The representative of the Bishops' Committee for the reconciliation
of the country is impressed with the refugees from North Korea who are
here in the South. In his Catholic Times' column he mentions that with events in which the
North and South are present, he marvels at the positive outlook of the refugees.
When you ask them
to sing they respond with grace, and pick their song; asked to
dance, they extend their hands like a butterfly and fluttering their
hands begin to go around in a circle getting everybody involved, and in a
short time we have everybody in the group in a joyous mood. When all is
over they are the first to begin the clean-up.
To get
the Koreans from the South to sing is quite a feat. There is a lot of
talk, back and forth, before they acquiesce but to get them to dance,
requires more difficult steps for results. At the conclusion of the
event those of the South look around to see how the group is behaving,
we do not make the first move, and quietly move towards the
exist. The columnist knows where those from the North got their mature
and positive attitudes.
The columnist reminds us of the 2003 Universiade in
Daegu. A bus load of North Korean cheerleaders coming back from an
archery competition, and returning to Daegu, saw a placard that was put
in place by the farmers of the areas to welcome the cheerleaders.The
placard showed Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung shaking hands, the two
leaders of the North and South and that time. It was raining and the cheerleaders from the North saw this as disrespect for their leader and
complained. They stopped the bus and after lamenting with loud cries at the
disrespect for their leader, they took the placard back with them to
their sleeping quarters.
We, hearing what happened, are
greatly surprised at the reaction of the cheerleaders.
We see only a placard but for the cheerleaders it was like a religious
image and more so. Do we have anybody cleaning the picture of
Jesus or the cross every day? In the North each house has a portrait of Kim Il-sung and his son in a prominent place. Each day
they would take time out to show devotion to their leaders by cleaning
the portraits with special cloths.
Their devotion to their leaders would be similar to a religious act on our part. This is the kind of training
they receive from their earliest years, and continues for life. Their
motto is always be ready. The leaders are like the sun for the
country. This is the brainwashing they have received, and worship of
their leaders is the natural outcome.
All their acts have loyalty as their foundation and the way they receive political trust, and the reason they concentrate on heroic actions. The closer they are
to the leaders the more envied by others and makes them ready to do every thing spontaneously and quickly.
Kyeongyang Magazine has an article on marriage in the different
cultures of the world, written by a professor of cultural anthropology.
She goes to the different types of marriages that we see in the world
today: monogamy, polygyny ( having more that one female as a mate),
polyandry ( having more than one male mate at the same time) We have
also same sex marriages in the society.
Polygamy, is the
marriage of a spouse of either sex with more than one mate at the same
time. In recent years this has changed in many cases to marriage to
one person at a time: brought about not always easily but
because of the changes in the cultures, the laws of a country, and
economic conditions.
Because of
the frequency of divorce we have serial monogamy. In many of the cases
the children are relating to the parent who has left, and is helped
financially, and the relationship continues, which is not much
different from polygamy.
Recently many of our young
people no longer feel that marriage and the raising of children is the
way they will find happiness, but will only hamper their personal
development. They have seen in families the conflicts between husband
and wife, and with children: abuse, violence, abandonment and even
murder. Communication in the family is difficult; and they see the number of old people who die alone.
When we see the problems families have, we need to ask ourselves what is a family?
The family is no longer what it is meant to be. The families relate
with each other without love and with indifference. The need
to relate with each other with love, understanding, concern, giving-in, will change the mentality and enable the family to overcome the difficulties they will face.
The message of religion for the family is
not the systematic formalities they have learned, but love,
respect and equality of the members in relating with each other with the
practice of the virtues. Each member has to remember that their best
intentions, no matter how noble and beautiful, and worthy of praise, the
body will not permit their implementation without a great deal of effort
in their cultivation.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic
Church the virtuous person does what is good consistently, easily, and
joyfully. Koreans hear the proverb: a habit at 4 years of age
will be with the person when he is eighty. The effort to rid ourselves of the bad habits will require many repeated actions to undo the hold that bad habits have on us.
She concludes the article by wanting the Church to not only emphasis the teachings of the Lord, but to work to change the
unhealthy conditions families face in society.
"It is rare to see someone reading a book, while riding in a subway or train." A nun, who writes a column in the Catholic Times, on Media Ecology, begins her column with this observation, and attempts to verify it by
peeking at those using their smart phones in her travels. Most of the
time they were watching drama, or playing a game, on occasions reading text, but the speed was such, she wondered if
it could be called reading.
She mentions studies
that showed readers of paper books had more retention than those
reading e-books, easier to remember what they read, and able to give a
decent report on what was read.
The tendency with
the screen text makes it faster to read but at the same time understanding and attention problems arise: words
are simply passed over. In one elementary school the difference between
the reading from a book and the electronic medium-- mistakes in
understanding were three times more likely to happen.
Electronic
books are appearing much more often today. We have
ten times the number of e-books in our society compared to 3 and 4 years ago, and this will continue
to grow. In California they are already saying paper books will disappear. In our own country the government has shown a desire to quicken this with their policies.
She
reminds us that reading is not only to search for knowledge but
especially these days we need training to concentrate, and efforts made
to develop endurance. In the 18th century with the reading revolution, it required the working together of the body and mind to do the
difficult work of reading. The work required a change to our body
and mind, and helped to develop the thinking process.
Books
were not only the containers of knowledge. Paper books were
uniting the sense of sight to that of touch, that conveyed the
connection of these dimensions of the person. When we fingered the
pages we had the touch of hand and the sound of the turning of the page,
the scent, the leisure between the turning of the pages, weight of
the book, which added to the satisfaction. Is this possible, she asks,
with the electronic media?
Here we have another example
of technology and the great improvement in our way of living but at the
same time we also should be conscious of a loss. The word Luddite in certain quarters has taken on a new
meaning from the term used with those that found technology taking away their
means of livelihood. However, for the modern Luddites, they see some of
the negative aspects of our development.
Would it not be a sign of our wisdom to acknowledge the possibility,
and do what we can to prevent some of the harm that comes with technology?
"We need to hear stories of the poor and sympathize with their
experiences. We need to gather these stories and understand the meaning
of poverty, and work to change the structures that permit it."
Catholic Times has an article on the director of the Jesuit Research
Center for Advocacy and Solidarity and above is a quote from the
director that begins the article. The center works for the advancement
of the rights of the poor and their property rights. The director maintains the Church has to be in solidarity and relate with them
on an equal footing.
Society
has developed but the number of the poor continues to increase. Faces of the poor are many and different: the sick, those because
of accidents can't work, those looking for work, irregular workers,
foreign workers....
We have
abolished absolute poverty but our development has brought in another
type of poverty caused by a lack of technological skills and
resources. At present poverty means being handicapped
financially. The need for both husband and wife to join the work force is an indication of the change.
One
example of this situation would be two students in elementary school.
One student is going to an academy after school and goes traveling with
parents on vacation, the other child does not. This child will feel
deprived in comparison, and the parents feel a burden.
The International Monetary Fund's entrance into Korea decreased the middle class. And those living in poverty increased. A graduate of an
engineering school lost his job and began working as a taxi driver. He
was a member of the middle class but his life style changed. We need to move from support for big industry to a win-win
society for the workers: concern for the unemployed, irregular workers
and daily workers and work for their betterment.
The director mentions the problem with structures of poverty and the
gap between the rich and poor which we have also in the church. In many ways she helps the poor but the poor don't find it easy to approach the church because of time and financial burdens. They feel more at home in a large Church
community than a smaller and more active one.
To help the poor in parishes, industry and organizations, he concludes, is not simply raising funds and sharing it with the poor. The Church needs to be in solidarity with the poor, be one with them and speak together with them of the joy of the Gospel.
A music
professor writing in a diocesan bulletin recalls a time he was
satisfied in the way he was saying the rosary until he heard a priest
talk about the rosary; his whole mental way of thinking was turned
upside down. He learned the way he was saying the rosary left a lot to be desired.
His
meditations on the mysteries, he doesn't remember when, all very
quickly disappeared. He began to work with a new set of meditations.
However, they did not develop in the way they were supposed to. He read
books on the meditations of the different mysteries, but there was no
progress and began to feel there was something he was doing wrong.
How
can we meditate on the same mystery over and over again? The first
sorrowful mystery: "Jesus shed tears of sweat and blood." How
painful this all must be, was the extent of his meditation. He moves to the
second mystery with the same thoughts, and gradually another thought
enters and he moves to the next mystery. Each day he says the sorrowful
mysteries how can he have different thoughts for the mysteries? This in itself is a mystery, he laments.
In
life there are times, because of need, we are faced with
repetition, and we endure. He remembers as a child the piano lessons
and the need to practice over and over again the same music which he
disliked.
Those who become performers know the repeated practices and overcoming the boredom, enabled them to appreciate the beauty of the music. As performers, they have not stopped doing the repetitions.
Before the performance they practice again and after the performance
they feel there was something missing and they return to practice.
Even years later they will return to the music, and are moved to another
level of appreciation.
This
is not only true of music but many other endeavors. When we love what
we are doing there is no boredom but just joy. The writer is not a
performer but he can go back to a piece of music and repeat it often
and with joy.He discovers something different each time. The joy comes because he loves the music.
He realized that in his saying the rosary he did not find satisfaction because he did not have an affection for the mystery on which he was meditating. The need to go back to the Scriptures and read again the details of the mystery are important, but to have passion for what you are doing is more important. Developing passion for the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary is his aim for Lent. The word ardor, suffer and endurance come from the same Latin word--- passion.
A Salesian priest writes in View from the Ark, in the Catholic Times, about the difficulties parents have in educating their children. The money they need for
the public education is a burden, private academy attendance is many times more expensive.
A TV program in Europe showed the life of a 3rd year
high school student who was preparing for college entrance
examination: 'We have this going on in our world' was the title of the
program. How can a person put up with this kind of life? -- Was the response of many viewers.
The
difficulties of the young in our school system is well known and the
ones who suffer the most are the young. There are many young people not able to adapt to the system, and have even more
trouble out- side the system; it needs to be changed. He blames
the older generation for the acquisitiveness and selfishness, and
those in the teaching profession himself included, for laziness and lack
of responsibility in not doing enough to bring about change.
Because
of the inhuman type of education, the pressure they are experiencing
will affect their emotional and psychological well being, which does not speak well for the future. They are receiving a distorted value
system. A time when they are to blossom with their youthfulness, they
are given a very heavy cross to carry which only makes them shrivel.
He
remembers a young lad who frequented the PC rooms ( a place where one
goes to play games and pays so much an hour). He was a timid and
withdrawn person but with his frequenting of the PC rooms the priest
noticed a change in his demeanor, his face lit up and his eyes were
alive and bright. The priest realized that in the virtual world of the
game room the young man was king. He was able to control everything
that he dealt with. In the real
world he confronted knots and conflicts, in the virtual world he was
in charge. In a short time all disappeared, and he returned to his
depressed state.
This is the portrait of our young
people. Once they leave the virtual world they come back to their old
selves. They are faced with the gloom of reality, anger and the
burdens of daily life. This is the reason they don't want to leave the virtual world in which they feel on top of everything. We need to do all in our
power to change the system, the young people face in their studies.
He
concludes the article with an example of a teacher who knows the problems students face, and is doing something about it. He
arrives at school in the morning an hour before class and is greeting
all the students as they come to the class room. He wants to show
the students we are not just isolated islands, and feels
good about the efforts he is making to give vitality to the students.
Both
editorials in the Catholic papers reported on a special bank that will
lend money to those who have been fined and because of poverty can't
pay the penalty and end up in jail. The 'Jean Valjean Bank' is
called a bank but it doesn't function like a bank: it doesn't give
interest, has no building and will be distributing funds to be payed
back without interest.
There
are many in criminal cases not ably to pay the monetary fines levied within 30 days, and go to jail. There are 40 thousand in
this predicament. 90 percent of the criminal cases give sentences
with monetary penalties. Many of these are similar to Jean Valjean who
stole bread because he was hungry and went to prison: not crimes that cause harm to society.
This
is the first effort in the world to help young heads of households, and poor young offenders who do not have the necessary funds to keep
them out of jail. They have a grace period of six months and a period of
a year to pay back without interest what they have received.
Pope
Francis has often remarked that one of the great lacks in the world
society is an indifference to the those who are hurting. With the 'Jean Valjean Bank' we see something concrete being done for the poor of
our society. These poor are at the periphery of society, without connections to benefit from the outstretched hand of love, and in most cases not seen.
In
inaugurating the bank the Jean Valjean committee said: "money is
able to take away freedom and they want to do something, even if small, to free us from this possibility." This action is a good sign to the whole of society, and the direction we need to go.
One
of the editorials closes with a wish to see a change in the way we levy
fines, more like some of the countries of Europe-- a daily fine. A
fine that will be gauged according to the daily income of the
offender and the offense committed.
The bank will ask members of society to help in the raising of
funds. The idea is a good one and will depend on the
cooperation of society to see it advanced. There is much that can be done in showing concern for those who are on the edges of society; the very natural concern for our own needs often closes us off to the needs of those most vulnerable in society.
