5/12/15

For never was a story of more...

Was Shakespeare a peace advocate? Not necessarily as his play, "Romeo and Juliet" was written as a tragedy. However, we are able to learn lessons from this play and the example that our two lovers displayed by overcoming their family ties. Unfortunately, because of the older generation's dispute, the two youths were sacrificed. Just like Romeo and Juliet, we all have our own personal ties. This could include, our family, religion, beliefs, or nations. Even though their love was romantic, they were able to overcome these boundaries and ties. In the famous 'balcony scene', we are able to learn a lesson from Juliet.


'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

A name is only a name. And she understands that there is no meaning in a name. This is similar to the example in our world. There is no meaning behind a name, title, or ties that is associated with a person. If this is the case, then we would not be able unite together and we would only quarrel among ourselves. We can always refer to someone, who is different than us, as a different name, in which would bring them closer. Many groups exist in the peace organization HWPL. However, we erased all the associations that we had previously, and we only come together and refer each other as peace advocates and a family in this global community. We all have the same beginning. It is only that we are not able to discover the similarities and come to an agreement. If we are not able to reach to peace, then just like Romeo and Juliet, it would be our next generation, who would be paying the price.

A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

This would not be a scenario that we want. We already sacrificed and lost so many valuable things. We should not make the same mistakes as the two families did in the play and before additional damages are made, we should make peace. I think Shakespeare was considered a great playwright, not because of his tragic plays, but because of the insights that he offered inside the plays. He pointed out problems and seem to teach us a moral lesson through these plays. As he says "All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players," and  if we are in our Final Act, we must truly act to resolve peace between each other, so that mistakes in Romeo and Juliet would not be repeated again. And the last line of our play would end with "for never was a story of more joyful than this".

"What is a youth"
It is the law of nature that a rose would bloom and fade. Sadly, because of the mistakes of the adults, the youths were sacrificed, before receiving the chance to bloom. This is what the Chairman agonizes over. He was deeply affected, when he fought in the Korean War, as he saw many young men dying for a cause against other young men, who once they called each other countrymen. It is because of religion and politics that separate even the same race. In order to prevent this, HWPL created IPYG and IWPG, so that youths and women are able to raise their voices to religious and political leaders.

1 comment:

  1. How can we undo the mistake that was made? We can only learn from the history and do not make same mistake again. With HWPL and Man Hee Lee leading the world and enlightening people about importance of taking part in peace work, we will be able to achieve peaceful world.

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