Beloved

“My wife Nicole, was a warmhearted friend of everyone here…”

My husband’s lips are smiling, but I see the tear clinging under his bright eyes, resisting from falling. I could feel how much time and emotion he put to write such a piece.

I want to wipe his eyes with the napkin that he gave me in our first wedding anniversary.

I want to whisper not to be so sad.

I want to give him the chocolate cake that I made whenever he felt depressed.

I want to….

Despite my bitter heart, HE CANNOT SEE ME in the first place.

It is one warm day in March, 2120. People dressed in purple come in to the park with flower bouquets in their hands. My favorite color was purple when I was alive – I felt my heart pounding when I saw anything that has purple – and I guess that is the reason why my husband set the dress code of my funeral as purple. I am a little angry that my husband didn’t put roses – my favorite flowers – next to my portrait. I take a closer look at the flower bouquets. I notice that they are all the same. I try to hear what people are saying. At that moment, my husband explains people the reason why the flowers named “Fairy Star” were required to be brought instead of roses.

“Roses represent ardent love. I am the only one who loved her ardently and I am the only one who can and did give her millions of roses throughout her entire life, and I still will, from now on, give her hundreds of roses every year until I die. You might wonder why I told you people to bring Fairy Star. This flower has the meaning of memories, eternal love, and permanent remembrance. I hope you to remember Nicole forever as the way she is currently in your heart. Her every words and actions shouldn’t change their form in your memories. …”

I see my friends from US and Korea, my companions of the broadcast station where I worked at, my son, my daughters, and my grandchildren. I want to make an eye-contact with every single person who came to see me, but I can’t. I just satisfy with the fact that I at least can see them before leaving. Among hundreds of people that I know, I noticed vie people that I have never seen before. I rubbed my eyes and looked at them again; I could not notice. I tried to go through my memory of 120 years; I could not remember. I went closer to hear their voices. I suddenly remembered that I have signed to the Organ Donation Agreement when I was a college student. I intuitively noticed that they were the ones who are living new lives with my donation. A girl with my heart, a boy with my kidney, a man with my eye, a woman with my skin, and an old woman with my body tissue. I felt proud that I gave people the new opportunity to live a new life, exultant to see them living healthily and happily, and graceful to my well health.

When looking at five people, the warm smile did not leave my face and felt like I am still not dead – just like living eternally.

“…Nicole did not live a fancy or showy life, but definitely was a person whom many people wanted to have a meal with. She was a good listener, good speaker, and a person with warm, sympathetic heart. She thought about others’ feelings more than about her own feelings. Many people were, are, and will be always around her. Nicole will be beloved by everyone here forever.”

five senses

I look up the sky. I see the clear sky, with a strain of white cloud that the airplane left behind. I smell the scent of lilac coming up from the ground. When I touch the grass, I feel the dew formed during the calm, lonely dawn. Sitting on the grass, I take a bite of an apple. The sweet-sour taste soaks my entire mouth. At that tranquil moment, I hear the bell stinging my ears – dragging me into the classroom. Yes, I am in the middle of KMLA.

Let’s imagine. What if I cannot enjoy the magic of nature that heals and cheers me up amid my bitter life? Quite imaginable, but fairly unbelievable.

What if I lose my sight? I will not be able to appreciate beautiful view of our school, looking down from the top floor of our dormitory building. Dense fog, thin mist, mushy clouds, solitary sunset, and everything that we can see from up there would be just part of my imagination. I would not, or could not go up to the rooftop once in a while to look at the Big Dipper, asking what kind of star of planet that is. I will not be able to look at the number of seconds passing by in the clock every class, hoping the numbers to change more quickly – the class will be longer. Most importantly, I won’t be able to see the delighted faces of my friends smiling at me, limpid eyes looking at me and their nodding head whenever I say something.

What if I cannot smell? I would not be able to enjoy the scent of my fragrant shampoo which makes me take a longer shower. I won’t be able to smell the flipping paper money and feel graceful after every New Year’s Day. My collection of perfumes in my room would be useless and look like a mildly colored liquid that the wicked wizards used to make poisonous syrup in the fairy tale. Whenever my boyfriend buys me a beautiful bouquet filled with the most aromatic flowers in the world, it would be exactly same as smelling a scentless dandelion.

What if I cannot feel? I won’t be able to know the value of fan in the middle of hot summer. My friend poking or tickling me that keeps me awake in class would be completely useless. Teachers will no longer stroke my head whenever I do something splendid. I will not be able to feel the warmth of my friend’s hand that holds me whenever I am depressed.

What if I lose my taste? I will not be able to appreciate the sweetness of chocolate pushed into my mouth in the middle of strenuous basketball game. A drop of honey will be useless on the sour grapefruit, and salt and pepper will no longer be useful on the bland soup. My mom will no longer make delicious pasta and bake awesome brownies when I go back home. I won’t be able to taste how the barbecue with my classmates is much more delicious than eating steak in the luxurious restaurants.

What if I cannot hear? I will not be able to hear different kinds of birds chirping and singing from the giant tree. I won’t be able to pick up the ringing bell signaling the end of 8^th period which excites me the most in the entire day, and would not be able to chat with my friends all the way to class from the dormitory building. Going two steep hills down without prattling about trivial things is unimaginable. I would miss the sound of my friends’ adorable, frisky giggles the most.

Life without senses might, by tiny chance, might be easier. I won’t have to spend my time wearing and removing my contact lens every morning. I won’t have to listen to my mom nagging at me what to do over the phone call. I won’t have to smell the stink of my roommate’s gas. I won’t have to taste the horrible taste of broccoli that my mom forces me to eat. I won’t have to feel the piercing coldness that agonizes me every morning exercise.

Howbeit, the jubilation that my senses blesses me overwhelms those trifling comfort that the life without senses might provide. I start an another fine day by looking up the sky again, feeling thankful and grateful. 

The story of Claudia and her stalker

Cynthia Marvey, Carol Styles, Julia Peters, Betty Waters are the four members joining the new idol group…

Claudia read through the news article titled <New female idol group from DIOS Management … but where is Claudia Black?>. Her name wasn’t there. She read it again, but nothing changed. Her eyes started to tremble, and started to look through all the replies written by the public about this news.

“Why isn’t she still makin’ a debut? We should blow up the management company”

“I think she’z the top-class singer of our country”

“Does she have any troubles w/ her management?”

Yes, it was not only Claudia who was angered about this, but also the crowd. In fact, it was not the first time; every time DIOS Management launched a new idol group, Claudia was not included, although everyone thought Claudia is the one who really should be. As you would have already noticed, Claudia Black is the idol singer trainee of the DIOS Management, the biggest singer management company of United States. She is very hardworking and talented; she is good at singing, rapping, and also dancing. This is her seventh year as a trainee even though her talent has already surpassed many other professional singers who have high reputation. You cannot imagine how much effort she put to make a debut as a singer over the past seven years – she hasn’t still graduated from her high school even though she is already 22 years old!

Claudia is still positive. She thinks that the reason why she fails every year is because she is not talented enough, and believes that she can make it one day if she tries harder and harder. There are many fans who are supporting her, and their existence as the advocates of Claudia is the reason why she never gives up and keeps up her hard work. However, she has one trouble in her life that stresses her out; the stalker who knows everything about her. His name is John Ogleberry. He knows literally everything about Claudia; what time she gets up every morning, how many minutes it takes for Claudia to take a shower, how many hours Claudia practices each day, what kind of food she eats every meal, and so on. Claudia tried to sue John several times, but since she knows that it takes too much time to go through all the process that she might lose her time to practice, she hasn’t done it yet. Well, she might hasn’t done it yet because she knows that John is also one of her fans that supports her.

John was infuriated by this news. He decided to figure out what is wrong with Claudia and the DIOS. She sneaks into the company, looks for all the files about the record of Claudia, hacks the company’s computer, etc.

He could find nothing.

He then went through all the Facebook posts written by the CEO and the faculties of this company. It was certainly a tedious job; he had to read all those stupid posts and pictures from ten years ago.

Finally, he found something. He was shocked. He felt his body trembling.

March 4 th, 2009

In the status quo, people complain about the lookism that is so common in our society. People tend to judge each other with their appearance, and good-looking people are more likely to get employed. To solve the "lookism phenomena," blind auditions, blind interviews, and many other methods that respect a person's aptitude and talent more than the appearance in employment process these days. As a result, more people with high ability and intelligence are now working in many jobs. I, however, think that the person's appearance should still be the most important factor the judge a person in employment.
Nowadays, except certain disabled people, we live in a society where we should face each other. It is natural for people to look others' face foremost than other parts. And their appearance decides their "first impression." To modify this impression which is formed in an instant, it needs more than 40 hours. That's why first impression is important and YOUR appearance forms it.

People’s appearance not only affects people’s first impression but also the quality of life of people around them. I would rather work with pretty woman with dumb head than the woman with ugly face with intelligence. I do not want to spend eight hours a day with a face that I don’t want to look at, at all. It deteriorates my quality of life.

Feel offended? Look at yourself standing in front of a mirror choosing which perfume to use and which clothes to wear. See, our eyes are already focusing on your appearance. Let's take it more seriously. In this industrialized society, tertiary sector outnumbers other jobs. TO be successful on communicating with one's clients, good first impression contributes a lot.
Let's trace back to past years. The standard of beauty has been altered all the time, but the term ‘beauty’ has existed. Men competed each other for beauty, of beauties got to choose their spouse and spend rest of their life happily. However, for those who weren't, it was a bit harsh. Anyway, there are no absolute value as beauty when judging others.

Do you see how the CEO is stained with the lookism?

Do you now see why the CEO did not allow Claudia to make a debut over the past seven years?

John decided to reveal this post to the public. The entire crowd was enraged. The protest in front of DIOS Management building took place every day, led by John Ogleberry. The CEO was fairly offended by John’s actions, but could not do anything because it is the nonchanging fact he uploaded that ridiculous post that can offend numerous people. He could not bear all the criticism, and left his office. People recommended John as a new CEO of DIOS Management. Eventually, John took over the company and became a new president of the company where Claudia is working with. An irritating stalker who sneaked into an idol trainee’s house becoming a president of that trainee’s company…! Quite Amazing!

John decided to change people’s mindset about the appearance inside the company. There were hundreds of talented trainees that were not allowed to make a debut just because the previous CEO extremely favored pretty girls. John actively helped them, including Claudia, to make a successful debut with their brilliant ability. On the other hand, there were many singers that have already made a debut but was not quite talented. John tried to improve their capability rather than applying more and more plastic surgeries. DIOS finally acquired a reputation as a most sensible and rational management company in the country, and what happened to Claudia?

She became the singer who is staying at the top of the Billboard Chart for the longest time! 

The Value of Beauty

[Write formally and academically in staunch opposition to normally held views]

In the status quo, people complain about the lookism that is so common in our society. People tend to judge each other with their appearance, and good-looking people are more likely to get employed. To solve the "lookism phenomena," blind auditions, blind interviews, and many other methods that respect a person's aptitude and talent more than the appearance in employment process these days. As a result, more people with high ability ad intelligence are now working in many jobs. I, however, think that the person's appearance should still be the most important factor the judge a person in employment.
Nowadays, except certain disabled people, we live in a society where we should face each other. It is natural for people to look others' face foremost than other parts. And their appearance decides their "first impression." To modify this impression which is formed in an instant, it needs more than 40 hours. That's why first impression is important and YOUR appearance forms it. Feel offended? Look at yourself standing in front of a mirror choosing which perfume to use and which clothes to wear. See, our are already focusing on your appearance. Let's take i more seriously. In this industrialized society, tertiary sector outnumbers other jobs. TO be successful on communicating with one's clients, good first impression contributes a lot.
Let's trace back to past years. The standard of beauty has been altered all the time, but i had been existed. Men competed each other for beauty, of beauties got to choose their spouse and spend rest of their life happily. However, those who weren't it was a bit harsh. Anyway, there are no absolute value as beauty.

Equal Education

“Let us not choose a career in thoughts of personal advance, but choose a career based on talents and aptitude.” This is the part of our school’s motto. I think my school, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, is doing a good job in terms of the ideal educational system that Malcom Gladwell is dreaming of in his fourth episode, “Carlos Doesn’t Remember.” Our school selects 150 talented and potential ones among the students throughout the whole nation each year, provides them appropriate, high-quality education which suits them in order to open a better future. However, Malcom is also aware of those students who are as talented as the ones who are recognized talented, but are not provided high-quality education due to lacking advocates. He thinks that our educational system has to play a better job selecting gifted students from the very beginning. I totally agree with his idea, but I have another point of view that people should also consider seriously.

If more talented students get selected and receive better education, what happens to all the other students who are “less talented?” Some people might think there is nothing to worry about because “less talented students” do not have any qualification for good quality education and they are the ones who need to learn from the very basics. However, the reality is that as the interest in education is excessively concentrated to smarter students, good teachers are all placed in the “smart students teaching” education. In other words, less smart students would have to study with less prestigious teachers.

I think the irony exists here. If the purpose of separating students based on their talents is to accelerate talented students and help boost less smart ones’ potential, they should both receive high-quality education. Just leaving unselected students ignorantly does not change the quality of education, quality of the whole students in the future, and the quality and level of our society in long term.

In order to achieve the goal of “prestigious education,” we should provide the quality of education equally among students. I do not mean that we should not separate the students based on levels. We have to provide high quality of education to each group of students that best suits each level of talents. Smarter ones would be smarter, and less smart ones will get the opportunity to sow and boost their gifted potential one day.

This is how we can realistically accomplish “equal education” in our society.

Is peer pressure always bad?

Is peer pressure always bad?

When people hear the word “peer pressure,” it is easy for them to think of the negative phenomena of minorities tending to follow majorities’ idea when making a decision. True, there are a lot of negative sides of peer pressure, but there is certainly a need to reconsider about the misunderstanding of peer pressure. I think more positive than negative effects exist.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the peer pressure that I overcame when I first came to KMLA. I have never stayed up all night before the quiz or exams, but all students in KMLA were doing that. I felt quite pressured. I was worried about the possibility of dozing during the exam. However, I was more worried about what would other students think about me if I go to bed early while they stay up late. I decided to stay up just like others, feeling the “peer pressure” within the students at our school. The result was successful. There were many problems related to the content that I studied the night before, and if I hadn’t studied, I would have messed up my exams. Feeling the peer pressure in the group that studies hard encourages us to study harder like others. This applies not only to studying, but also any faction of friends not smoking, no drugs, exercising together, or any other activities that are beneficial to our lives.

Peer pressure really can be good or bad depending on what results will that specific activity will bring up. However, I think that changing people’s attitudes toward peer pressure can also determine whether peer pressure is good or bad. Rather, this can reduce the frequency of bad peer pressure. I believe that peer pressure is fundamentally caused by people’s likelihood of not understanding the diversity of thoughts among others. People tend to think different is wrong. However, this is not true. We should learn how to accept other’s thoughts, even if that specific thoughts are from the minority group. If people do know how to respect minorities’ thoughts, they would not be conscious about others’ attention, and finally would not feel any peer pressure.

Being encouraged by the majorities can act as a good peer pressure in some occasions.

In spite of these good peer pressures, we should acknowledge the existence of diversity in thoughts. We are different, not wrong.

Why Tokenism cannot solve the fundamental problems of gender equality

Why Tokenism cannot solve the fundamental problems of gender equality

The term gender equality refers to the belief that everyone should receive equal treatment and not be discriminated against based on gender. Our social phenomena that shows the existence of the presidency of women, quota systems in jobs, and the women parking lots may seem like the gender equality has finally settled in, but the irony still remains.

Ever since women were granted suffrage in 1920 in the United States, many laws were passed in order to further enhance women’s rights. Many corporations established quota systems to protect women and modernize the employment system based on the ideals of the society: vowing equal rights to both genders. As a result, women not only got to express their political point of views, but also got employed in a white-collar job.

Women’s quality of life seemed like to improve, but it was not actually true. The effect was temporary. They could not get promoted above certain position even though they had stayed in that job longer than men. The system that kids’ last name follows their father’s is now currently abolished but our society is not that acceptable about that. This is intensifying the patriarchal ideology in our world. Also, China has the reserved seats system in the house for women, but is known as the country with the most severe gender equality issues. Many women are not registered as citizens in China, and their rights are being trampled. Mexico also has the legislated candidate quota system but Mexican individuals do not have guaranteed rights realistically.

If all these systems were established and maintained in pure and good intentions, the fundamental problems of gender equality would have been solved from the very origin. However, people, or the nations, cared too much about the outward looks and the national image. This could just solve the short-term problems, which could not effectively eradicate all the institutional and structural problems and causes. In addition, according to moral licensing, people tend to be immoral from the point where they think they have behaved morally up to their certain standard. Thus, in this case, people think this social laws and common laws have made their thoughts moral, so they tend to be immoral to the individuals later on. This is how this vicious cycle works and individuals’ rights get harmed.

I think the most significant factor in solving this problem is the matter of people’s attitudes. As a girl in the Confucianist country, I think I also have the prejudice about women even towards myself. Women should stop wait for others to protect their rights, but rather be more confident about their existence in our society and finally achieve the “gender equality” together.