Another election season is coming
By Kim See-bong
Thousands of years ago when humans were living far more innocently and less greedily than now, people were said to be so naive that the role of the king was the target of fierce competition and even fewer wanted to assume the task of kingship.
At such a fabulous time there lived a strange old man in China, who always stayed on the branch of a tree and would not come down to the ground. One day the incumbent king was bored of his role and wanted to find a person to hand it over to. And he heard of the strange old man. Considering this old man as his successor, he visited the old man and asked him to assume his throne.
Hearing this, he came down to the ground and ran off without even looking at the king. The king stood there stunned. He followed the old man until he arrived at a nearby stream. The old man washed his ears. When the king asked him what he was doing he replied, ``I am cleaning my ears because they are contaminated by the dirty proposition.'' For the old man, the talk of becoming a king was something offensive to his ears.
A few days ago, I was in a barber's having my hair cut. There were some others waiting their turn and the news on TV was about a politician who attempted, but failed, to fly out of the country on a fake passport. He had been under investigation for involvement in bribery cases.
One of the patrons there said, ``It's even funnier than a comedy. Why don't we import all the politicians we need from outside with quality warranted?'' Their reaction to the news was cold and sarcastic.
The widespread distrust in our politicians is so deep that there's even a saying that the only job we don't need at all is a politician. These politicians rarely open their mouths without telling lies, promising pies in the sky and drawing bad checks. Most of the social unrest we are experiencing at present is actually caused by them. If any social problems such as embezzlement or scams occur, politicians are involved in them without fail.
So much so that Lord Acton, who once said, ``Absolute power absolutely corrupts,'' also might have as well said, ``All politicians absolutely corrupt.'' Perhaps, this is why the legendary old man in ancient China ran away to wash his ears upon being offered the throne. He was convinced that nothing is so filthy and corrupt as politics. It was so disgusting that he would not even hear of it.
How lamentable! The flower named parliamentary democracy must have been so scathed in our country that it might wither before it blossoms. My dear politicians, are you troublemakers by nature? Or is the stage of ``politics'' you jumped on after election victory problematic? Where are you going? Politicians, we don't expect you to become a beacon to your people. Only act normally, ordinarily and with common sense.
Now the election season has come again and concurrently, concerns about our politicians preoccupies me again. I hope this spring will not be cruel to us. The election of politicians shouldn't be the selection of scum, but of the few who can lead us as a lighthouse does to the ship sailing on the rough sea in the darkness.
For this purpose, we must carefully weigh the importance of each of our votes and exercise our rights in the correct way. And then I hope the day will come soon when I will be able to write on the bright side of our politics and praise our politicians.
The writer is principal of Polyglot Day School in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. He can be reached at glsacademy@dreamwiz.com.