Young

27. July 2009 Dear Robin, My name is Young. I want to study philosophy at Murdoch university next year. I don’t have any computer skill. First of all I want to learn internet, sending and receiving email, and doing research. I don’t know anything how to do it. I need your help regarding this matter. Thank you for your help in advance. My goal is to become familiar with computer. I am old and my brain is not quick learning this modern technology. Or rather it is like that you can’t teach new trick to an old dog. I feel so dumb and unhappy for my computer illiteracy. I think I need someone who understand me and give me step by step instruction. I can’t learn well when I feel agitated. People could make me feel that way very easily talking very fast. I think that my English is reasonable but the terms people talk in certain profession could make me feel stupid. That is how I feel learning computer at the moment. Thank you for reading my letter. Yours Young

6. August 2009 My memorable childhood. My childhood has been most beautiful period of my life. Thinking of that time always makes me feel warm nostalgias and at the same time my heart aches, because the place was gone and lost. Ever increasing human population made their way making housing and civilisation means doing mass destructions in the nature and world. I am witnessing the same thing is happening in my short life of 27 years here in Australia. I had my childhood in paradise that is only proper description despite severe poverty. Our village has been at the foot of the mountain, a very small of 8 families surrounded hills on West and North, high mountains that looked like giant screens in front of the village along the entire on East, and a big field on the other side. It has been always heavenly sight when the rising sun spurting its dazzling golden rays through the morning mist on the top of the mountain. And also it had been always a spectacular and magnificent sight when the full moon was rising behind from the silhouette of mountain’s top. The moon looked so big and near if it seemed to be almost touchable, when we stretched our arms high and long enough. In spring, the hills and foot of the mountain slop were covered with many wild flowers. It was a picture in frameless canvas. Especially the abundant azalea and forsythia made the hills just pink and yellow beautiful, and from hills the village looked also pink and yellow beautiful. The funny thing was every house was having a circle of thick yellow with pink dots, because every house had thick hedge of forsythia and cherry trees around here and there. There had been only 4 children at my age. We spent our time outdoor all day and everyday. We climbed trees, rocks, stream up into mountains. The stream was running down from the high mountains through rocks, over, and between rocks. The water was crystal clear and cool, and tasted so sweet. We ate flower petals, plant’s shoots, some roots and berries from hunger, and that was a part of our daily activities. We caught yabbies and small fish. We had had unending activities all year around, but I never played with dolls. I was more like a boy. My hands had always been very rough playing with soil and in wind and sun. There wasn’t any cream for me, even for my big sisters. My parents’ farming career started late. When the WW II was ended, they returned home with 4 small daughters almost penniless from Japan. They lost their money in buying useless deeds of properties from fleeing, returning Japanese from Korea. My father had made the awful mistake believing the sweet talks. The properties couldn’t have been claimed. Firstly, because the properties had been taken illegally, forcibly by Japanese without making payment when they invaded Korea and the rightful owners had had reclaimed them back, and secondly, they were on their senses and knew it that better not to press the claims, lest it could make their situation worse them seen so stupid bought the deeds from Japanese that would be the worst mistake they could afford to. Koreans have so much suffered under the Japanese’ cruelty for 40 years long and it would have seemed to them that my father was so ignorant and had given the Japanese reward for that. They did not want to stay near the relatives. Their misfortune can make them uncomfortable for both my parents and all the relatives. My parents were forced accept charity if they come to offer and the relatives cannot pretend not seeing the flight of my parents’ hardship. Either way they all were in dilemma to loose their faces. They decided to find other place to settle going far way place. My parents were thinking going to North, Manjuria, but they settled under way about 450 km away that place was where I was grown up. They stopped not going all the way many hundred km more to the intended place. I think that my parents did right thing settling there, as the different political system had established there. I think I had been a bit of autistic child. And that trait I haven’t sloughed off until now. I was such a clumsy stupid girl, which made me excluded from any work and being asked to help. My family knew better than to ask me to do some task. They thought that leaving me alone was better and save troubles. I was asked to go away and come home on meal times. I always felt bad about my being so helplessly clumsy, but when I was out of house the bad feelings didn’t linger long and I forgot, and I roamed happily in fields, hills and mountains. Often I was by myself because other children had to help home, even my younger sister too. But I was such a fool and asked to go away and come home back about mealtime. My dumbness was like this: I am asked to fetch some water during mealtime. I would ask what bowl I should use, how much water I should bring, and should I go to fetch water from the well or from the kitchen. Before I finished all my questions, there was usually one of my sisters would quickly get up and was bringing water. Or other times I won’t ask no questions and doing the given task wrong. Once I was asked to take lunch to father to the certain barley paddy. There were many barley paddies in different place and direction. I think one of them and go out without knowing which one. My sister would think I knew it and made the delivery done well until father came home from hunger. They had even given up scolding me. My stupidity drove them many times to the wall and my family was happy sending me to school. They didn’t miss me at all even very busy farming time as they were crying out for every available helping hand, saying that everyman had had four hands that still would not be enough. Anyway, my childhood had been wonderful. There had been no one who was trying to give me idea that was not right for a child to know. No T.V., no commercials, no computer, and no one who were there to rob my world, or pollute with their pollutants. As grown up I often feel very sorry for today’s children. Even though with their all toys to play and abundant books to read, I don’t think that they are given the real, right things for them, the natural childhood. I think the nature and child have the same common natures that should be carefully looked after the fragility. The child and the natural environment should be protected in same way from the pollutant and pollution and kept from becoming the victims of unscrupulous, unbridled commercialism and being endlessly targeted for such purposes, and being spoiled. I would never swap my child hood with today’s child hood with its affluence life. I don’t envy them at all and the uncountable many expensive toys that I never had. My childhood, the time and the place I spent was a paradise.