Last week was the 69th anniversary of the Korean War. Although it was such a tragic war in which the Korean Peninsula suffered the annihilation of millions of lives, few people seem to remember it now. Many of those who experienced the war have long since died of old age and those who were babies or young children during the war are now in their 70s. When it comes to the Korean War, most Koreans do not know or care about it at all, except for the ambiguous descriptions in secondary school histor

Jealousy is a universal phenomenon. For example, a star player in a sports team can easily become an object of jealousy for other players. So, too, can a famous movie star whose popularity is sensational or one who has received an important award at an international film festival. Likewise, a celebrity writer whose book becomes a bestseller or a scholar who achieves international acclaim can evoke jealousy among colleagues, even when his fame makes his whole country glitter. Such a phenomenon ca

We still remember that in the past our military dictators vastly exaggerated the threat from North Korea to justify tyranny, intimidating people with the fear of imminent war. Ex-military generals frequently triggered that fear so they could suppress the general public. At that time, the right-wing dictators bragged, “We are the only ones who can prevent war from breaking out on this peninsula.”Today, the situation is reversed. Now, the left-wing politicians who fought against the mi

When I first heard Zack Rogow reading from his deeply moving poem, “Skating Lessons” at a poetry reading in San Francisco in 2006, I was mesmerized by his exquisite poetic sensitivity in the way he rendered a little girl’s painful initiation into adulthood on an ice rink and her father’s sad feelings of parting with her. The poem beautifully captured the moment of a father’s last skating lessons for his daughter: “I tugged my six-year-old around the rink/ shoc

In his internationally acclaimed dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-four,” George Orwell portrayed the world as divided into three regions: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. According to Orwell, Oceania was composed of the United Kingdom and the United States, and Eurasia, which constituted the rest of Europe and Central Asia, was controlled by the Soviet Union. As for Eastasia, Orwell did not mention a specific country that either represented or ruled the region. Yet, at the time he was

Traditionally, Koreans are known to enjoy singing and dancing tremendously. Perhaps singing and dancing was our ancestors’ daily ritual and thus runs in our blood.Watching K-pop singers dazzle on the stage, it seems Koreans’ superb performance skills are part of our DNA. Indeed, when it comes to singing and dancing, Koreans seem invincible. It is no wonder that the K-pop vocal group BTS is enchanting the world with their charming voices and stunning choreography. Foreigners say that drinking is

Recently, I saw an interesting diagram on the internet about the left and the right. The drawing indicates that as you go further to the right, you will get bad outcomes such as libertarianism, corrupt capitalism and then anarchy. On the contrary, if you go further to the left, you will end up with equally undesirable results such as fascism, socialism and communism. Then finally you will find totalitarianism and enslavement at the far end of the left. It is intriguing that the illustration puts

Recently, I read a perceptive article that the famous basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote for the Guardian. It was entitled, “The way Americans regard sports heroes versus intellectuals speaks volumes.” In this insightful article, Abdul-Jabbar defended the hopelessly waning humanities, lamenting Americans’ infatuation with famous athletes and disrespect for intellectual giants. It was a pleasant surprise that an internationally well-known athlete emphasized the importance of the humaniti

What is the role of an intellectual or a writer in a turbulent society? In his monumental book, “Representations of the Intellectual,” Edward W. Said eloquently illustrates what it means to be an intellectual in times of social and political turmoil. He contends that the intellectual should be a spiritual exile in his own society, who can “speak the truth to power” despite the threats of ostracism and even imprisonment. Said maintains that the intellectual should say “No!” not only to power-wiel

Throughout human history, there has always been a generation gap between the young and old. In the eyes of the old, young people are frolicsome and reckless, and do not want to learn from the past. In the eyes of the young, older people are hopelessly stubborn and conservative; constantly nagging about war, past poverty, and those turbulent days when they were young. “Which war?” Young people want to yell back, “Don’t you know those things are no longer our concern?” That was why Robert A. Heinl

Recently, I read “The Truth About the Savolta Case” by celebrated Spanish writer Eduardo Mendoza. In his intriguing novel, Mendoza depicts the turbulent social milieu of early 20th century Barcelona, where there were daily clashes between workers demanding a raise and company owners exploiting workers. It was a critical time when Spain witnessed a massive influx of foreign ideologies such as Bolshevism and anarchism that instigated workers, and capitalism that captivated company owners. The nove

I have always thought that I spent the best years of my life in the United States. Living in the States as a young man was truly an inspiration to me because I was exposed to the great American heritage: cultural and ethnic diversity. From American culture, I also learned the promise of social mobility, generosity, and the capacity for embracing differences. Indeed, my youthful years in America significantly expanded the scope of my mind and broadened my perspective. Recently, I spent the best y

Dear young Koreans, you deride old people these days by calling us “teultakchung” or “denture-chattering bugs.” We are appalled at such a derogatory nickname because we think we are still young -- at least on the inside -- even though our bodily functions may be deteriorating. We are also mortally offended because that kind of disrespect for older people cannot be tolerated in a supposedly Confucian society. Sadly, we realize that we are no longer young, and Korea is no longer a Confucian societ

When I returned from the States to begin teaching at Seoul National University in the early 1980s, Korea’s socio-political turmoil reached its pinnacle. It was the time when Gen. Chun Doo-hwan seized power after a military coup and ruthlessly crushed students’ anti-government demonstrations on university campuses. The clashes between riot police shooting tear gas and teargassed students were rampant and became a daily ritual on Seoul National University campus, too. At the time, students were di

In Thomas Wolfe’s novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” the protagonist, George Weber, is a fledgling writer who has published a novel about his hometown in the US. The book turns out to be a huge success. When Weber returns to his hometown, however, he is greeted by hatred and fury from townspeople who think Weber has betrayed his hometown by delineating it wrongfully and critically. Amid death threats and menacing gazes, Weber is forced to leave his hometown. Now, he will never be able to go back

Ten years have passed since the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Soo-hwan sadly passed away, leaving a giant shadow on the Korean Peninsula. Marked by outstanding charity, generosity, and integrity, he was indeed a saint in every sense, who endured severe ordeals of socio-political turmoil in his time, but not without forgiving smiles and a cheerful sense of humor. In his memory, a remarkable book of reminiscence recently came out under the title “The Memoirs of a Cardinal.” The author of the memoirs i

It is well-known that Homer’s Iliad, that great masterpiece of Western literature, was inspired by the Trojan War. In Greek mythology, the war was ignited when the Trojan prince Paris eloped with Helen, who was the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The myth also states that behind the scenes, the Trojan War began as a competitive game among the Olympian gods and goddesses. However, historians argue that the Trojan War was, in fact, the first war between the East and the West over the command

Watching popular American sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” Korean viewers could be appalled at the character Sheldon making fun of Howard for holding only a master’s degree from MIT. In the show, Sheldon, who is a theoretical physicist with a Ph.D. from Harvard, openly mocks Howard for his lower academic degree and his alma mater, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If a Korean TV series aired such a scene of belittling a specific degree or university, it would immediately create a nationwide sc

We all want to be happy. But what is happiness and what makes us happy? We may assume that material abundance will make us happy. If we ask wealthy people, however, they will certainly assure us that being rich does not guarantee happiness. For one thing, the richer you are, the more you want. We all have insatiable lust for wealth. Besides, family disputes over money and inheritance frequently happen among rich people and they always turn ugly, destroying an otherwise happy family.We will be ha

As one gets older, he inevitably becomes clumsy, oblivious and pathetic. He also loses vitality, resilience and flexibility, and suffers deteriorating eyesight and hearing ability. Thus, King Solomon laments in “Ecclesiastes,” “Vanity of all vanities! All is vanity/All things are full of weariness/A man cannot utter it/The eye is not satisfied with seeing/Nor the ear filled with hearing.” Then, Solomon describes the sadness of aging metaphorically, saying, “Or ever be silver cord be loosed, the