Righteousness

The 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit was held near where I live. I actually had no idea what it was until the day of, which speaks of my love for politics. In the back of my mind, I knew I needed to have more interest in governmental issues, but as for now, the biggest impact the Summit had on me was that the public transportation was going to be a hassle.

It gets pretty bumpy in any public buses in Seoul, so the seats are usually reserved for the elderly, pregnant women and anyone who has difficulty standing, but, as always, it is rarely followed. As the bus I was on got crowded, an old man and a little girl hopped onto the bus. I noticed the man held onto the girl’s hand very tightly. There was only one seat open and no other brave souls that were willing to risk their lives and give up their bus seats seemed to be present. The old man had the little girl sit down and he crouched right next to her as to meet her eye level, and he stayed that way until they got off, again with tightly held hands. I couldn’t help but notice how precious the girl was to the old man. He was probably her grandfather, and he never took his eyes off of the girl.

Many only dream of time machines, but they are actually all around us: people of two generations apart, together in the same place. The old man probably had his share of brokenness. His dreams could have been shattered; his conscious may have been stripped of its speaking rights. Nonetheless, here it was, right in front him, such a pure blessed being. He probably wondered how such innocence ever came out of him. Just her presence spoke of his forgiveness in life, that it was okay for him to live on, that all his past mistakes have been cleansed. He probably was reminded of how he was still tied to the string of righteousness. He probably wanted to do his best to protect what is good within her.

Although I feel like I’m still rather young, I felt like I may have had a glimpse of what it meant to be blessed with children.