Re:반가웠다(낭송 글)

[kimeunhyun]

Folks, the following is a bit long. I can not summarize my high school
experience so beautifully and succinctly as Gyon-hyon did. Blame my parents
for lack of literary talent. For some, I may have opened up your old wounds.
So forewarned, it"s up to you to skip the rest. You won"t miss out anything
even if you did.

Eun-hyon.

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Circa. spring of 1971. All timid freshmen were herded into the school
auditorium. All of a sudden there were a little commotion in the back.
Yelling and kicking went on for a brief spell. Pretty scary to start a high
school, I thought. If my vague memory serves me right, I believe a student
violated a minor school ordinance or the young hot-tempered P.E. teacher
(sorry I can not recall his name) got offended by the disobedient behavior
of a high school freshman and got out of control.

Later I happened to sit next to him in my class. His name was Kim, Young-Sang.
He seemed menacing at first sight but I found him gentle at heart. He was
nice to me at least. I think he"s one or two years senior to most of Andong
Middle School graduates. Sadly he got kicked out of school for roughing up
the art teacher. I have been always curious about his whereabouts. I would
appreciate it if anyone is still in touch with him and get back to me.

I believe I was in Class 1-4 (might have been 1-5, not sure, though). Our
first teacher, young, right out of college, ditched us barely on a few month
assignment. I think he was called in to serve the military service or
something. Then we had a new teacher. He was short in stature and hansome
looking. Hey, we thought he would be easy on us or we could take advantage
of him. That was a BIG mistake. Man, he turned out to be so strict and
disciplinary. He said he was Ango alumnus. He motivated us all to excel.
I wish I had listened to him more. His name was Mr. Nam, Sang-chae. Those
in Daegu please pass my regards to Mr. Nam.

Talking of the displinarian, I can not forget the teacher who taught us
German. He was stout and short. (Man, why short teachers were so harsh?)
He always carried a short hard stick. Commit any mistake or can not answer
his question, he hit us at the bare defenseless head with that dreadful
stick. It was so painful. I am sure there are a few of you out there could
share the same pain I had. Sorry for digging up the unpleasant memory :-)

Speaking of unpleasant memory. I have a couple more. You know, I was/am not
good at singing. It was in the same auditorium in a cold freezing wintery
morning. Gee, no heating back then and so spartan, looking back. Anyhow our
hansome looking music teacher (Mr. Woo, Jong-bok) tested us for singing. At
my turn, I was completely frozen, not because of cold, but at the thought of
singing in front of so many people. Hey, it"s a teacher"s order and who could
disobey? I stood up and sang Kum, Soon-hyon"s Gunae (swing) in a shrieking
and monotous voice with awkward smile on my face to disguise my stage fright.
I thought I did pretty well, but afterwards I realized Mr. Woo was so upset
(he thought I was playful) and looking down at me with that big and fiery
eyes. Of course, I failed the music class. Even to this day, I can vividly
remeber that look. Uh!

Roll forward one year. Another unpleasant incident. In hot summer day, we
gathered under the willow shades for a PE class. This day was different.
For some reason Mr. Cho, Man-jae started to check out our private area.
I don"t know why he had to do that but upon my turn I refused to take down
my pants and follow his order. All of a sudden he became explosive and went
ballistic. Kicking and screaming. I could not believe how much beating I
took. Most of you probably don"t remember this but for me it was so bitter
that I can"t still forget it to this day. If a teacher maltreats students
this bad or displays such a psychopathic behavior these days, he might be
thrown into a jail or something. Do I sound upset? No, not at all. Whether
good or bad, these incidents were etched in my memory so deep and I believe
they enriched or spiced up my life otherwise so boring. Heck, too late and I
can not shake it off and it just became part of my whole.

Don"t get the impression that I spent my high school days so miserably
day in and day out. I had plenty of fond memories including raiding next
door apple orchard cited by many already (I did not do it. Trust me!)
and trying to put lawns on the school playground (what a brain-dead idea!
Incredibly no one (teachers) objected to the principal"s crazy pet project).
Playing soccer, exercising at parallel-bar after school and military
training, and on and on.

We had so many good teachers too. I enjoyed so much listening to Mr. Kim,
Yon-ho"s story telling of Homer"s Iliad and Odyssey when we behaved right.
Mr. Byon, Yong-dae taught us English with gusto till white foams accumulated
at sides of his mouth. In freshmen year we had a young bespectabled teacher
who taught us Ethics. Unfortunately I can not recall his name. His lecture
was so informative and refreshing when he was critiquing the flaws of
Communism vs. Capitalism and Marx and Engels" theory. There were many more.
Mr. Kim, Sang-ki, Kim, Tae-won, Kim, In-whan, and on and on...

Most of all I feel blessed that I met so many good friends in those
three years. Especially those away from home and renting and cooking
themselves. We were different species and felt close each other especially
those living in close proximity. One summer day a few of us got together
and went swimming to nearby River Nakdong. Lim, Si-yong, do you still
remember? There are so many and I can not name them all. Also there were
those commuting every morning on bicycle as far away as Soh-hoo. Looking
back, Kwon, Jae-o and Jung, Sung-soo, I can not believe how you guys did
it every day.

By the way I went back to Mah-dul a few times to pick up pieces of my past.
Man, I got disappointed to see all those highrises and the disappearing of
the vast open and spacious farmland in front of the school under the
pretext of development. Does anyone know why they had to move the school
to such a desolate place up in the mountain damaging the environment and the
view? Turned back sadly lamenting to see all of my high school memory wiped
out. I have never visited the new campus. I guess it ain"t the same school
that I know of.

Forward three years. We all parted in different directions with high school
diploma in hand. Some pursuing higher education, others less fortunate had
to work right out of high school or help out family business. Whatever
endeavours sought after, everybody dashed forward undistracted and just
looking ahead in pursuit of his own goal. We tried really hard to escape
as fast as we can from our past, hardships, poverty with vague expectation
that the future would be better.

Leap forward 30 years. Middle-aged now, wrinkles on face and strains of
grey hairs strewn overnight, some got bald and others grown in the middle.
Where has the agility and quickness gone? Everyone has slowed down one or
two notches. And has his own family. Our children are already older than
we were back then. People seemed to have changed so much that I can not even
recognize most of the faces in the picture. But that"s okay. In my heart
all of you are my high school friends and we share the same precious memory
that no one else can with us.

We all kept digging for better life. Now everybody seems to have reached or
near his own career plateau. 30 years of hard working is finally paying off.
I am really appreciative to see that we are a bunch of so diverse group now
and everybody is so successful in so many different fields. I salute to all
of you for job well done!

But our journey is not over yet. We have another full second half ahead of
us. Probably the other half is more important because we are not alone any
more on this journey. Our children are watching us. Our families and friends
are watching. Above all our next generation will judge you and me.

Be responsible on our own behavior and let"s not fall prey of greed, vanity
and false fame. Haven"t we seen enough dirty politicians and business leaders
fall from grace? Everybody in different level of social stratus, act with
probity and be graceful to others. And most of all, it"s time to take a break,
look back and enjoy your accomplishments a little. Time to share your success
with the unfortunate around you. So keep up the good work. Stay healthy and
be safe till we meet again. May God bless you all and your family!

[서교현]

은현아, 바쁘다 보니 답이 늦어 미안하다. 내일 올릴게.

[kimeunhyun]

Don't feel obligated. This is a free forum for all of us. Your work and family businees always takes precedence!

[김승규]

Marvellous! Such a nice article by a nice guy!!