The Meeting of Beautiful :People

In the Catholic Peace Weekly, the writer a Photo Healer writes about a group of beautiful people in his recent column. For him, meeting 'beautiful' people is always fun.
 
More so for those who are together in one place and can share time together harmoniously. When he looks at the scene, created by people, interacting with each other in this way it's beautiful. Rather than those who are well known, he is more impressed with people who live ordinary daily lives. Perhaps it's sharing the precious communion of people's minds that's very touching which inspires people.
 
They are special people the writer has been watching from May last year to now. The group consists of eight citizens who came from their respective homes and met each other for the first time as members of "Photo Compassion Workshop with North and South Koreans." As the name suggests, some of them are from North Korea. Often called North Korean defectors and hidden in the shadow of the socially disadvantaged. Another segment of society wants to escape the yoke of division and open the eyes to each other's existence.

The theme of the meeting is: "A new look at us - A time when we dream of an era of empathy beyond boundaries and distinctions." To achieve this they gathered cherishing each other. At the start, there was a curiosity about who would be the North Korean defectors. However, with time they became caring for each other, have taken the time to have a sincere relationship that anyone from anywhere is okay.

One more thing to note is that they are using the term "North Koreans" after judging that terms such as defectors, refugees, and 'new people' create a sense of discrimination and separation. They met within a framework of empathy and solidarity as neighbors living together without looking at themselves separately as "me" and "you."

After 70 years of division, the emotional distance between the two Koreas is still great. But he can't help but applaud them for reflecting on our past history, which has been divided with the differences in ideology and system; demonstrating in practice the possibility that we can all achieve happiness together.

These days, when the cold winter has passed and the spring flowers have begun to bloom, we all want to laugh together. Spring has sprung again in our land.

The Importance of the 'Why' Question

 

In  the Catholic Peace Weekly, Diagnosis of the Times, a university professor gives the readers her ideas on the 'Why Question' and its importance when it comes to reporting the news.

Effective persuasion strategies are needed for smooth communication. It's necessary to provide valid reasons to reach a conclusion that one intends.

The various types of communication experienced at home or at work are not meant to reconcile opinions or arguments. Rather with the different opinions, and arguments, we can come to a better understanding of the issue.

 

Humans are accustomed to looking at the world deductively. There is a risk in deductive reasoning that makes the principles or propositions acceptable without criticism as common sense, "group idea". The question "why" helps us develop our thinking, as we cannot be sure that common sense and our ideas are always true.

We get the ideas of certain groups and of the majority through media reports. Trust in the media results in trust in the information that the media delivers. Trust comes from the  authority of the information. Media secures authority from its information by utilizing reliable sources. If the media has professional knowledge on an issue or is deemed representative of many ideas, the corresponding source is considered reliable.

One way the media can prove to be a reliable source of information to the public is to use real-name reporters. If a reporter is reluctant to expose his/her identity or fears harm directly or indirectly, anonymity will be used but secures credibility by disclosing their identity.
 

Humans have a tendency to imitate the thoughts and actions of the majority. Therefore, the media should have an objective and logical strategy when communicating the opinion in society. The act of abusing anonymous sources by reporters destroys trust in information by weakening the logical basis of the claim. There are many cases in which unspecified  sources: officials, and close aides are used. It is not difficult to find reports where Internet users' opinions turn into public opinion. It is not possible to persuade the public to 'believe' without providing clear evidence.

Fact-checking, which the media is focusing on today, is the task of identifying reliable information from its many sources. In order to claim that it is reliable information in a real world where news is manipulated, and information mixed with rumors it is essential to provide reasonable grounds for 'why' and on what grounds the information is reliable. For information filtered through fact-checking to gain public trust, the responsibility of the media must be supported. Providing sufficient grounds and reasons for why the content of the report is reliable and continual perseverance in making sure information is impartial, independent, and factual reporting.

 

The question "why" can embarrass us. In order to prove that my argument is right, I have to try to find evidence in various ways. The creativity demanded by our society today is not only the ability to derive entirely new ideas, but  approach existing ideas in new ways. Checking the basis of my arguments, which I believe are right or on the contrary not true, can be the first step toward being creative.

The Farming Apostolate

 

In a monthly bulletin, a priest recalls his stay at the Madonna House founded in Canada in northeastern Canada by Catherine Doherty who fled the Russian Revolution to the United States. While in the States she met Dorothy Day and joined the Catholic Peoples Movement. She moved to Canada and established a community by working on a farm in a quiet rural village.

At that time, there was no social awareness of environmental issues yet. But she said of the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides that had been implemented: "Today, people treat the land as if it were a factory." She realized the land was dying, raising the question, "Are we eating chemicals or natural products?" Her observation came from her life as a child in Russia respecting the soil and regarding farming as a noble cause. From this, Catherine understood the "law of soil fertility," which she will employ the rest of her life: "you must put back what you take away." 

 

In Russian, the farmer was called Krestianin, which simply means 'Christian'. This is right because the farmer's life contains all the skills he or she should have as a Christian.

 

A farmer is a person who takes care of God's creation on behalf of God, and thus a farmer is called a Christian because it shows that there is a way of evangelization in daily life utilizing the land. She realized that it was possible to proclaim the gospel through farming, which she considered an 'apostolate' and used it as the basis for community spirituality.

 

The writer was thrilled by her spiritual insight. Farming work for him was the right thing to do to save the environment and produce healthy food. But thanks to Catherine, farming was raised to another level. According to her, it was preaching the gospel and living the evangelical life, which Catherine considered being done nowhere better than farming in the country.

 

Jesus was not a farmer, but he was born in the country and lived most of his life in the country, and the gospel he proclaimed is full of metaphors taken from farming. He talked about vineyards, crops, kernels, seeds, plowing, and metaphors taken from nature, which farmers understood. The parables taken from farming and nature are much easier for farmers to understand than for urban people. Therefore, farming in the countryside preserves the creative order and helps us realize the words of Jesus more deeply, and assists in the apostolic duties of preaching the gospel.

 

These days, the agricultural community is active in discussing 'farm allowances, basic income for farmers'. Agriculture is a national industry, managing public goods such as nature, life, water, and air, so farmers should be treated as public officials, and the state should pay allowances for their roles. In fact, agriculture and rural communities are responsible for various public functions such as urbanization, beautiful scenery, flood prevention, water resource cultivation, soil conservation, biodiversity conservation, and food security.

 

If the status of farmers as quasi-public officials who contributed socially to the public good was granted, the status of farmers in the church should be recognized as hidden workers who make public contributions such as priests and religious. This year, two more priests joined us at the farm. When more priests show an interest in the land and farming, the integrity of the priesthood will be fuller.

 

Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan's Words of Wisdom

 

This is a listing of the words of wisdom of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan of Korea that appeared in a bulletin for priests.

 1. If you talk too much, you will say things you don't need to say. Listen with both ears, think three times before opening your mouth.

2. Invest 1% of your income in buying books. You can't wear your clothes when they're worn out, but books have great value even after time.

3. Don't try to reduce the price when buying something from a street vendor. If you give money, you develop laziness, but when you buy as priced you give hope and health as a gift.

4. Make it a daily practice to smile. Laughter is preventive medicine for all illnesses, makes the elderly younger and children wiser.

5. Don't spend too much time on TV. If you are drunk, you lose your mind, and with drugs your reason, but if you are drunk on television, you become a paralyzed fool.

6. The person who easily angers will always suffer losses. An angry man kills himself, kills others, and is always lonely because no one comes near him.

7. Prayer melts rusty iron and is a ray of light that removes the darkness of a thousand-year dark cave. People who pray with their hands together are stronger than clenching their fists in anger. Prayer is a useful remedy for life.

8. Never turn your back on your neighbors. The neighborhood is a big mirror that reflects who I am. When a neighbor faces me if I ignore them and fail to give them a smile I need to take a bath, sit upright and reflect on myself deeply.
 
9. Loving with only the head and mouth leaves no fragrance. True love is preceded by understanding, embrace, integration, and lowering oneself."It took me seventy years to have love come down from the head to the heart."

10. Stop and look at yourself in a pitch-black darkroom. With the eyes of the heart...In all sincerity..."Who am I... Where did I come from?" Where are you going? Impatience will disappear...peace of mind and heart will be yours.

Journalist's Encounter with the Bible

 

He was baptized in the year 2000 and writes in the Eyes of the Believer of the Catholic Times of the change in the way he looked at the world and the Bible. Until he was baptized the Bible was only one of the many ways of hearing words of wisdom. It changed when he was baptized with a significant relationship with the Catholic Church.

What is a relationship? It's love, encouragement, care for, and spending time with— (Borrowed from the Little Prince of Saint-Exupery)

 

The message of 'The Little Prince' stayed with him. Unlike before, he spent more time with the Bible seriously and meticulously. However, it only became more difficult— the effort to understand. 

 

The Bible was like a big dictionary of semiotics. He learned all kinds of facts, metaphors, symbols, figures of speech with which we are familiar. The question is, which of the Bible's contents is true and which is a metaphor, and how to interpret each metaphor and symbol, such as the "return of the prodigal" and the feeding of the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish. 

 

He was a beginner who began the study of the Bible. As such, the words of the Bible were vague coming to them from a life as a journalist, where "facts" —true or false was his professional focus. He was very curious about what was true in the Bible and how to interpret and apply them to our present time.

In this regard, the Religion School, organized by the Catholic Press Association, provided what he needed as a beginner. On one occasion after the lecture, he raised his hand with hesitation and asked: "How can I identify what is true in the Bible? and the teacher replied, "It's better to focus on the meaning of words." He vaguely sympathized with himself, saying: "Right, semiotics themselves is the key to meaning."

The ensuing social doctrine session was a turning point for his faith. First of all, it was in line with the goal of journalism. In the Social Gospel one searched for human dignity and the common good in society. It started with the encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things) 1891. It deals with the rights of workers, the meaning of labor, and the role of the State after the Industrial Revolution, and has become a way the Church sees society in over 20 encyclicals.

 

Love is also key to social doctrine, which is not only the micro-relationship between friends, family, and small groups but also the principle of macro-relationships such as society, politics, economy, labor, technology, communication, the international community, culture, and ethnicity.

"Events of the times based on facts." He felt as if he had found the right shoes and his dim eyes were brightening. The social doctrine was more realistic and specific than the Bible and it came as the gospel of where he now stood.

The history of the Second Vatican Council (1962), which he first encountered, seemed to have refined his idea of the social doctrine differently. Pope St. John XXIII said: "Throw open the windows of the Church and let the fresh air of the Spirit blow through." The Council carried out reforms in many areas. It was an effort of the church to observe the signs of the times, adapt and reform to find God.

As a believer, he also learned anew that the 2nd Vatican Council issued the social media doctrine Inter Mirifica (Among the wonderful) a decree "On the Media of Social Communication". 

 

Delivering hope and faith in our time Pope Francis stressed in his statement at a time of rapid change in the media ecosystem that "whether classical or new media should serve human dignity and the social common good, and should not be used for the logic and political purposes of capital."

After encountering these realistic and specific social doctrines, he began to focus more on the meaning of the Bible rather than on the facts in the Bible, as his teacher once told him to do.

The Meaning of Hardships

In the Catholic Peace Weekly column by a college professor, he gives us his meditation on the hardships in life and what they can mean for us.

The distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine has begun, but the words "life is difficult" we still hear frequently. This may be because so many are having economic difficulties that have continued for so long,  with the accompanying mental fatigue. It seems in recorded human history we have never experienced so many difficulties, by so many people at any one time. He wants to find a solution deductively through reason. Human beings have found new paths in every age.

The wisdom of the wise has always been a beacon light. Cicero, who lived in Caesar's time before Christ used the phrase: "Dum spiro spero" (I have hope as long as I am breathing). These words have comforted many people who have been in trouble for more than 2,000 years.

Dr. Schweitzer, the saint of Africa, is quoted as saying:
save us from the illusion that we have "pain alone." "Everyone has a painful moment," he said. In that  case, think that you are relieving the pain of others who are suffering more." Our Korean Poet said: "Birds build houses on the day when the wind blows the strongest," these words give us much to think about.
 
To find a solution, we have to face the difficulties head-on and investigate the issue. The solution is not far away. Words that express difficulties vary depending on the nuance. "Anguish" in the dictionary is "pain and distress in the body or mind." No pain  until they ate the fruit of good and evil. Humans were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and had to work hard, and that is "labor". In other words, pain is a tool to cleanse sins and a gateway to adulthood.

Jesus and Siddhartha had to go through many difficult situations as human beings. Passion refers specifically to the suffering Jesus received for the salvation of mankind. One is left with a strong impression that he accepted the difficulties without avoiding them. 

Buddhists and Hindus, use the word "ascetic practices" more frequently. The purpose of asceticism is enlightenment and aims to control the body with its practices. This tradition goes back to the time of Plato based on the duality of body and mind. At that time, there was a widespread perception that by controlling the senses (body) you were clearing the mind. The belief that one can reach the Ideal realm, essences, by controlling the body and the senses as much as possible has become a belief for Westerners.

The pain caused by Corona 19 will be different in appearance for each person who confronts it. One may be terrified at the sight of death or maybe aiming for the opportune time to take a leap forward, to walk a new path. Aristotle's intuition that "you can't learn without pain" and Tolstoy's paradox that "the world has advanced further because of suffering" are useful to us today. 

Even for trees, hardship is happiness. It's like a promise that changes one dignity. Grapevines produce great vintage wines in the year of a severe drought. This is because the roots need to go 40 to 50 meters deep to find water, raising nutrients and minerals. In the drought, the grapes have higher sugar content, and thus transformed into strong wines that can be stored for a long time. Coffee trees must also overcome the freezing cold every night at 2,000 meters above sea level before seeds can have a clean acidity and rich sweetness. This is the same reason why cabbage from the highlands for kimchi is considered premium.

He hopes the greeting "spiro spero" spreads as a common exercise. "I hope and hope you will do the same." Hardship is a reason for hope.

Designer Babies and the Future?

A column in Current Diagnosis of the Catholic Peace Weekly by a Bio-ethicist gives us some thoughts to reflect on and begins with the words of Klaus Schwab, founder, and chairman of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland: "Advances in technology push us to the boundary of new ethics."
 
Schwab said in his book "The Fourth Industrial Revolution" in which he deals with the following questions. Will the tremendous development of science and technology be used only to treat diseases and recover from injuries, or can it be used to create a better human being? If we choose the latter, wouldn't it be a risk of expanding consumer society by turning our children into custom-made products? What is the definition of a 'better human being, etc?

We may have heard of concerns about customized babies. However, customized babies are likely to appear only in science fiction movies and novels. No room to worry about customized babies since we have difficulties overcoming Covid-19. Is it just Corona? There are more and more problems that we need to solve, such as the climate crisis caused by global warming and the New Normal in the post-corona era. Nevertheless, we need to talk about this issue in some way. Because a custom baby is no longer a story that appears in science fiction movies.

In 2016, Chinese scientists created the first genetically modified human embryo in human history. We can think of the first and the best as good, but not only the scientific community but also the whole world was shocked. Two years later, even before the shock went away, a genetically modified twin was born in China. And Western society struggled to draw up guidelines to apply genetic modification technology to human embryos, perhaps because of the impatience that it may lose its lead to China.
 
Of course, the voices of criticism were also loud. But starting to make guidelines means that we will now practically use genetic modification technology directly in human embryos. However, by distinguishing restrictions and allowances for their use, it seems to be ethical at first glance. In the meantime, it seems clear that governments will actively carry out clinical trials that modify the genes of human embryos and implant them in the uterus. But not many people will know about this. While everyone is making all-out efforts to overcome the Corona 19 crisis, it is proceeding quietly.
 
Paul Knoepfler a professor at the University of California School of Medicine, says a baby born through genetic modification, whether for medical reasons or simple parental choices, becomes an advanced new human being. He explains that all humans are special, but the reason why genetically modified babies are special is that genetic design makes them healthier or better babies. He then says that the meaning of what is "better" reflects social perspectives. At this point, let's think about what is the definition of a 'better human being that Klaus Schwab mentioned?
 
As Knoepfler said, if the meaning of 'better' reflects the social perspective, let's think about where that view comes from. There may be many factors, but the first thing that comes to mind is the Internet Global Companies present us with algorithms that predict consumer tastes.
 
The development of science and technology in the future is likely to put us on the border of new ethics in various ways. But within that boundary, a customized baby is coming. This is not just a question of whether parents can arbitrarily modify their children's genes. We need to wake up and see where the consciousness of 'excellent' and 'better' on what we understand 'humanity' to mean will be going?