*
*
*
At the end of our day, we are all
made out of the same stuff. We long
for connection. We want to be appreciated for
who we are. We have all sorts of fears. We want to make
a mark in our lifetime. We experience loss. We ache for things
that lie close to our hearts. We all grow old. We all die. So, please
make the most of what you have been given because I’ll tell you
as much. We don’t get a second chance in reliving our lives. At
the end of our day, we are all born.
At the end of our day we all live.
At the end of our day we all love.
At the end of our day we all fear.
At the end of our day we all laugh.
At the end of our day we all mourn.
*
*
*
We are all human beings with scars,
with wounds, with hopes, with desires,
with dreams and fears. We are all human beings
with loss, loss of a father, loss of a mother, loss of a
brother, loss of a sister, loss of an uncle, loss of a grand-
mother and loss of a grandfather. We are all human beings with
* failures, experiences, lessons learned, lessons earned & fall- *
outs with those we never seemed to part with to begin with. We
are all human beings with a sense of fraud of our own greatness
as well as others. Why them and not me? Why me and not
them? We are all human beings with betrayals towards our-
selves as well as others. We are all sisters, mothers,
brothers, lovers, wives, bullies, fake, with make-
up to hide and conceal our own darkness.
*
*
*
Sometimes we even become mistresses
of someone else’s vibe. We all have the need to be
seen, to be recognized, to be accepted, to be loved, to be
cherished, to be taken care of. We all have an inner child within
us afraid of being seen, judged and valued for everything that
we are not and for everything that we are in the whole wide world.
We all have shattered dreams, shattered hopes, shattered
expectations, shattered hearts. So do not be mistaken
whether a human being is a king on the throne, a farmer
in the countryside, a president of the United States, a lord of
the rings, a Thai masseuse, a country girl or a townie boy. Do
not be mistaken if a person is 80 years of age or five years of age.
* However well we seem to carry the lessons learned, betrayal, *
abandonment from a rather young age, heartache. It only tells
us how well we are able to carry their life experiences and how
well we are able to disguise the burden. The burden is not at
all related to your job title, to the number of cars that you
have in your garage, how much money in your bank
account, external praise from acclaimed where-
abouts, and accomplished achievements.
*
*
*
It has nothing to do if you are
slim, fat, dark, brown, yellow, red purple
or even orange. The burden is and will always remain
the same. So don’t be too quick to judge someone else’s shining
armor and high fortress. It is just that they have thicker shields
than others. At the end of our day we all die and are buried in
the soil. And we are not to bring our possessions into the
Mother Soil. We are all the same, humanly embodied,
where the body itself evaporates where dust
becomes dust and ashes to ashes.
*
*
*
At the end of our day our souls and
spirits leave the body and wander off someplace
else. To a place is reachable for us human beings. It
doesn’t matter whether we had one car or fifteen cars. It
doesn’t matter if we are celebrated by the whole world or
worshipped only by our loved ones. We are still to die, we
are still to leave this earth with our bare hand & naked
bodies. What matters is how we lived, how we laughed,
how we lived, how we treated one another and how
we treated ourselves.
GONG Jae Ok 