One Way and Other Korean Stories, Essay Example

The Spark of Life from the One Way and Other Korean Stories is an interesting written piece that depicts the historicity of Korea; more particularly the antiquity between man and mechanical undertaking and various ideologies. The Spark of Life is the direct interpretation of human behaviours especially in calamitous situations where the will to survive is actively searching for ways to overcome the mentality to simply escape and learn to resist and move on achieving independence. This is unquestionably factual as proven by the character of Ko Hyon.

He greatly suffers from the monstrosity of wandering, like any other human being, not knowing where his destination is going to be. Such situation forced him into choosing between evading the life as he knows it and completely resigns like what his grandfather did and following the life of involvement and remonstration that his father lived. Undeniably, his life is filled with struggles with his and other people’s ideology especially when his sense of security is threatened. Should he fight? Should he stay put? What is the right thing to do? These are just some of the questions that need answers. There is a time for every person to just sit back, relax and watch the things that are happening in world. However, it can only be watched for so long. There will come a time when something has to be done. Ko Hyon has his share of looking away and denial of reality. Until such time when he finally made that choice to make a difference and leave a mark in the history by being a part of a movement fighting for freedom and Christianity: only then that the flame ignited and started a spark in his life.

The story is all about the passion that pushes people to live life to the fullest and meaningfully. Without which there is no freedom or sense of fulfilment. The burning passion fueled by the commitment to fly and to break free from the silence and oppression caused by either humans or things. Such passion that is unique to human beings. A passion that made Ko Hyon, in this case, a human being and not just a product of a certain historical development or movement. It is a known fact that humans sometimes forget how to be humans. They just let their situations control their lives and live their lives like robots devoid of empathy and meaning. The exact life that his grandfather lived: choosing to close his door to the protesters even if his own son is among them. He even failed to understand the reasoning behind why his son fought and gave up his life for the freedom that they finally know later on.

The Spark of Life is a good reminder that people need to have a purpose, a burning passion to be involved and to empathize. We should all work together in making a better place to live and to fight together against all social oddity and oppression. There is more to life. We have the obligation to strengthen the inert human courage to detest violence, terrorism, maltreatment, arrogance, cruelty and misleading ideologies. It is within our power to make sure that such flame is burning for all eternity. For this is the only way we can preserve humanity and strengthen rational values to preserve and continue our own history.