Letter to a Polish Friend
By Kim Heung-sook
Dear Andrzej, how are you doing? There are a thousand possible reasons why people break their long-held silences. For me, it was the scarlet petals of Kaffir lilies. I can't tell you why, but your name just popped into my head as I was gazing upon the flowers in my small garden of pots the other day and I became compelled to write for the first time in 15 years.
Some flowers were in full bloom and others were wilting on the brink of demise. As I peered at the withering petals, the word death crept into my mind and led me to think about two tragedies ― one involving your president and his staff, and the other, the late President Roh Moo-hyun of Korea.
When in bloom, Kaffir lilies brighten their surroundings even at night. After their blossoming, the flower of six petals is reduced to a modest triangle and falls in a dignified manner that few can mimic. That may be the reason why Kaffir lilies are called ``gunja-ran" in Korean. ``Gunja" means a virtuous gentleman of great intelligence and ``ran" means orchid. I have yet to figure out how ``lily" in English has become ``orchid" in Korean or vice versa.
Dear Andrzej, now that the state funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife is over, you may be trying hard to return to so-called normalcy. However, don't hurry, my friend, because a broken heart needs more time to mend than a broken window.
Your latest tragedy reminds me of a great loss we Koreans suffered back in October 1983. It was the bombing at Martyr's Mausoleum in the capital of what is now Myanmar, which killed 21 high-profile Koreans and wounded 46 others. The incident was reported to have been an assassination attempt of the then Korean President Chun Doo-hwan. It was foiled and he wasn't harmed as his arrival was delayed due to traffic.
A military general-turned dictator, Chun was not popular at all and the people wouldn't have lamented much if he had been sacrificed. However, the sorrow for the others was deep and lasted for years, because the victims, including foreign minister Lee Bum-suk, were thought to be the ``cream of the crop'' among their contemporaries.
Since your people loved Kaczynski, I am afraid the sorrow will persist and the feeling of loss will linger on after the cause of the fatal air crash is found. When Roh committed suicide on May 23 last year, probably unable to endure the humiliation his successor's government imposed on him, we Koreans were numb with anguish for quite some time. With the first anniversary of his death a month away, people have already begun to prepare memorial events.
I am sorry that most Western leaders were prevented from attending President Kaczynski's funeral. The volcanic ash from Iceland clouded more than the atmosphere. It is relieving, though, to hear that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was there. Since Kaczynski and 95 others died on their way to Russia to commemorate the Katyn massacre, the Russian leader's presence at the funeral was important. I understand your country lost about 22,000 people at the hands of the Russian secret police in the Katyn Forest in April and May of 1940.
Even if the mass killing and the latest crash cost your country a great number of brilliant minds, you still have many outstanding people who are eager to devote themselves to the future of your country. When the people of Poland and Korea go to the polls in June, I hope we will see the best candidates elected and carry on the righteous pursuit that was interrupted by the untimely deaths.
When we first met as a visitor and a guide in Warsaw, I was impressed by you, not by your handsome features but by the love you had for your country. Your patriotism was ardent yet sensible unlike that of Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who seems to believe he can rewrite history for Japan's sake. His latest nonsense declares that Korea chose to be colonized by Japan to avoid becoming part of either China or Russia.
Dear Andrzej, our two countries have suffered more than our fair share of misfortunes in our respective histories largely at the hands of aggressive neighbors. I sincerely hope Russia will do whatever is necessary to appease the decades-old rancor among Poles. I also hope to see our neighbor acknowledge what it did to us and people like Ishihara ousted from public service.
If and when we see each other again, I would like to share my Kaffir lilies with you and talk about memorable lives and deaths. We can't determine one's lifespan or how to die, but we can at least choose who to remember. Take care, my friend, until then.