Love For Mother Earth

We say we are Christians but it is not easy to empty ourselves, so we hold on to much that is contrary to our calling. We know to be Jesus' disciples we need to carry the cross but in most cases embarrassingly do not. A priest doing pastoral work with environmental issues in a diocese begins his article in the Kyeongyang magazine with these words.

However, some do not close their eyes to the poor, do not avoid the marginated, and give of their money, time, and energy to better their lot. 

Our emotions are moved and we feel the twinge of embarrassment but little comes of it and one of the reasons is selfishness. The embarrassment comes from the knowledge that selfishness and avarice are keeping us from being concerned and doing something.

 We know the relationship we should have with others and creation. When we have that love of others that we have for ourselves than joy comes into our lives and we begin to relate correctly with all of creation.

 Many are things to enjoy in life, many delicious foods, beautiful clothes to wear; clothes rather than wearing out are discarded because we are bored with them. This is the society in which we live. TV is filled with all kinds of shopping channels to entice us to consume.

 We need to reflect: Is this necessary for our well being? Rather it is already too late. Is it not true that we have been concerned with our selfish needs and need to examine if the structured society in which we live is not drawing us to indulge ourselves?

 We can buy anything, do anything, but not everything is for our good and what God desires. At this moment is what I desire to have and do appropriate? Am I not preventing others from enjoying the goods of creation?

 If we look up the word avarice and covetousness we find that it is an excessive desire to gain. It's a failure to know what I need. I was made to live with others. This kind of covetousness eats away at life and prevents us from spending time and effort on what is important. 

The priorities are not in order. God and others do not enter the thinking. This is one of the reasons we are having problems with environmental issues. Pope Francis in Laudato si wrote: "A misguided anthropocentrism leads to a misguided lifestyle. In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I noted that the practical relativism typical of our age is 'even more dangerous than doctrinal relativism' When human beings place themselves at the center, they give absolute priority to immediate convenience and all else becomes relative. Hence we should not be surprised to find, in conjunction with the omnipresent technocratic paradigm and the cult of unlimited human power, the rise of a relativism which sees everything as irrelevant unless it serves one’s own immediate interests. There is a logic in all this whereby different attitudes can feed on one another, leading to environmental degradation and social decay"(#122).

 When humanity comes first, forgets God, and the aim of creation, it is only a short term benefit to humans. That is the reason that when we have plenty to eat the number of those starving continues to increase, and we are not able to decrease greenhouse gases.

 We need to find the reason for the problems. If a river at its source is polluted we don't try to fix the problem downstream as it goes into the ocean but search for the reasons at its source. We need to get rid of our covetousness. We need to live according to 'right reason' and convince ourselves of the righteousness of our decision.

 This spiritual conversion should lead to sincere repentance from everyone for having been duped by "mindsets that divide, starve, isolate and condemn." Francis wrote. "It would be wonderful if we could become capable of asking the poor and the excluded for forgiveness, then we would be able to sincerely repent also for the harm done to the earth, the ocean, the air, and animals."

He ends the article with a prayer asking forgiveness for the covetousness and the strength to change.

Growth in Community

  "We are not troubled by things, but by the opinions, we have about things." These words of wisdom from the past give us one good reason to spend time talking with others about the things that matter in life instead of the small talk that takes most of our time in conversation. In the Catholic Times, a member of the Christian Life Community CLC reminds us of this in his article on the spirituality of the community.
 
Late at night, the two-hour Christian Life Community (CLC) online meeting ended. Coronavirus Infection-19 (Corona19) makes meetings difficult, but non-face-to-face meetings through video conferencing continue every week. At the gathering, they take time to look at how Jesus was with them and sharing with others what he was asking of them. Above all, he was grateful for the understanding of the community as they shared how the community would help with the difficulties of a member.

CLC members form a small community of about 10 people, each with their own special work and family in the world.  Through regular meetings, once a week, they share their spirituality, community, and apostolic efforts—specifically, contemplative prayer, prayers of reflection, and apostolic life.  When you share with each other like this, the other person's experience can be my experience, and you can discover aspects of the spiritual life that were unknown through other members. Each individual gains from the experience of wisdom and gratitude of the community.

Although they form a community together, members have different lengths of time in community, ages, occupations, backgrounds, etc., and their views on life are slightly different. They each have their own unique light and darkness.

Although each person's situation is different, in Jesus they are one and see new life through his love, and desire to share, empty themselves, be of service in love to the world. They realized God's love deeply through Jesus and they know it is through community rather than alone.

Of course, being together as a community is not always romantic or easy. Sometimes there are small conflicts, tensions, and discomforts in the community. And the spiritual advice exchanged within the community for mutual growth can be painful and uncomfortable. The writer mentions he was once upset that the advice received from the community made known his deficiency and judged him. He just wanted to hear good things, comfort, and encouragement.

However, as the community gathered in prayer he trusted in the Holy Spirit to lead, and as he experienced the community's love for him, he felt comfortable and listened to spiritual advice. With the spread of such enlightenment and trust in the community, advice, challenges, comfort, and encouragement given to each other have become more comfortable and liberating. Based on the love and sincerity experienced, the community grows and matures together.

Jesus also came to this world and formed a community. It wasn't just because they needed a hand. Rather, proclaiming the Gospel in the world must have started with love and growth in a small community. It seems that forming a community of love with disciples who were different, weak, and sometimes selfish, was the starting point of creating the kingdom of God in the world. The disciples went out to the world with the experience of love and growth learned through the community, and again formed a community and preached the gospel.

Today, an SNS message came encouraging him to faithfully live the spiritual life. This is because we remind each other not to become lax. He feels the growth he has made in his journey towards God was made because of the community. It is a very precious community.

Golden Rule In the Corona Era

In the era of the corona19 pandemic, everybody is wearing masks. With carelessness, we have groups that continue to appear with the virus. The writer is a health environmentalist who writes in the Peace Weekly's Diagnosis of the Times and believes this will be recorded in the history books as the great disaster of our era and has three questions.

First question, how long will this situation continue? Some say we will continue to live this way in the future, others that eventually we will recover, and return to normal. The question will be how well the individual, social, national, and international levels of prevention work, and when a proven vaccine is reliably delivered to everyone.

The second question, why did the pandemic happen? It was reported that the virus spread from camels in the Middle East during MERS and from bats in Wuhan, China during Corona 19. People know it's not the fault of camels and bats. They originally lived with the virus without any problems. It is humans who have spread the virus of camels and bats to the world.

Earlier this year, when Corona 19 began in Wuhan, China, it spread quickly to the whole world.  Newspaper columns written by scholars reflected on why this was happening. Unanimously it was pointed out the wrong relationship between humanity and nature. Words such as reverse counterattacks in the ecosystem and
a disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals was often heard.

The words that made the most sense to the writer were globalization and climate change as the passports of the virus. Globalization is a phenomenon in which the number of overseas travelers is breaking records every year,  money and corporations are found in every corner of the earth. Climate change is a natural response to excessive development and consumption of resources. The virus of the wild animals passed through each country with a passport issued by globalization and climate change and spread to humans.

Do people really think this is true? 'What do you think about the point that the root cause of the Corona 19 incident is climate change that causes the common epidemic, and this will continue to happen frequently?' The Environmental Health Citizens Center celebrates Earth Day on April 22nd. 1,000 people over the age of 19 across the country were asked these questions: 43.2% 'very much agree' and 41.4% 'somewhat agree', more than 8 out of 10 respondents agreed.

Third question, what should I do? He mentions an article written in a daily newspaper at the end of March by a priest who has been involved in labor and environmental movements. "Each country in the corona situation needs to find a solution that suits their situation, but each person is not the solution."

The priest's article begins as he recalls Pope Francis, who prays alone in the empty Vatican Peter Square and quotes his words. "Even if I protect my home with high-tech equipment and build a  high fence, I'm still afraid and don't know when and how I will get the virus. After diagnosing the phenomenon it reveals the limitations of pursuing my own safety by separating me from others."

"If my neighbor is not healthy, it threatens my health. It's good to share what I have with my neighbor who is poor but more important to understand that I am not separated from my neighbor."

These words of the priest he has often heard in his parish but the article made it more alive and went deeper. China and Japan need to be healthy if Korea is to be healthy. The adjacent city needs to be healthy if we are to be healthy. Everybody is my neighbor and we all need to be concerned about the health of others if we are to remain healthy.

This is the spirit that is needed by us who are living in the corona era.

Dreaming of Bygone Days

The Catholic Times' Eyes of the Believer column has an article by a lawyer who dreams of a time when life was more uncomfortable. He begins with lamenting the loss of the flowers in the area of Seoul in which he lives. The leaves of the bush of flowers have fallen to the ground because of the rainy season and he recalls when this was a common sight. 

  

On the outskirts of the big city in which he lives, going back a few decades, the tallest buildings in the neighborhood were three-stories and even though it was the main thorofare, each of the houses had a small yard out in front. However, it became a subway transfer station and ten-story buildings appeared, the neighborhood was transformed into one-room buildings, and all the yards disappeared. His house remains from the old days surrounded by high-rise buildings.

A real estate man in the area when he meets the writer's mother asks: why don't you sell the property or put up a building with 20 studio apartments? You could be making over 8,000 dollars a month. This is the temptation always present. 

 When he wakes up at dawn and looks out the window, lights are on in the surrounding studios. What are you doing all night without sleep? Is it playing computer games? In the morning the leftovers are at the front door—packaging containers, plastic bottles, and disposable garbage.

He misses the old days when family members in one room looked at a computer or TV screen together. Where did all the children playing in the alleys go? At that time, moms went to the market with a shopping bag, bought mackerel, bean sprouts, ate at home, the garbage was minimal.

Today, if you buy a take out cup of coffee, the aluminum quickly becomes thrash. In economics, it is recycled, wages are paid to the workforce in the process of making cans those who provided the money gain a profit. What's wrong with that? However, not all of them are recycled. Considering the energy consumed in the process of making and supplying these cans is it not wasteful and unnecessary making an aluminum can so one can drink a cup of coffee? In this case, our descendants will be paying the cost for our convenience.

Our generation is undergoing tremendous change. His wife is from an area close to Seoul, in middle school she did her homework with the help of a kerosene lamp. But now, he makes a video call to a grandson in the United States for free. The "development" that took place is astonishing. During the process all the houses with the front yards are gone, families are scattered, single-person households are the mainstream, and online promotes exchanges among people, but self-assertion and self- expression fill the world rather than solidarity.

On summer vacations, people fly around the world in airplanes. How much oil will go into flying that heavy plane into the sky, and how much is the pollution that remains? But we do this to satisfy our curiosity.

'Development' means that there is a lot of money to be used, and that money guarantees my convenience, so development is usually going to encourage our selfish attributes.

This passage appears in Pope Francis's Encyclical LaudatoSi#208/210: Disinterested concern for others, and the rejection of every form of self-centeredness and self-absorption, are essential if we truly wish to care for our brothers and sisters and for the natural environment... We need to criticize the "myths" of a modernity grounded in a utilitarian mindset (individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the unregulated market). 

He closes with strange-sounding words. Can we choose a house that blooms with flowers in the front yard and resist the temptations of 'development'? Is it possible to overcome self-centered attributes and gather together as a family instead of alone in a studio room? Can we say no to the selfish conveniences of the energy-filled modern civilization, a world filled with disposables, and return to the inconvenient life of the past?

Let's Discuss the Way We Discuss

The non-face-to-face class instruction conducted because of Corona 19 this semester was a new experience for both the learner and the instructor. Non-face-to-face classes have great implications in the post-corona era in that they have attempted new types of interactions between learners and instructors. A professor explains in Catholic Peace Weekly her own experience in the new way of teaching.

Learners evaluate the classes taken at the end of each semester. 'Interaction' to evaluate the learners' satisfaction with a class is an important factor in determining the quality of the class. Discussion is one of the types of interaction in the classroom.

The interaction may be called: debate, discussion, and deliberation in English. In Korea, a debate has the meaning of dispute. Its purpose is the persuasion of others to one's position by attacking the loopholes in the opponent's logic. This kind of discussion is often observed in class. Among the opinions, what do you agree or disagree with? Most of these are dichotomous questions with yes/no, agree/disagree, true/false answers.

What are these students asked to do after these questions? After choosing one of the two positions, it would be to attack the other person's opinion and defend one's own logic. This kind of discussion tends to cultivate a black-and-white logical way of thinking— my opinions are without error and the others are worthless. As the goal of the debate is to persuade the other person, the discussion lacks the opportunity to learn tolerance, accept what is right in another's opinion, and often the arousal of emotions. As a result, after the discussion, it is easy to be left with the consciousness of victory or defeat.

A discussion's goal is to gather comprehensive and rational opinions through multifaceted sharing of ideas. The role of the instructor is, of course, important to direct proper interaction. As far as possible, questions with dichotomous or correct answers that prevent the expression of disagreements should be avoided.

How about revising the previous discussion question as follows? Why do we have a problem? What are you in favor of and with what do you disagree? In what circumstances would what we are talking about be more important or less important? Is the argument completely false, or partially true?

The media is also responsible for our failure to discuss based on various options that we have. Let's recall for a moment the debate scene reflected in the media. Traditional debate-style programs that invite experts from various fields can often deal with dichotomous questions that reinforce black-and-white thinking. Even if the form of the question is not, the panel with a position in favor of the subject and the panel with a position in opposition sit facing each other. The way the stage is set up is to draw the audience watching the positions that fit the viewer's logic.
 
The media is obliged to provide a public sphere where various dissenting opinions are shared. However, it is necessary to examine objectively to see if the media is an obstacle in establishing a desirable culture for discussion. She concludes asking the readers: "Let's discuss the way we discuss from now on."

Refugees from the North Using YouTube

Born as the only son of a wealthy North Korean, he graduated from Kim Il Sung University. He grew up lacking nothing and he thought everyone lived like that. When he was studying at Beijing University, he met South Korean students and began to see the contradiction of the North Korean regime. The more you learn about the homeland, the more your values changed.

They had a reading session with about 10 North Korean students who shared the same values. Upon hearing that a member was discovered, he left the dormitory with only 50 yuan and a small bag. He knocked on the door of the Korean embassy and a Korean church, but it did not open. With the help of a stranger, he miraculously met, he was able to take a flight to Korea. This is the story of refugee on YouTube's Diary in a 'War-like Age'. So begins the Peace Weekly Column of the Catholic Peace Weekly.
 
The number of North Korean defectors on YouTube is increasing. As of the end of June, there are more than 11 channels with over 100,000 subscribers. This is a significant number compared to the 33,000 North Korean defectors. The contents range from entertainment, a new generation of women content, to current affairs of the middle-aged. It's not just about hostility to North Korea. You have both the conservative and progressive, those opposed to the sending of leaflets to the North. Their stories concern their defection from the North.
 
"It's easy to leave North Korea all you have to do is risk your life." Even if you risk your life and cross the border, you will not receive refugee status in China. If discovered, it is forced repatriation. In particular, there are dangers everywhere for women. Human trafficking is common as is forced abduction through fraud and intimidation. A 2019 report said about 60% of the 45 North Korean woman defectors interviewed were trafficked, 30% of whom were forced to marry.

A woman tells her story of being sold to a remote village and gave birth to a Chinese child but this did not guarantee her identity. She was arrested and went through many ordeals:  apprehended by the North Korean security forces, she was taken to a concentration camp and forced to take educational programs to correct her thinking, suffering terrible violence. She came close to death many times. "As long as people live, they have to live and have no choice but to live."

There are also criticisms of North Korean refugee YouTubers. Inflated reports or talking about things of the past as if they were the present North Korean reality. The internet, of course, is filled with fake news and requires that each YouTuber's experience and beliefs be examined. But it is necessary to listen to the middle-class cry for human rights and freedom coming from these refugees from the North.

Freedom and human rights are like the air we breathe so it's hard to feel its preciousness when living and enjoying them daily. Listening to the vivid experiences of North Korean refugees makes one think. Anger is aggravated by the bondage and restraint, the human rights situation that is trampled upon miserably, and compassion for the people of North Korea arises. Furthermore, we look back at the human rights issues of our society and look at how we are treating the North Korean refugees here in the South.

It is argued that raising human rights issues against North Korea is effective. A North Korean refugee, an economic expert, who is now a reporter Kang Mi-jin (Teresa) is quoted as saying: "When I went to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2017, I heard firsthand that North Korean representatives announced that they had solved the 'flower swallow problem' (homeless children) under pressure from the international community. North Korea also wants to be recognized as a normal country."
 
North Korea is a partner with which we need to be unified someday. Efforts to share the same values must take precedence along the path to peaceful unity. Freedom and human rights are absolute values ​​that cannot be yielded. North Korean refugee on Youtube reminds us of the values ​​of freedom and human rights. Are not these to be the values of both the North and South?

The Blind Spots of the Welfare System

 Poverty is the reality of much of the world. We can break it down to many types: social, educational, spiritual, health, environmental, and economic, and these in all kinds of degrees. Life is difficult for many for different reasons and it is not always economic but economics has a lot to do with the way one faces life.

Korea has one of the world's best health systems and we see that Korea will shortly be one of the world's leaders in longevity and yet the elderly often live in poverty. They have sacrificed for their children and many have to live a reduced standard from what they were accustomed to.

An article in the Kyeongyang magazine brings to the attention of the readers the life of a grandmother.  She is bent over, has difficulty walking but daily goes along the side streets near her house gathering paper, old clothes, all kinds of trash.

Despite the condition of the weather early in the morning, she is wrestling with the waste in society to eke out a living for herself and family and it continues to early nightfall. When the day is done she climbs the stairs with difficulty to her 3rd floor and has about 8 dollars to show for her efforts which is more than many others because of her diligence.

The building in which she lives at one time belonged to her. They had two sons and lived harmoniously together until the husband and older son died. The younger son mortgaged the house and entered the world of business, only to fail; he lost the house to the creditor, the daughter in law left and she was left with taking care of the grandchildren. The owner of the building, knowing her situation, allowed her to continue living in the apartment. The younger son left the house and she is waiting for him to return.

She has asked the village office for a basic living allowance because of her situation but because she has a son who is able to work she is not considered in a dire situation but those in the office do give her work to do to help her to take care of the family.

The writer of the article noticed there were a number of those like the grandmother searching for trash to help their families. Since they were all doing the same thing they were competing with each other, and when they amassed the trash and found it gone they suspected the others and hostility arose among them instead of cooperation. He began to figure out ways in which they good cooperate for the good of each other.

They began to meet once a month to discuss their situation. Each one speaking about their situation and in time an understanding of each other developed.

They are now thinking of forming a league to advance their needs. They are being helped to go directly to the wholesaler where they can get a noticeably higher income from their efforts and they are helped with the transportation of their trash, all making the work easier and more profitable.

Those who are helping them are also finding satisfaction in helping the diligent and needful members of society. Efforts are continually made to find those in society for one reason or another who are living in welfare blind spots.