The 3rd G.O.D Awards in New York

Last month in New York, a ceremony was held to celebrate the achievements of the people around the world in humanity. The "We Care for Humanity's 3rd Global Official of Dignity Awards" was hosted by Jacob Wheelr, Denise Cook, "The Oracle" and Princess Maria Amor. Many royalties and representatives from the business and academic and government official participated in this event. Among the recipient was Chairman Man Hee Lee and Chairwoman Nam Hee Kim, who received the Noble Man of the Year and the Noble Woman of the Year respectively. Although the Chairman was not able to participate in the event, it was a special moment, where the peace movement gained recognition. At the same time it was the event to witness how people worked to make the world a better place. Although we do not have the power to create, we have the power to work with one another to make this world a better world.

Poem: Here dead we lie

Recently, I took an interest in the poems of the First World War, because these poems captures the emotions and the thoughts of the soldiers. Through many speeches and messages, I have heard the horrific memories of Chairman Man Hee Lee in his participation of the Korean War. I wanted to compare his messages with the literature that expresses the emotions of the author in the quickest way. Some wrote about their assault against their enemies, but some talked about the tragedy from the battle.

After a short research, I was able to find out that A. E. Housman, the British author of the poem "Here dead we lie", actually did not participated in the First World War. However, by reading his poem, I was able to find connection with the agony that the Chairman described, when he saw countless numbers of war happening around the world. The poem only contains two whole sentences, but through these well-phrased sentences the author, an academic who never went to war, shares his point of view of the war with his readers. I wonder what experience motivated him to write this poem, even though he never experienced war. It is interesting how one is able to depict the tragedy in the war without participating.

The rhyming scheme of the poem is ABCD EBFD and the poem is written in quatrain, in which each stanza contains four lines. In the first stanza, the author uses first person plural to represent the soldiers (the speaker) as a whole about their death. In one perspective, it seems that the speaker is slightly ashamed to be alive. And he did not wish to shame the land that we born into. It sounded like he is rather happy to accept his death. It is definitely heroic to die for one's nation. This is truly a great honor. However, what purpose did they serve? The First World War only started because of greed. Wars are fought by young men, who have a future ahead of them. They may participate in wars for many reason. Regardless of these reasons, they have to sacrifice their lives. It seems like a regret of the choice that they made. We need to still leave a space to question, was their sacrifice necessary? This is what the speaker questions in the second stanza. However, to support their nation's interest, they participated in the war to defend their nations.

The second stanza also begins with the pride in their sacrifice for their country and the patriotism that they showed. Ironically, the poem ends "But the young men think it is and we were young." The young men may think that their sacrifice is a glorious deed. There may be nothing important in life. However, after many years, when the young men grow to older men, they would look back to regret that decision. Youth is when action comes first before thinking. There is more in life. The young men, at the time, may have thought it would be cowardly to run away from their military duty as soldiers, but the older generation looked at something greater. It was not only the pride and the honor of that short period, but it was life as a whole. In their moment of reflection of their last years, one may think about many different things. Did war bring happiness through the pride and honor that he received? The answer may vary depending on the individual, but from the author's perspective, there was too much to lose for the heroic struggle.

What can we learn from their experience? One may ask, perhaps it was the experience of war that led them to reflect back about their experience. There could have been a different ending if one actually did not participate in the war and choose to live. We were able to see the emotions and the thoughts of our veterans through their memoirs and writing. However, were we able to see writings of those who chose not to participate in the war? Not exactly, because wars were consistent in life. In did not allow the opportunity to not participate in wars. I hope that with Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration Life and Chairman Man Hee Lee, we will become that first generation that decided to not participate in war. Maybe 50 years later, we will see a poem, "Here we are alive:"

Here dead we lie by A. E. Housman

Here dead we lie

Because we did not choose

To live and shame the land

From which we sprung

Life, to be sure,

Is nothing much to lose

But young men think it is,

And we were young

Poem: In Flanders Field

The poem, "In Flanders Field" was written by John McCrae, who a Canadian physician Major John McCrae, who participated in the First World War. The major, who survived the Second Battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium (1915). After witnessing the death of his comrades and friend, Alexis Helmer, he began the poem by describing the poppies that quickly grew around the grave (crosses) of those who died.

The poem is about the tragedy caused by the battle and also war. The only things that are left in the field of the battle are the guns, which were used by the soldiers. The songs of the larks in the sky are only heard by the guns on earth. What could be the representation of the the larks in the sky against the guns on earth? The birds of the heaven sing the song and just as the dove represents peace, perhaps these larks were singing their message of peace, however, its songs were not heard because of the loud noises created by the guns. Likewise it is the will of the heaven and the Creator to see peace on the earth that he created. However, the efforts of the Creator and the will of heaven was only covered in the past history of the mankind with wars and conflicts. No messages of peace were heard and even if it did, it was not heard clearly and disappeared quickly. However, the world seems to change its attention towards Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an organization that is working towards peace so that the will of the heaven may be heard.

The men who fought in the battle were alive and each had family and friends, who they loved and who loved them back. However, they all lie together. It does not matter which side they belong. The numbers of the casualties only matter to decide the result of the war. However, they all return back to the earth as dust together. It does not change the fact for the both sides that the war took them away from their loved ones. I am not sure what the author meant, when he says "The torch; be yours to hold it high", however I hope that this bond and the faith created between those who are dead and those who are alive will serve a legacy that goes toward harmony. I hope that the torch is not a representation of destruction, but a symbol of harmony and goodwill as it is in the Olympic Games. The torch is carried throughout the world and is delivered to the location, where the games are hosted. Just as this, I hope that the torch marks the beginning of unity so that the souls of those who died in every war including the Second Battle of Ypres in the Flanders Field are able to rest and sleep peacefully.

In Flanders Field

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Essay: The Allegory behind the Restoration of Light

It is obvious that the name, Restoration of Light, carries an allegorical meaning. The world is not actually covered with physical darkness and HWPL is not a science organization, which plans to shine the world with physical light. The name, Restoration of Light, carries a separate meaning.

The physical light that we see is provided by the sun that shines every day for a certain number of hours. We call this day. The explanation for the sun's activity can be provided by scientific theories, however, this post ventures to understand the relationship between light and its allegorical position in creating World Peace. In a day, after a period of time, the light disappears as the darkness slowly cover the surface of the earth. This is a natural process that has been repeated for countless numbers of years. Then, what kind of representation does light have in terms of restoring peace in the world?

Surprisingly, the Korean Independence Day is referred as the Day of Restoration of Light. The restoration is definitely referring to darkness. Before its independence, the Koreans refer that era as a period of darkness. Similarly, when the name, Restoration of Light, is included in working towards achieving world peace, it implies that it is the period of darkness for the world. It is not limited to an individual nation, but to the whole global period, we are facing darkness. However, based on the natural order, light must come. And just as the entities of heaven move their position to provide light and darkness, Mr. Man Hee Lee is also advocating that we must now work to bring back the light.

If we are living in a period of darkness, what could darkness represent? It could represent the terrible conflicts and wars around the world. Why are these used to represent darkness? It is natural to us to identify darkness with negative connotations. There could be many reasons of darkness' representation with such evil or terrible acts. One reason that I would like to share is, the essence of darkness does not truly exist.

Darkness is the absence of light. This is how darkness is defined. It does not center around itself, but it centers around the presence of light. The light is the center and the subject. Darkness is only an object that reacts to light. It is only created when light is absent. This is why we are restoring light. The light that once existed, disappeared and now it is the time to return. Darkness cannot be restored or return, because it essentially reacts to light. I think this is why heavens provided light. Light is given by the heaven. On the other hand, darkness is not. This fact supports that war could have not existed since the beginning, if we identify war with allegorical darkness.

Then, now, what is light? What does it symbolize? I think the light can refer to many things, which are opposite of darkness. It can be the individuals, who work for peace, or it can be a world of peace. Just as the slogan, "When Light meets Light, there is victory", as we gather our strengths together, we will be able to triumph over war and conflicts in the world to start a new time period of peace. Even a small spark of light can be seen in darkness just like the stars in the sky can be seen in the deepest night. Each person's hope for peace can be seen in the world, especially in the eye of the divine creator.