Sample Translations
Jin-gyu Seo
A Lesson in Hope E ng l i s h
Book Information
A Lesson in Hope (희망수업) RH Korea Publishing corp. / 2014 / 14 p. / ISBN 9788925553504
For further information, please visit: http://library.klti.or.kr/node/772 This sample translation was produced with support from LTI Korea. Please contact the LTI Korea Library for further information. library@klti.or.kr
A Lesson in Hope Written by Seo Jin-gyu
Prologue: Each one of you is a receptacle containing hope
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Part One: Making a sacrifice for myself leads to birth of hope
You must be alive to cry
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Deep roots grow with great turmoil
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Life without regret doesn’t exist
22
If you can’t turn back, then you must go forward
33
Hope blossoms with tears
38
It’s your attitude that matters
48
You have to live in the present
53
Standing on your own two feet
58
Don’t pause no matter how difficult Look at how others live
65 69
Object of your sacrifice and devotion
76
I am always the central figure
80
The third daughter of a neighbor
86
There is another me inside of me
90
A lesson called life, and you are the content
97
An exit is not visible to the indolent
101
Mother, wife, and simultaneous interpreter of French
106
Part Two: Hope never ceases
A patient person is powerful Countless stars that brighten the world
115 121
Speak for yourself! You are happy when you do something you like
125 132
I gave birth to a strong child
136
Many faces of life
141
A wimpish young woman and bored mother
145
Don’t hide your pain
152
Hesitation is the first step to failure
157
Don’t hold back, get enraged
163
Another chance at life
169
An experience of small success
173
With experience, there is nothing to reject Failure should not stop at failure
178 182
A life without failure does not move anyone
189
Where it flows, there is life
194
Part Three: Sharing hope with the world
Pain makes others visible
203
Dream has no nationality
208
Third class dream, first class result
215
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Resurrect yourself, resurrect others
219
Sometimes you must think of yourself first
226
Proclaim the “I� you want to be
231
You must be humane
236
Don’t settle in a comfort zone
242
A leader makes it possible for others to work
249
There are six billion kinds of happiness
254
Life as a road guide
259
Look for the best you have in mind
264
There is no end to success
270
Miracles do happen
276
I like me, too
281
There is no answer, just the process
288
Epilogue: I hope to be the bell that awakens your soul
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You must be alive to cry
She was crying. In my arms, her shoulders were heaving. The audience and I remained still and lent our ears to her sobs that seemed like it would go on for eternity. I often hear people tell me that they would like to bring an end to their lives. Such words are conveyed to me for the most part through writing. In the letters I get I read about people who tell me they’ve thought of death and how some of them have actually contemplated the action. But there is rarely anyone at my lecture who says s/he wants to die. The desperation of not being able to endure life’s burdens, which makes people say they want to die, can’t be all that different for the former or latter kinds of people. But to say you want to die in front of someone you don’t know must not be easy. That is why people express this wish in the middle of a long letter that they write me. In such a confession, there is the somberness of a person who has already killed herself in her imagination several times. As I comforted the young woman, I couldn’t help recalling my younger days when I often contemplated death myself. No, even in the prime of my life, I from time to time, considered ending my life. Although the reasons why such a thought came to my mind differed from when I was younger to when I got older, the fundamental cause was the same. That is when I found myself crumbling before an insurmountable reality and coming face to face with the all too fragile person that I was, the temptation of wanting to call it quits naturally pervaded my heart. Death will bring an end to everything. This suffering, too, will vanish for good. Sometimes dying seems like a much simpler solution that life. After two hours of lecturing, when I was giving a hug to each and everyone in the audience, the aforementioned woman who was standing somewhere in the middle of the line burst into tears as soon as I held her. The people behind her, who didn’t realize she was
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crying, were hurrying her from the back. I smiled at them and put my finger on my lips. The people, who then realized that something was going on, became somber. It was long after that the young woman spoke. “My husband suddenly passed away not too long ago. Unlike you, I grew up in a very affluent family and finished college without a worry. My husband also worked for a Korean conglomerate. But all of a sudden, he died. I have never imagined something like this would happen to me. Although I own a small house and have a little savings, I don’t know how I can make it with my two children until they grow up and go to college. Life just feels so bleak for me. More than anything else, the thought of raising my two kids without a father seems hopeless. The savings will run out shortly and I have never held a job after graduating from college. And at my age, I don’t want to ask my parents for help. So…” Like a dam that burst, she poured her story then suddenly stopped. She was straining herself to hold back the tears. “… That is why, I thought of death, with my children. In fact, before I came to this lecture, I had made up my mind to die with my two children. But after hearing your talk…I’ve decided to live. As you have done, I would like to live and do my best to make it possible for my children to hope and dream. Do you think I can do it? Can I do it?” Her sobbing, which became more subdued, was permeated with sorrow. No one in the line stopped her from crying. They knew they couldn’t stop her tears. Strictly speaking, the reality she was faced with might not be excruciating to the point of her contemplating death. There are many people who live valiantly in a much more difficult situation. Some people could quibble that she is whining too much when she has a house and savings. But everyone’s life is different and the hardship that she faces could be undeniably bleak and weighty for her. I didn’t say anything on that day. I remained still until she was done crying and left my arms after sorting out her thoughts.
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I have said this repeatedly during all my lectures—that one should become selfsufficient. If you subject yourself to someone else, then your thought becomes subordinate and in the end, it is difficult to make your own decisions or live your own life. You must not despair because you are not financially independent at this very moment. Everyone has his or her own strength and weapons. It’s just that you haven’t found it yet. Of course, it’s not easy to find and discover one’s own strength and weapons, especially the older one is. But no matter how grim that process might appear, you must not give up without even making an effort. At the age of thirty I joined the army. I had a child already and lost one through miscarriage. And when I was close to fifty years old, I took up another challenge of going for a doctoral degree. I was at an age when I would remember one thing and forget three. The process entails pain and suffering. Whenever I found myself at the limits of what I could do, I browbeat or cajoled myself; and then again, I encouraged myself and if not, I broke into tears. It was infuriating and pathetic. No one will help you get up on your own two feet. The world is not such a caring place. In fact, we live in a world that’s cold-hearted to the weak. You must stand up on your own and show the world your confidence. That’s when the world becomes magnanimous to you. You have a life to live. That is why you are sacred. In life it is the mandate of Nature for one to live. Do not let your life or your children’s life to go against this Natural order. Just as you have your life, your children are given their lives. Do not, by any means, foreclose the infinite possibilities for this enormous energy. Be frightened instead. Except be sure to take each step slowly out into the world. Although it may be painful and scary, that is the only way to become intimate with the world.
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Don’t be distressed When the questioning is loud, The answer is just as loud.
Hope blossoms with tears 7 Deep roots grow with great turmoil
As a child I loved children’s tales and I still do. But I didn’t just like children’s tales with a happy ending. Be it joyful or sad, I cherished the stories that moved me. Once when I was being interviewed, the interviewer asked me about the book that moved me the most. I replied, The Royal Secret Emissary, Park Mun-su. The interviewer broke into laughter. Was it too unassertive? But that’s not important. I have always lived, being true and honest to my feelings. Actually, The Royal Secret Emissary, Park Mun-su is not a fairy tale. It’s more like a biography of a remarkable man. But his stories were full of elements of a children’s tale—in that it was about someone who sided with the weak and fought against the injustice in the world. I, too, aspired to become a person like that. But it isn’t like I was always happy, being a dreamer. At times, I disliked myself the most. To think that I was dreaming about helping others when I was born with nothing—it already signaled a life that would be difficult for me to bear. That’s why in order to cultivate my dream, I had to become an obstinate person and give up many things. I had a father and mother, brothers, and sisters. Whether or not they were nice, they were my family with whom I could cry and laugh together. They did not hamper my future even though we were poor. Come to think of it, I wasn’t born completely without any luck. I
had a mother who raised me to be strong and resilient and a father who, albeit economically incompetent, always smiled at me. There are some people who think their lives are very special. I thought that was not necessarily a bad thing to think. It is only when you think of yourself as being special that you make an extra effort to become a better person. It was past the age of fifty that I looked into other people’s lives. I found out that in this world, there are countless people who have lived under similar circumstances and under conditions that were familiar. Occasionally, I have encountered those who have overcome hardships that were far greater than mine. Listening to their life stories was like reading a children’s tale, a horror story about children. Listening to the stories that were beyond sad to the point of being horrific, I could only lend my ears and remain quiet. I felt reverence toward them who did not give up under unimaginable circumstances, which made their lives all the more inspirational. The age of a woman who wrote me was over fifty years old. Born in a small village in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, she was not reared by her mother, who left her family while pregnant with a second child, unable to withstand her husband’s domestic violence. She was exposed to the harshness of life too early on. Before she barely finished her first year in the elementary school, she was sent to a family in Busan as a maid. What she did for them was deliver opium. The nine-year-old girl was unaware of her deed but she was arrested and was imprisoned. In a juvenile facility, she learned to read Hangul over someone’s shoulder. It helped that she had learned about the vowels and consonants during her single year in elementary school. When she turned fifteen, she ran away from the family and escaped to Seoul. She could not bring herself to say that all the schooling she had was just a year of elementary school. Therefore, she was determined to get herself educated as soon as she made some
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money. When she reached a marriageable age, a neighbor did the matchmaking for her. But her marriage was a disaster. Her husband was an alcoholic who was also physically violent. She ended up fleeing from her house. She had three daughters she left behind. She worked as a housekeeper and with the money she saved, she started a pojangmacha1 business. Then she took back her three daughters. Her husband had not bothered to send them to school. Even after she took custody of her children, her husband did not stop harassing them. He got drunk and went to their school and created havoc. In spite of it, she managed to get all her daughters through at least a high school education. Her oldest daughter became a non-commissioned female officer and continued with her education, enrolling in an evening college. Her second daughter graduated from a high school of commerce and got herself hired while her youngest daughter matriculated at a two-year college. Her second daughter wanted to go live in the USA. Shortly before she wrote me, this woman had an operation for cancer. Her arduous life of over fifty years must have spread like a poison in her body. And she was drained. But she could not stop worrying about her daughters’ future. The reason why she wrote me was to seek advice on how she could be of assistance to her three children. Had I been a medical doctor, I would have ordered her to take a rest. But because I had lived during the same time period and therefore could empathize with her, I simply wanted to hold her hand and comfort her. She had never once run away from the harsh circumstances of her life. Since the age of nine when she plunged into the world as a child, she has survived a life that was all too hostile to her all by herself. Her three daughters were what gave her strength and sustained 1
A small wheeled snack bar, sometimes with a tent.
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her in those difficult and excruciating times. The driving force behind her ability to endure was that she did not want to hand down a life like hers to her daughters. She said that is why she was grateful to her daughters. Even in the bleak moments of her life when she had no idea how much longer she would live, she was searching for something that she could do for her children. Some might say this—it is only a given that a mother should do what she did. What nonsense. No one, who has not experienced violence in a family that should’ve provided a cozy shelter, can imagine the kind of suffering she must have undergone. She must’ve been the loneliest person in the world during the moments of that violence. She must have struggled with the thought of wanting to eradicate her whole existence from the face of the Earth, countless times during the day. If one is ceaselessly subject to such circumstances, it is only human instinct to want to run away from it. Sure enough, she fled from it. But she did so not so much for her own survival but to be able to provide a safe nest for her daughters. The tree develops deeper roots when the branches shake. She was a woman of deep roots. She will continue to be solid. For the sake of her daughters, she will become a strong fortress. Therefore, don’t you worry. With a mother like yourself, your daughters, too, will be strong, too. Not only that, chances are they love you more than anyone else in the whole world. Hence, it is now time to live your own life. Please regain your health. You have endured hours of complete darkness with fortitude. You cannot give in to a mere lump of cancer. I’ll be rooting for you and your daughters will be praying for you. You have already shown much evidence of hope but you have to exhibit it just one more time. That is a hope for your life.
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Life without regret does not exist
Three men who died were standing before the Jade Emperor of the Heavens. All three of them had lived an outstanding life in their former lives. They had inflicted no harm on others and were saintly men who sacrificed themselves for their family and country. That is why they were specially summoned. The Jade Emperor called the first man. “How would you like to live your next life?” “I would like to become a great merchant and enrich the nation and provide for all people.” “So be it.” The second man came. “How would you want your next life?” “I want to be a man of great power and rule in the righteous manner.” “As you wish.” The first and the second men were immediately born into a good family after they were promised great wealth and political power. At last, the third man stood before the Jade Emperor. “How would you like to live your next life?” “As for me, I do not want money or power. I want to live a life in which I will not be swayed by it. And I would like to study to my heart’s content. I’ll be satisfied with a small lot and a house in which I can provide for my family. If I can go out to my back yard after work and share a drink with my friends and recite poetry, that is enough for me.” “No, that is impossible!”
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The man was surprised because the Jade Emperor was so resolute. “Why is that? It isn’t like I asked for power or money like the other two.” “That’s why it’s difficult. Not to be swayed by anything, yet have an enjoyable life with your family and friends, is a life that doesn’t exist. If there was such life, I would live it myself.” That’s right. A life without any worldly worries with housing, clothing, and food all taken care of is the kind of life everyone dreams of but there is no one who has that kind of life. People ask me, “Do you live a satisfying life now?” I can’t honestly say “no” but I also have many regrets and if I were given another chance, I would like to live my life over again. First of all, I had too difficult a life. It was all in the past and therefore I could say it belongs to memory but I shudder simply at the thought of going back to my old life. How great it would have been had I been born into an ordinary family and lived a normal life. Of course, I would want to meet my two children, Seong-a and Seong-uk. Who would want to be deprived of the most precious jewels in their life? Then I would also want to meet a man who respects me. Even if I fell in love with someone at first sight, I would ponder more and develop a relationship with a man who is upright and understanding of me. I also want to spend a lot of quality time with my children, going on family trips, seeing movies together, and sharing dreams. I wish such a life could be granted to me. Most likely, the aforementioned Jade Emperor will get angry with me. No one could live such a peaceful and ordinary life. Another person who wrote me was forty-three years old and works for a moving company. He said he found my book amidst some discarded stuff after someone moved and read the whole book at one sitting.
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“The title of the book instantly grabbed my attention because I have always been athirst for hope and still am. But the gap between the author (yours truly) and me seemed like the distance between this world and another world. You have dismantled the wall and went forward whereas I am a fragile person who’s unable to knock down my wall.” “He was born in Paju and his father left his hometown in the presently inaccessible North Korea to come live in South Korea. He was the oldest son with three siblings. Both his parents were uneducated and therefore were not interested in getting education for their children. “My schooling ended in middle school. My parents never bought us a book. My father was addicted to gambling and was a drunkard. My mother was no better. Our family could by no means be viewed as normal. The most frightening memory from my childhood is when my father came home drunk late at night and got into a fight with my mother. I would hide under the blanket and pretend to be asleep. When he grew up, he went from one factory to another. He did not marry. “To this day, I think about how I can break through the wall and live a life I want. But regretfully time is gradually taking away my hope because my body and mind will not cooperate. I have tried to read and study on my own and I made much effort but there isn’t anything that I’ve gained. And now, I think this is how I am going to turn into a pathetic failure in life, that I am an example of failure. Where did all my dreams from childhood go? Where did my resolve—that I would never give up my desire to learn—vanish to? I feel like I am standing very close to being a failure in life.” That’s not true. If you are forty-four, then you are still young. Why did you read my book? Why did you write me a letter? That’s because you did not want to become a failure. Those who are bereft of all hope do not even regret. Yet, regret does not lead to anything. There is a woman who supported her family while she prepared for the civil service
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examination and succeeded after seven years. She said she had not gotten more than four hours of sleep a day. But you don’t even have a family to support. My book is just a spice. The main ingredient should be other books. Whichever book that will help you find a new occupation or acquire new knowledge, start reading this book that will get you close to your goal. You can do it. Although your life hasn’t been successful so far, you have not given up on it. That in itself bespeaks of your personal strength. People, who think they have lived a long wretched life in comparison to others, should think twice. One must not forget that despair and hope are the flipside of each other and it is you yourself who can reign over both.
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