March 10 was the memorial day for Dosan Ahn Chang-ho (seated) and though I was busy, I did remember a letter he wrote from prison to his wife (1934):
. . . Our life is very short. Whether we have had a good or bad life, not very much is left in our life and I am painfully remorseful about them, but since they have already passed, it is no use feeling sorry about them, therefore, how to live the rest of my life (?): needless to say, I should not repeat past mistakes, and I think about how to lead a useful life. It is nothing other than a life of love (that is important). Love, this is the very truth of life. For all happiness of life comes from peace among mankind, and peace comes from love. As all of us have experienced, if everyone in a family loves and a family is harmonious, that family is a happy one. In the same way, a society with love enjoys happiness coming from peace. Needless to say, with the love of people who believe “love” to be the highest truth and who practice love, happiness coming from peace and tranquility will be promoted in home and society. Since a person who believes in love is filled with love, and practices love before family and society is in a status of extreme peace and tranquility, that person enjoys extreme happiness beyond imagination. Therefore, no matter where we are and what circumstances we are in, for the rest of our lives, let us believe in love and practice love so as to let our minds reach a state of complete peace and tranquility.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Because Koreans are more attracted to the fiery passion over the long-standing greatness, Ahn Chang-Ho is underappreciated by Korean public, methinks.
Ahn Chang-Ho’s original house is in USC’s campus. It’s the Korean Studies house now.
Now if Matt over at Occidentalism and Gerry Bevers call THIS guy a Korean terrorist as well, I’d have heard it all…….
Nobody goes to their blogs anymore so those two just probably got on with life and moved on. They don’t even update their blogs these days.
Plus… their god is dead:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/234574
This man was a Christian, not a terrorist.
I’m sure the Dosan is a great dude, and deserves everything and more. But man, I think he should have laid off the love a little. I think I counted the word love 13 x in the passage.
Ah he was a Christian? I’m curious how his love theory worked out practically. Immediately, to my sappy sitcom soaked modern eyes, the stiff family portrait exhibiting class, the unsmiling faces of his wife and children and the typical patriarchal pose of the day doesn’t exhibit the love I was raised to find touching. C’mon, where’s “Happy”, the family dog, leaping on the pile of hugging individuals a la “7th Heaven”?
A link to dosan.org and the short piece written about his wife, Helen Lee Ahn (http://www.dosan.org/helenahn.html) isn’t any more enlightening. In the article, she is driven first by her unwavering desire to marry lucky ol’ him, and then by her duty to her children. Ahn lives the life of a revolutionary, away from his family most of the time. Helen lives in the U.S. for 60 years, the pioneer of the Korean-American community there.
But the proof is in the pudding. And this article about his daughter, Susan Ahn Cuddy, the first Asian American in the Navy, brought more than a few tears of inspiration and gladness to my eyes.
http://asiansinamerica.typepad.com/asians_in_america_magazin/2004/05/breaking-gender.html
There is a little bit more about Helen Lee Ahn in this article as well, how she is “the strongest woman” her daughter ever knew.
Ahn Chang Ho does deserve more appreciation. Susan Ahn Cuddy is such a sweet and energetic lady and it’s nice to see her and her under-appreciated father get some of the respect they deserve coming their way. Also, Zippy I like how you insinuate that because you’re Christian you can’t be a terrorist haha.
A little more love at TMH couldn’t hurt anyone; nice post.
Hey! We’re all about love here!
How could I have missed that
The Korean Cupid ad just below the story is a nice touch. . .
I use “Adblock” “Fig” so I never saw those awful ads. If I had to see them, I would never view this site.
I agree with #1 — swashbucklers always appeal to an unwary public before people of substance do. The more I learn of this fellow, the more I like him. He would have won a Nobel Prize if he had lived.
@7
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:ipdH-j0F6y8J:mondediplo.com/2004/05/16photography+http://mondediplo.com/2004/05/16photography&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
You can also view the non-cached version without paying by spoofing your user agent to look like the google spider.
I’m kind of surprised that no one has mentioned that the young man standing in the back of the picture is Phillip Ahn – the actor who played Master Kan in the 1970′s television series “Kung Fu” which starred David Carradine.
#1:
How bloody true, TK. This is why Cho Man-sik is virtually forgotten, while people are thinking of sticking Kim Koo on the currency here. (Everybody, go read Millett’s fine book on the period 1945-1950!) IMHO, Kim Koo was not worthy to tie Cho Man-sik’s Hanbok knot. What a shame.
Roger that!
‘Zippy I like how you insinuate that because you’re Christian you can’t be a terrorist haha.”
You’re reading too much into my comment.
There are “Christians” who are spiritually dead, and then there are Christians who are not. I’m thinking this man was spiritually alive, a genuine follower of Jesus.
Humanity in general is spiritually dead, and it has NOTHING to do with religion. It’s all about the bottom line. Greed kills the spirit. Prove me wrong.
“This man was a Christian, not a terrorist.”
Since when have the two been mutually exclusive.
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