'The Body' Reading Journal #2

'The Body' Reading Journal

             In the beginning, I was reluctant to read ‘The Body’. The reason was that ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, another novella by Stephen was incredibly good and I didn’t expect that much fun from ‘The Body’. However, my prediction was completely wrong. ‘The Body’ was fun as much as the previous novella I read. It wasn’t just about the story, structure, or the description. It was about Furthermore, it gave me some very interesting and important morals to think about.

             The reason I liked the “The Body” was because it was very similar to the experience that I had when I was fifteen and was very interesting to compare what Gordon felt in the book. The experience I had happened in the ski resort. When I was fifteen, I went skiing with three of my best friends. Driven with the vigor and competitive spirit, we started to race down the slope, not paying a careful attention to where we were going. About an hour later, four of us were in a middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and trees. It was getting dark. It was terrifying at first, but together, we went through the wood for few hours and found our way into the lodgings. It was a very heart-thumping and dangerous experience, but it was also an unforgettable chance to bond and realize the friendship I had with my friends. Of course, the adventure I had wasn’t as life-threatening, planned, and solemn as the adventure Gordon had. However, the way Gordon felt towards his friends was very much similar. Especially, the scene where Gordon and Teddy fought and the talk between Chris and Gordon comforting each other were alike. Bringing out the old memories and mixing it with the imagination from the book was another new world of reading and became a primary factor of enjoying the novella.

             The second reason of my high praise towards “The Body” comes from the morals that I received from the book. The most important and controversial moral that book passed on was a moral about ‘real friendship’. In the novella, Gordon says “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.  Jesus, does anyone?”  I don’t really agree with the ‘twelve’ part. In my opinion, the reason that Gordon mentioned ‘twelve’ is because friends are never so open and sincere towards each other after that age. I think that is partially correct. Still, I think that friends can be as open as the age of twelve until they become adults. This thought threw me a question about ‘real friendship’. Is the ‘real friendship’ all about being open and sincere? I have various values towards friendship like trusting or loyalty, but I came to a decision that sincerity is the most important value. If friends are not true to each other, they won’t be able to satisfy any other categories that I value. Other than this, “The Body” gave me much to think about like ‘what kind of friends should I get along with’. Think over and over, the morals were another big factor for me to enjoy the work.

             All in one, “The Body” was a completely different experience from the “The Shawshank Redemption”. While “The Shawshank Redemption” was more tense and spine-tingling, “The Body” was more philosophical and heart-warming. I personally enjoyed “The Body” more and would like to recommend it to anyone at my age pondering about what a real friend is. 

The Body Reading Journal #1 (~30 pgs.)

Reflective Essay - A Big, Fat Zero

A Big, Fat Zero

             “Tick, tock, tick tock…” Sound of the clock seemed to retreat from consciousness rapidly. I sleepily looked up and checked the time – it was 3:30 A.M. I looked down again. My ‘US History’ book was open. Every week, in AP US History class, I have this horrible chapter review quiz. The contents were quite challenging and it needed some time and diligence to get a good score on each test. I had managed to get decent scores until that week. However, this week, all the assignments and quizzes were cramped. I couldn’t flunk the quiz because of two reasons – one, because my quiz scores were kind of my dignity, a show-off of my diligence and efforts. Two, it was both a promise and a challenge that I made for myself to get a score above 9 out of 10 every quiz. Unfortunately, that promise I made in the beginning of the semester was in verge of breaking. Second by second, my head moved up and down periodically, words blurring under my eyes. I don’t know when I slept, but when I opened my eyes, the room was bright with sunshine.

             “Oh, no! Ah~! What have I done? I haven’t memorized the names at all!” Sadly, there was no more time. I trudged to first period class, trying to devise a way to squeeze some time out to memorize the confusing names and regional names. There was only one way – to ignore the lectures and focus on the US History. Since I had the quiz on the seventh period, it seemed like I could actually manage it. Still, it was a two-sided blade, since I’d have to catch up two hours of my class and I couldn’t guarantee a score that was over nine. I pondered for a while. At last, I decided to count on my luck.

             “All right everyone, please turn your pages to ~” All the students turned their pages. One book was different – my book. I started to look over the chapter, trying to stuff the important points in my head. “Jun! What are you doing?” Friend next to me asked. I couldn’t do anything but smile. Behind that smile, face full of grief was staring back.

             “Thump, thump, thump. My heart started thumping, afraid I’ll get caught. The things that I stuffed in slipped out as if they were put into a broken jar. Soon, I found myself reading the same sentence for the fifteenth time. “Hey? Excuse me? That student over there, what are you doing?” My heart froze. I slowly looked up, fearing the malicious glare from science teacher.

             “Please stand up” said the teacher. I began to pull away from the chair. “No, not you, silly! I meant the student in front of you!” To my greatest luck, friend in front of me was caught for dozing. Thanks to him, I could ‘partially’ concentrate on the upcoming quiz until end of the class.

             Fourth period came faster than usual. I walked slowly towards the lecture room, dragging my feet. My heart started thumping again, but this time, because of confidence. I was pretty proud of myself for memorizing all the contents in two hours since other four hours were just impossible to even take out the US History textbook.

             “All right students please put all your books away and take out a piece of paper.” Unsatisfied groans and hopeless moans could be heard here and there. I thought, ‘Well, I studied… ha!’ The quiz started. Sound of pencils writing on the paper could be heard around me.

             My head turned blank. I tried to think of the names and treaties, but it was just out of grasp! Whenever I had the feeling that I had it, the word seemed to retreat to the back of my head. I skipped first two questions within seconds. I shook my head – there was no way I’ll flunk this test. Unfortunately, the shock of missing the first two questions was great enough to influence the rest. It was over in just a few minutes. My answer sheet was blank. White blank. There wasn’t even a pencil mark on it. I just ducked my head of embarrassment and disappointment. I just couldn’t understand what had happened.

             The next day, in science class, I couldn’t understand a one thing that professor said. Even though I tried to catch up, it just seemed impossible without professor’s explanations. Then again, came the dreadful English class came back. Teacher called the names out one by one, passing the scores out. As my turn came closer and closer, my heart beat faster. I received my score, turned back. Slowly, I turned the score over. Then, at last, I saw it. A zero. Not just any zero, but a ‘big’, ‘fat’ zero. It was such a fresh shock, disappointment, and sadness to see the zero, even though I knew I’d have gotten it. I laughed and joked with my friends of my first zero. However, behind my smiling face, failure, defeat, and disappointment were filled up, trying to burst forth.

             Now as I’m writing this essay, I yet face another quiz tomorrow. However, this time, I’m ready. Through that experience I had concerning the US History quiz, I learned two things. First, I sorely learned that concentrating hard on each class is the best way to study. Even though you think you can catch up later on, it’s your teacher who will give out homework, quizzes, and tests. The best way to learn is to listen to the teacher’s classes. The second lesson I learned is that everything comes from continuous and diligent effort. There’s no such thing that comes by through luck. Even that luck is achieved by endeavor. I was foolish to think I could pull off a trick to avoid the zero.

             “Tick, tock, tick, tock…” Sound of the clock seems to retreat from my consciousness rapidly – it’s time to sleep.

TED Video Review - Mathemagic

TED Video Review - Mathemagic

             In this innovative TED video, the presenter performed some mathematical calculations that seemed impossible to do in ones’ heads. At first, he started with multiplying two three-digit numbers together, randomly getting the numbers from the audience. In this first part, the performance was rather insipid, since such calculation didn’t seem too hard to do. Following that, Mr. Benjamin (the performer) started to square the two and three digit numbers, beating the calculators to the answers. Still, this part was also banal, since the calculation wasn’t as challenging as I hoped. However, as the show continued, Mr. Benjamin started to perform prodigious calculations that made my mouth ajar. He started to astonish by squaring four-digit numbers insanely fast. At first, I was dubious whether he had a former negotiation with certain audiences. Of course, my doubt proved false as he chose the audience randomly as possible and answered with incessant speed. Next thing Mr. Benjamin did was to find the missing number in the product of two three digit numbers when the volunteer told the other numbers scrambled. This was far more cryptic than the performance before it since his speed of calculation was as fast as the one before. The calculations were concise and were worthy of acclaim. Next, Mr. Benjamin started to figure out the birth ‘day’ regardless of what year, month, or day. At this point of the show, he seemed so auspicious; I didn’t even have a chance to awe. When the show became a bit tedious, Mr. Benjamin moved on to the days in 1800’s. Some audiences’ futile efforts to refute performer’s skills were beaten down by accurate calculations from Mr. Benjamin. His last and best magical calculation was squaring five-digit number, thinking out loud what’s going inside his head when he is calculating. When he started, I found out what he meant be ‘thinking out loud’ because he used words in place of numbers to facilitate the calculation. The indifferent mind that I tried to keep in the start of the video was apprehensive about the chance of Mr. Benjamin getting the wrong answer. After a while, the performer, still a bit vacillate, shouted out the answer, and he was right. This TED video didn’t only give me awe and astonishment, but it also gave a lesson that profound knowledge or skill in one thing can be only obtained by having much fervor and by being a fanatic. Throughout the video, I felt that Art Benjamin, the performer, had an incredible passion and could feel that he put enormous effort and time to achieve the show. This told me that if someone wanted to be best at any field at all, they had to put their best efforts. It was a very entertaining video and learned a lot about calculations and what it takes to be a master of some field.

Review : Slam Dunk

<SLAM DUNK>

               Slam Dunk, by Inoue Takehiko, is one of the best comics I have ever seen. I was a comic fan since I was a child. Especially, sports comics were my favorites. However, unlike other similar sports comics, Slam Dunk not only made me to play basketball, but also taught me teamwork, passion, and courage. Ever since I first came across this comic when I was 13 years old, I read the series over ten times, and every time, Slam Dunk helped me go through many hardships, renewing my hopes and dreams. Although most sports comics unfold in a similar manner, Slam Dunk is different in many ways. Without a doubt, Slam Dunk is a MUST-READ work for anyone entering the world of comics.

These are the four criteria to evaluate and recommend the comic and give a brief preview to anyone who's willing to enter the world of Slam Dunk.

1. ACTION

               The action of the Slam Dunk is outstanding. In every chapter and every page, there is heart-thumping action ready to burst out of the pages. Unlike other mediocre sports comics where they put much effort in pointless story layout and details, Slam Dunk is packed with action. You get absorbed to the action so much, you can't let go of the book until it ends. Every time I turn the pages, I hold my breath for another spectacular action. The drive-ins, dunks, dribbles, steals, passes, and shoots are well-combined and well-placed to avoid the boredom of the readers. Even though the moves are similar in the foundation, every move seems to be different and breath-taking. Thus, without hesitation, I give Slam Dunk five stars in the category 'action'.

2. MORAL

               Slam Dunk gives the readers many morals that really reach deep within the readers hearts. Unlike other stories or comics where readers just 'realize' the morals, Slam Dunk actually makes readers 'feel' them. The first, and the most important lesson earned from the story is 'teamwork'. In the story, the players of the team are first all seperated and ununited. They all have different reasons and personal affairs for being in the team. Also, they are all trouble makers of the school. However, as they practice and play games together, they start to trust each other and finally become a team. The process of this is so beautiful and heartwarming, it remains in the readers minds long after finishing the book. In addition, Slam Dunk also teaches 'passion'. Throughout the story, players face difficulties that seem impossible to overcome. However, driven by their passion towards basketball, they subjugate the difficulties. This taught me to have passion and never give up on whatever you love to do and I hope it gives a similar moral to other readers. Without a doubt, Slam Dunk is a five-star story that gives out morals that cannot be forgotten.

3. STORY & DEVELOPMENT

               The story and development of the Slam Dunk is not much different than the other sports comics. Throughout the story, the team faces very difficult opponents and as they persevere through that, they become a  team. Also, game after game, each player's potentials burst out, making them a player of a whole different level. So, looking at the story point of view, Slam Dunk doesn't show much difference from other sport comics. However, looked at a dramatic point of view, Slam Dunk has nothing to feel inferior towards other comics. The tension and the drama that Slam Dunk shows to the readers make them sweat from their hands. To prevent the spoilers, I'll just wrap the drama right here. Thus, I give four stars for the story and development category.

4. DESCRIPTION

               Looking at the descriptive view, Slam Dunk is one of the best compared to any other comics. The intensity, the effort, the desperation, and the teamwork is very well described through the pictures, the readers can actually sympathize with the characters in the story, experiencing the similar emotions in their imagination. The pictures show every drop of sweat on the players' bodies and wrinkles on their faces, being very descriptive Through such descriptions, readers are able to feel as if they are right inside the story, and become closer to the characters. It gives the comic reality and sense of excitement. The comic may be white-and-black, however because of that, the description is more accurate and heart-touching. Thus, I give a five star for the description category.

Three Words to Describe Myself

Bird, Peach, and Hiker

             When ever I look at the birds flying through the sunset sky, I can’t deny that they have something very much similar to me. Birds fly away wherever they prefer to go whenever they want to go. Just like the birds, I do what I desire whenever I feel like doing so. There is no way to force me to act the way that I don’t want to. I have a free soul, not bound by any restrictions or responsibilities, trusting myself of doing the right thing. Also, peach and I possess similar characteristics too. Peach consist the soft juicy thing outside and hard seed inside. Like that I have a personality of being soft outside to other people and hard to me inside. Lastly, I feel like hiker often. Hikers only look upward and forward, never giving up. Like that, I only look on forward and never look back until I achieve the goal.

Three Words to Describe Myself

Bird, Peach, and Hiker

             When ever I look at the birds flying through the sunset sky, I can’t deny that they have something very much similar to me. Birds fly away wherever they prefer to go whenever they want to go. Just like the birds, I do what I desire whenever I feel like doing so. There is no way to force me to act the way that I don’t want to. I have a free soul, not bound by any restrictions or responsibilities, trusting myself of doing the right thing. Also, peach and I possess similar characteristics too. Peach consist the soft juicy thing outside and hard seed inside. Like that I have a personality of being soft outside to other people and hard to me inside. Lastly, I feel like hiker often. Hikers only look upward and forward, never giving up. Like that, I only look on forward and never look back until I achieve the goal.

Metafiction - A Dream Come True (two completely different stories)

A Dream Come True - Love Letter

             "It was March 17th when I first saw you. That was the time when I just arrived in America and couldn't speak English except the simple words like 'yes' or 'cool. School was a torture every day. I couldn't understand a thing that teachers talked about. I couldn't hang out with anyone because there was nobody next to me. I was lost in a middle of nowhere. I felt abandoned and alone. That's when I saw you, next to me, shining as brightly as a star upon a black sky. 

          Yes, I have a crush on you. Every single word from your mouth was beautiful, even though I couldn't understand much of it. I was quite sure you were saying something pretty. I strongly desired to listen and speak to you. However, the obstacle of language segregated us so firmly. I couldn't speak a word to you because I was afraid that you'd avoid me. 

          I wanted to tell you many things. I wanted to tell you that you smile lit the darkest corners of my life. I wanted to tell you that my heart was yours. But the only thing I was able to say to you was just "yes" and "cool". Because of this language barrier, all I could do was to wait for that day I'm able to communicate with you fully, and just watch you pass by the lockers every day. A year passed and my patience had reached its limit. I started the morning with a thumping heart.

          You are beautiful, as usual, and I am no more than a coward. You stayed next to me and helped me to go through everything I suffered at school. However, I now have the courage. And today is the day. I am here, behind you." she said, as she read through my letter.

             “Hey, this is really sweet! I never knew that you had such sweetness inside you!” she said teasingly.

             “This is embarrassing. It’s been years since I sent that first letter you.” Said I, scratching back of my head, like a child who has been caught eating a cookie.

             “Anyway, that letter didn’t turn out well.”

             “Hmm… yeah… it didn’t turn out as I expected…”

            Behind her, with my heart thumping, face red as a tomato, I held my breath as she turned towards me.

             “Well, Jun, I’m surprised, I just… just… don’t know what to say!” she said, her voice trembling slightly and her face a bit blushing.

             “Don’t…don’t get this wrong. I mean… well, it’s true that… that I like you and I’d be really glad to go out with you or anything. But this is not like a confession…no, it is a confession but… it’s not to ask you to be my girl…girlfriend, right?” I said, stammering like an idiot, with my brain blank, not understanding anything I was saying.

             “Hey, hey, calm down. Hehe. This is real sweet. I’m glad that I’ve meant so much for you and… and… you know… I wouldn’t mind going out with you. I… I liked you to as my friend too…” she said, deliberately avoiding eye contact and blushing further more.

Her words seemed to hang around the air for few seconds. Awkward silence… I couldn’t hide a smile on my face.

             “Really? Wow! Hahaha! Yay!” nothing came in my mind other than these words.

             “But why letter? You could have easily confessed face-to-face right?” she said, smiling too.

             “Yeah… about that… the reason I wrote letter is because I wanted you to remember me…”

             “Huh? Why remember you? You will be next to me every day!” she said, her smile slightly fading.

             “… I … I’m leaving America in three days. You know, I came here because of my dad and his work here is over now. I’ve always wanted to confess to you someday, but couldn’t grab a chance. I would have liked to give you a present but I wasn’t sure whether you were going to accept my confession or not.” I said, with a defeated voice and disappointment crossing the face.

             “Wha… what? You never told me about this! Why didn’t you? oh my god! If you told me, we would have had a least a farewell party… and after all this… you are leaving?” she said, with a hint of sudden anger and frustration in her words.

             “I just wanted to ‘disappear’ quietly… but I couldn’t leave without leaving anything to you.”

Another few seconds of awkward silence followed. I felt defeated. There was nothing I could do.

             “When are you coming back?” she finally said, after few minutes.

             “What?” I shouted, surprised by sudden question.

             “WHEN ARE YOU COMING BACK?” she shouted back.

             “Umm…. I have no idea. I mean, I didn’t know about this departure until a week ago.”

             “Alright, fine. I’m going to keep in contact with you until you come back to here. I don’t care how long it will take you. But, I can wait. It’s too sad to end right here, right?” she said, forcing a smile on her face.

             “………….” I couldn’t say anything. I was just too grateful to her for the decision.

             “Yeah, and I kept my promise, right?” she said, looking straightly at my eyes.

             “I was a bit surprised. But you did. And I came back here as I told you right?” I said, this time, not avoiding her stare.

             “I can’t tell you how great it feels for you to be here with me.” She said, sweetly.

             “Well, enough said. It’s all behind us. Now, we have a date delayed for 7 years, don’t we?”

             “A date, huh? You never asked me out or anything.”

             “Alright ma’am. Will you go out with me?”

             “You are missing a word there!” she said, teasingly.

             “Will you PLEASE go out with me?” I asked, smile spreading on my face.

             “Hmm. A girl like me is too good for you, but I’ll give you a chance.”

It’s been seven years after I sent that confession letter to her - It seems like my dream finally came true.

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A Dream Come True - Exams

this is a totally different piece of work of metafiction and doesn't have any relation with the work above.

               “Tick-tock, tick-tock”

As the clock ticked down, a drop of sweat ran down my back.

             “Tick-tock, tick-tock”

The dreadful sound was marching towards the end. My brain started to turn blank. My hands started to tremble.

             ‘Will this be solved this way? No! Then there’s no answer!’

             “Tick-tock, tick tock”

             ‘Man! There’s only a few minutes left and I have three more questions to solve. I have seen this question before… Ah… What was the key?’

             “Tick-tock, tick-tock”

             ‘Oh… I’m doomed! I’ll just have to flunk this test. What will I tell my parents? Wait, the test isn’t over yet. C’mon! I can solve at least one question with the time left!’

             “Tick-tock, tick-tock”

My brain started to buzz again, desperate to avoid chastisement and vicious scolding from my parents. My hands begin to move and started to scratch something at the test paper. However, there was no way that the problem would get suddenly solved in a few seconds.

             “Tick-tock, tick-tock”

             “Thump-thump, thump-thump”

As the test was reaching towards its last seconds, not only the clock was ticking, but my heart was trembling vigorously too, stimulated by the thrill of being so pressed by the time and the dread of flunking the test. Soon, nothing could be heard except the thumping sound of my heart.

             “Thump-thump, thump-thump”

             ‘Ah… shi*! Why I haven’t studied harder before? All those time I wasted, I could have memorized all these theorems and proofs that would have helped to solve this question. Blah… I will just have to skip the hard process. Now, what will be the reasonable answer here…’

             “Thump-thump, thump-thump”

             ‘Will thirty-three be right? No? Maybe thirty-four is the right answer? Grr… Alright, I’ll just go with thirty-three.”

             “Tick-tock, tick---beep!!!”

As I scratched the answer down the answer sheet, the clock stopped, and the bell rang, signaling the end of the horrible math exam.

             “Alright students, remember that your test sheet is your answer sheet. Make sure that you drop it in the box below me before you leave the class! Hey there! The test is over! Please turn in your answer sheets!”

It was over. All over. I failed. I flunked the test.

“Hey! Jun!” someone was calling from somewhere behind. It would be probably John, asking me how the math exam was. I didn’t want to answer. So I just put my head down on to desk, sad and defeated.

…

…

             “Bee-beep, bee-beep, bee-beep”

             ‘Huh? What’s this sound? Did I sleep all through the second test?’

             “Hey, Jun!”

             ‘Oh, it’s John again. Maybe that’s someone’s cell phone.’

             “Go away, I don’t want to talk about the math exam.

             “Hey! Jun! Wake up man! Hey! You will be late! It’s almost 8! Hey c’mon, are you crazy or something? Why won’t you wake up? Oh come on!”

             ‘What the heck is he talking about? I told him that I don’t want to talk with him! Why won’t he just knock it off? Damn it!’

             “I told you, I don’t wanna talk about the freakin’ math exam!”

             “What? What are you saying? We are going to take that freaking math exam in 20 minutes!”

             ‘What?’

             “What!” I shouted, with my eyes popping up from eye sockets. The bright light suddenly hit my eyes and I couldn’t see clearly. Squinting, I screamed again.

             “What time is it now? What day is it?”

             Smirking and laughing, they shouted back, very annoyed. “It’s Wednesday and 20 minutes before the exam! Now knock it off, we are in no mood for any jokes. Maybe you are fully prepared, but we are not!”

             “Wha…what? Oh fu**!” Darn it! So that was just a dream? Oh my god! I’m gonna be late for the test. Oh no! Wait a minute, how did I sleep last night? Um…

…

…

             “Darn it! There’s so much to do! I don’t get a one bit of this theorem. What time is it, John?”

             “Its 3:30 A.M. It’s same here. Polar coordinates are driving me crazy. My head doesn’t work as it should. Maybe because I’m damn sleepy!” said John, with his eyes half closed.

             “Man! You are already that far? I’m barely finished with the inequalities and my head just stopped working and my eyes are blurry.”

             “Don’t lie Jun, I saw you go over the whole thing before midnight.” Said John, frowning.

             “Well, whatever. I’m gonna sleep for 30 minutes, alright? Please wake me up at 4:00.”

             “I bet 1 million that you are never going to wake up and anyway, I don’t think I can stay up until then.”

             “C’mon, please. I’m really desperate.” I said, already starting to lie on the floor.

             “Alright, but I warned you!” said John, shaking his head.

…

…

             ‘Oh…SHIT! I’m doomed.’

             “I tried to wake you up at the time you asked, but you just shook your head when I told you to wake up. I tried for 10 minutes or so and I slept.”

             “Oh, that’s fine. It’s my fault. You guy go ahead, I’ll go after I pack my bag”

             “Alright, make sure you aren’t late!”

             ‘No. I’m not even close to fine. I didn’t look it over even once! I never memorized definitions! I was just bluffing to you guys.’ However, there was no time to squander. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, put on my uniform and started out the dorm at a speed of light. I just made it in time.

             “Alright students don’t forget to write your name on the sheet, and the test starts…NOW!”

             ‘Oh well, here I go. So, it’s a dream call true, huh?”

Life is an Infinite Game...

Infinite Mountains

             “One down, thousands more to go!” Right now, I’m playing a game - a game that I can’t choose to play, but one that I have to play. ‘Infinite Mountains’ is the name of the game I’m playing. In this game, we are faced with innumerable challenges throughout our lives. Some challenges lure us to forget our responsibilities, some gives out hardships to achieve our goals. Most of them are very difficult to overcome. This is why they are called mountains. These challenges are not just tough to beat, but they also contain some interesting characteristics.

             First, the game ‘Infinite Mountains’ is continuous and steady as a rocking horse throughout our lives. Rocking horse moves up and down slowly and steadily with its rider on its back. The game is just the same. Challenges come out for us every day, every minute. For example, as I’m writing this essay, I’m faced with a challenge to make a choice between talking with my friends and keeping on writing this. Every night and day, we are faced with challenges not only concerning such serious topics such as friendship or grades, but also trivial topics like a decision to eat lunch or sleep. Challenge comes from everywhere without stopping. Thus, the game I’m playing is steady as a rocking horse.

             Second, the game ‘Infinite Mountains’ is sensitive and subtle as a bruise in a way that affects our lives. Challenges work as a criterion to identify whether we are successful in our lives or not. These challenges are not always subtle, but many of them are. For example, let’s say that I failed to get a good score on this essay. It may be nothing much since I can do better on my next piece of writing, but still, I’ll lose confidence subtly. Bruises are subtle because they aren’t recognized until they are actually touched. It’s the same way with the challenges. We succeed in thousands, but also fail in thousands. We only try to remember the ones we succeeded on. However, when those that we failed are mentioned, it hurts. For example, there is a guy who was top of his class in physics but got a B in his English class. He can only emphasize his success in physics class. However, whenever English is mentioned, he will feel regrets. The game I’m playing is subtle because we only tend to remember the good experiences.

             The game ‘Infinite Mountains’ is just like a marathon. In marathon, the runner with faced with lack of breath and shuddering legs. Throughout our lives, we play our own game of ‘Infinite Mountains’. The types and the intensity of the mountains that stand before the players may vary from person to person. However, there’s one thing that all the different types of games share – we must always try our best and do our best to win this game. 

Nationalism vs. Multiculturalism - Reflecting the Norway Massacre

A Much-Needed Balance

             Every time I ride the public transportation, I can see many foreign people with different skin colors. Whenever I look into TV or newspaper, I can see a news concerning immigrants from south eastern Asia. Looking around, we can clearly see that various social issues concerning foreign incomers are increasing as more foreigners, especially from southeastern Asia, are coming into Korea. Though their numbers were insignificant at first, the population of immigrants has become too large to ignore. We now stand on a crossroad about what position we will take towards all these foreigners who are coming in to our society day by day. We may take the nationalistic position or the multiculturalism position. This decision may seem unimportant, but if chosen thoughtlessly, it can turn out disastrous. An incident in Norway conveyed that message in a very cruel way.

             On June 22, 2011, two sequential terrorist attacks, resulting 78 casualties in whole, shocked the world. First attack happened in Oslo, an explosion where all the government buildings were concentrated. Though many windows were shattered, there were only 8 casualties. Second attack was held in Utoya Island, where a political summer camp organized by the Labor Party was being held. The terrorist ruthlessly shot the participants and killed 69 men and women. What was more shocking was the motive of the criminal’s action. He had planned the massacre in order to save Norway and Western Europe from multiculturalism and Islam. Given that the criminal was a far-right and Christian extremist, we can understand that. However, we cannot overlook the question whether the one-sided multiculturalism policy that the criminal had discontent is the best answer.

             Multiculturalism, the idea that criminal was so against on, is appreciation, acceptance, or promotion of multiple cultures. This ideology accepts wide variety of cultures, religions, races, etc, promoting the interaction and communication between different cultures. When applied to the policies, it focuses its primary goal on treating people from other cultures as equal to us and giving the same opportunity to foreigners. On the contrast, nationalism exalts mother country above all others, disregarding any other cultures. If this ideology is applied to the policies, nationalism discriminate people from other cultural, religious, or racial branch in jobs, education, insurances, etc. For example, majority of immigrants from southeastern Asia works as hard as Korean workers but still gets fewer wages than Korean workers. When approached this way, multiculturalism may seem to be a much better way. However, one-way multiculturalism can turn out worse than we think.

             There are few serious problems regarding multiculturalism policy. First major problem is about the rights of the immigrants. It is very important to respect and protect those rights. However, when those rights are thought to be protected just because it’s an ethical thins to do, problems start to happen; immigrants start to shamelessly demand rights that are not entirely theirs. For example, there was incident where illegal and short-lived immigrants demanded permanent residency, using the “immigrant rights protection” policy as a shield. Second problem is the crimes caused by the immigrants. Many of them are faced with hardships early in their immigration because of the different social value and environments. Many can’t find their way into the society. Failing to blend into the society, numerous immigrants tend to get frustrated and commit crimes like drug trade or assaults, increasing the crime rate and causing social unrest. In addition, ever-increasing illegal immigrants are a problem too. Although there are immigrants go through proper procedure to live in another nation, many people tend to immigrate in illegally, mostly due to their financial hardships. Various companies hire these illegal immigrants for cheap price. This may look beneficial to both the firm and the immigrants. However, if continued in long term, this may be fatal to the country’s industry.

             Although it seems decent, multiculturalism has its own serious problems if it’s looked through carefully. French president, Nicolas Sarkozy said “We were so worried about the identity of the immigrants that we were too negligent towards our own.” This clearly emphasizes the problem of one-way multiculturalism. Just blindly caring for immigrants will result unwanted outcomes pointed out in the previous paragraph. However, choosing nationalistic policy isn’t our best option either. We are living in a globalizing society, where world is getting smaller and smaller. There is no way to just remain isolated and exclude other cultures with a nationalistic idea in our mind. Thus, we need a balance between the two positions: nationalism, and multiculturalism. What happened in Norway is inhumane, but this message conveying the necessity of balance can’t be overlooked. Of course, it will be extremely difficult for us to put out a balanced policy. Nevertheless, this balance must be reached in order for our nation to survive in the 21th century – this is a dilemma which is inevitable. We must face it NOW.