KoreaTimes(256) - Columnists, Opinion, page 1

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Opinion

Columnists

Tue, October 22, 2019 | 12:22

Courage to change

I grew up in the 1950s and '60s in the provincial town of Wonju, the Boise of Korea (in that it was largely known for its potato production). During my 12 years of schooling in Wonju and four years in college, I was an excellent student, top of the class most of the time, except in college. I was quite confident about my academic standing.

2019-10-04 17:07

Our local library book club recently read “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens, which has led the New York Times fiction best seller list for most of 2019 and will soon be a film.

2019-09-08 15:29

Doing the kind thing

On Aug. 2, my husband Tim and I celebrated our engagement ceremony that happened 50 years ago in 1969. Tim's parents flew 6,921 miles from New York to Seoul to meet me and my family for the first time.

2019-08-09 17:18

Recently I have been reading a rather unusual book called “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating” by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. Bedridden and immobilized by an unspecified disease, the author receives a plant from a friend and is intrigued by a common woodland snail that peeps over the rim of the pot and becomes, in effect, her rescue animal. She reads everything that can illuminate her curiosity about this snail, and the research keeps her focused and comforted in the stillness of her room. She forgets about her immobilized state and her sickness as she shifts her attention to her companion snail.

2019-07-12 17:31

My global family

I spent the first week of June this year among 25,000 Rotarians from 160 countries who were attending the Rotary International Convention (its 110th) in Hamburg, Germany. There are 1.2 million Rotarians in 200 countries, so this represented only two percent of our organization. It was my very first Rotary Convention, and an exciting and moving experience. I had never been surrounded by people from 160 countries. The most diversity I had ever experienced previously was among the 45 or so nationalities at the Union Church in Hong Kong during our stay there 20 years ago.

2019-06-13 18:31

One son and four daughters

When I was engaged to be married to Tim in 1968, he casually mentioned that he would like to have 17 children. Of course, I ignored such a crazy idea and stopped after two daughters (they are now 45 and 42). But maybe he wasn't kidding - over the years I've noticed that Tim truly loves children. I have marveled at his enjoyment of his three grandchildren as a doting grandpa. If we walk down a street, I notice cute dogs, but he smiles sweetly at young children.

2019-05-19 17:29

Breathe in, breathe out

Our daughters gave me an Apple watch last Christmas; I am still learning how to use it. Every day from time to time, this watch vibrates and tells me to stand and breathe. I used to ignore its instructions but now I tend to obey. I recognize the importance of standing and breathing intellectually but I am somewhat self-conscious doing it if I am with others. When my husband and I watch Korean dramas to keep up our modern Korean vocabulary (currently we are enjoying “Second to Last Love”), I don't hesitate to stand and breathe. He knows I am trying to comply with my watch's orders.

2019-04-21 17:40

This month in history

One of the things I do regularly each week is to share with my Rotary Club members in Bal Harbour, Florida an eclectic list of miscellaneous historical events that happened on that day - “today in history.” The recent 100th anniversary of Korea's March 1, 1919 Independence Movement against Japanese occupation inspired me to do the same thing for the month of March. So here is “this month in history.”

2019-03-21 17:17

Chance meetings

These days I tend to look back at my life and become contemplative. Today I thought about all the wonderful people I have as my friends. They are mostly relationships I've made through connections from schools, jobs, places we lived, churches, tennis teams, reading groups, charity work and art leagues etc. But there have been many chance meetings along the way.

2019-02-24 17:29

We are what we think

I try to check myself whenever my thoughts wander and bring to mind anything sad, depressing and discouraging. Thoughts of a friend dying of a cancer, news of a friend's mother's sudden death, a friend's unemployment, an angry e-mail disputing my liberal political stance. It is difficult to combat the flooding thoughts that weigh me down. But I know I must.

2019-01-27 16:58

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Code of Ethics