Saturday, July 2, 2011

Sejong the Great


When I was a child, may be three or four perhaps, was learning Korean alphabet ( HANGUL) from my grandmother, kneeled lovely silk cushioned cold  dark wooden floor, you see her background was generation of generation Confucius scholars. She taught me Hangul along was telling story about, the Korean history, the creator of Hangul Sejong the Great- Sejong Daewang μ„Έμ’…λŒ€μ™•- He was a third son, he was so brilliant that two of his older brothers give up their right and let him have the Job(the King job), this was very important. Under Sejong the Great leadership, the Korea was enriched by his sagaciousness and was flourished during his regime. Prior we used Chinese, Sejong thought it was too difficult for ordinary his people to learn only for a minority of ruling class, and majority of Korean was illiterate then, he knew his people should read and writing their own language easily so he formed an institution, housed brilliance scholars and give them a full time “ mission” create a language that all Korean able to reads and to write, express themselves easily. The result was the Hangul. Why I am telling you this, I am talking about a leadership, many countries they have own history of brilliant leaderships. In Korea, Hangul is the single most precious gift to Korean people by Sejong the Great. You can imagine what is like to be without Hangul. A country is flourished or a country is wrecked by all about its leadership. I remember this story with whole bottom of my heart and as I am proudly say I am crazy about him. How could anyone give a precious gift to his people, let them open their eyes, see the things, to express things exactly they like to with their own emotions for themselves. That is indeed more than just merely leadership but immense compassion and love from his heart. That was why his two brothers gave up the hard job for at leisure while their younger brother stuck into worked his guts out for day and night for his people. The result is Korean are nourished by his gift.

NO single Korean never ever qeuestioning Sejong the Great leadership, and ask him to resign his position from his people’s heart or disappear from Korean history or their life, on the contrary they afraid he might disappear so that is why Korean put him and printed him everywhere e.g. at money, streets, text books, lyrics, rivers, buildings, their stores, their warships, airplanes, technology, schools, poems,  family altars,  venture, you name it, he belongs to all Korean, help themselves never asked him any of his permission  because he is theirs  their own identity,  indispensible blankets for all Korean.