gift of life that we have received. Sadly for many it
is to good to be true, and ignored as wishful thinking and worse,
deception.
A diocesan bulletin addresses this with the words of Khalil Gibran: " 'If winter should say, Spring is in my heart,' who would believe winter?"
The priest writer feels this is a good expression to use in meditating
on the mystery. Without the advent of winter we do not have spring and
the many pronouncements of life.
We are in the season of Easter and the time to live this mystery. Without the understanding of Easter life, we are not living with Jesus or encountering him, and the Easter season lacks meaning. The problems and puzzles of life are not resolved and the greatest of these death, we will not understand. But even more is that we will live with anxiety and without joy. Easter is the answer to desire for life, and happiness.
Jesus
said: " I am the resurrection and the life: whoever believes in me,
though he should die, will come to life; and whoever is alive and
believes in me will never die (John 11:26). In death there is life and
joy in pain. Without pain we do not know joy. In the despair of the
paschal mystery we have joy and in the darkness we have light. Without
going through the darkness we will not know the light. Gilbran expressed
it in these words: "If we do not walk the intersection in the evening
we will not know what to do at the intersection in the morning." If we do not walk the way
of death we will not be born again.
A ball that does not
hit the ground will not rise again. This expression makes clear that the
despair of hitting the ground is necessary for the ball to return to
the hand and to the joy of the one bouncing the ball.
The priest brings us to the tragedy of the Sewol ferry and the great loss of life. It was at the beginning of the Holy Triduum. The preparation for Easter was filled with great sadness. There was great heartache with the families of the those who died
but also for the Koreans who grieved for those who died and their
families. The Paschal Mystery, the Easter Mystery, gives us hope. " There is no despair!!!"
In Romans we have the well known phrase: "Hoping against hope (Rm. 4:18). For many the Christian life is seen by those on the outside as a belief that allows one to feel good for no rational reason.
And yet those who believe are using all of their faculties and the great
gift of faith that allows them to believe without any diminishment of
our intellectual faculty. We need to remember that we receive knowledge
not only from the head but the heart and the body, our whole being is involved and helped by grace.
During
these months before the visit of the pope, the Catholic Church of Korea
is busy with its many preparations. Before the last visit of the pope
for the International Eucharistic Congress in 1989, the Desk Columnist
of the Catholic Times reminds us we had four years to prepare for the
visit of Pope John Paul II. Consequently, the Church is busy, not
concerned with only one event, but a number of events in
different dioceses. The desire to make the visit a help both
spiritually and devotionally will make the preparations more difficult.
There
are two questions that we need to ask, he says. Why is the pope coming
to Korea and what do we need to prepare? The ceremonies for
beatification are usually held in Rome, there is no reason for them to
be in Korea. The pope does not go to the different continents for their
group youth meetings so no need for his visit to the Asian Youth
Meeting. The political reason to encourage peace and unification is not a
sufficient reason and the visit to the Flower Village is not the reason
for the visit.
They
are all part of the reason for the visit. Each different diocese has
the responsibility for preparing for the visit, and each will work to
develop programs to deepen the spirituality and the devotional life of
the Catholics during the visit.
There
is a hope that it will bring change to the way we are Catholics. This
change should be a renewal in the way of the Second Vatican Council.The second change should be to follow the teaching of Pope Francis in
his exhortation to the Church in 'Joy of the Gospel'. The
exhortation has become a best seller and we should read, study and put
its teachings into practice.
The
third change is not only a change in the devotional life of the
Catholics but also in the lives of the pastoral workers in the Church
and the structures. It is very meaningful for us to remember that the
changes are taking place at the very center of the Church at the
Vatican. Individuals need to be the subjects of the changes that are
necessary. To just be teachers of the Christians is not all that is
necessary, the leaders need to show us the change. The person who has
done this is Pope Francis, an example to all of us.
The
bishops of Korea are granting indulgences in preparation for the visit
of Pope Francis for those who will make a pilgrimage to the shrines of
the martyrs. The occasion is present for all of us to learn from the
lives of our martyrs and learn from their spirituality in preparation
for the ceremonies on August 16.
