Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

Opening Stor y This is what happened during the Korean War. On a cold winter day, an American soldier was retreating to a deep valley and he heard a strange sound. As he listened to the sound closely, it was the cry of a baby coming out from a snow pit. While the American soldier cleared away the snow to take out the baby, he became shocked. A naked woman was lying there dead, embracing the baby. In order to save the baby, the woman took off all her clothes to wrap up the baby, and she froze to death with the baby in her embrace. The American soldier, who was deeply moved by this, dug up the frozen ground and buried the mother. He then took the baby with him and raised the baby as his son.

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Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

On a snowy winter day, an old American man and a young Korean man stood before a grave. The baby grew up as a young man and visited his mother’s grave, together with his American father. Listening to the story of his mother who passed away to save him many years ago, the young man cried and cried. The young man cleared away the snow on the grave with his two hands, and he took off all of his clothes and covered his mother’s grave with his clothes. He said to his mother, who passed away, crying,

“Mother, how cold were you on that day!”

Sacrifice To give up or to offer one’s own life, possession, honor, or such to someone or for something.

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1. My happiness is based on other’ s sacrifice

Love is not a feeling of happiness.

Love is a willingness to sacrifice.

Michael Novak (American Philosopher, 1933-2017)

Is my happiness achieved on my own?

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, published in 1964, is a children’s picture book which illustrates the sacrifice of a tree for a little boy. From the boy’s childhood to becoming old, he received many things from the tree such as cool shade, apples, and even a stump for the boy to sit on. The tree sacrifices The Giving Tree

everything it has to make the boy happy. Likewise,

nature provides every resource that is needed in a human’s life. The Giving Tree is not just a story about a little boy, but it asks a fundamental question about the relationship between nature and humans.

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1. A tree that protects its child tree According to some dendrologists, it is known that trees recognize and help each other like parents do to their children. A parent tree takes care of a child tree, and a healthy tree takes care of an old and sick tree. For example, trees send distress signals to other trees when there are insect attacks since they are connected to each other through underground fungal networks. A big difference is shown between a tree protected by its parent tree and a tree not protected by its parent tree. A tree grown in a forest is protected by its parent tree. When a tree is attacked by insects, its bark can be peeled off which makes the tree dry and withered. When that happens, a parent tree connects its roots to the child tree and provides nutrients.

Therefore, a tree with its bark peeled off does not die so easily in the forest. In addition, parent trees make their children trees grow slowly. If a tree grows quickly, then its power to endure from rough weather and insect attacks becomes weaker. Parent trees make large shade in the forest to allow a little sunlight for the little trees to grow. As a result, little trees grow slowly but their cells become densely packed, which make them firm and solid. On the other hand, a tree that grows

Slowly Grown Tree

alone on the street or in the park without the protection of its parent tree grows quickly.

However, it becomes a weak tree sensitive to the temperature change and insect attacks since it is not firm and solid due to its fast growth.

Fast Grown Tree

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2. Animals’ paternal and maternal love The three-spine stickleback fish are known for their paternal love. The male sticklebacks build a nest using materials such as water plants and secure them with a glue produced in their kidneys. Then the males lead the female sticklebacks into their nests to lay eggs. When the females lay their eggs in the males’ nest, the male sticklebacks fertilize all the eggs.

The females would die in a few hours exhausted from laying eggs and the males would protect the eggs from the predators day and night until the eggs are hatched. By the time the eggs are hatched, the male sticklebacks die near the spawning ground since they used all their strength.

The breeding cycle for the emperor penguins begins when the sea ice reforms and becomes thick. The penguins huddle together to escape wind chills which reach -76°F and conserve warmth by taking turns moving to the group’s interior. When the female emperors lay the eggs, they leave them to the male emperors. The males keep the eggs warm by balancing them on their feet and covering them with feathered skin known as a brood pouch. If the egg is exposed to the bitter chill for only a minute, the egg immediately freezes. Therefore, the males try desperately hard not to let the eggs fall from their feet. After the females lay the eggs, they leave them to the males and travel many miles to reach the ocean to find food.

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Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

Until the females come back, the males stay behind to incubate the eggs.

For more than four months, the males need to look after the eggs in the winter storms until they are hatched. During this period, they cannot eat anything except a little snow. If the eggs are hatched before the female emperors return, the chicks are fed with a secretion of protein and fat produced by the male emperors from their esophagus which is called “penguin milk.” The males are not able to eat or sleep during this period and lose nearly half their body mass. After about four months, the females return with a belly full of food that they regurgitate for the newly hatched chicks. There are, of course, many female emperors who fail to return to the breeding site because they are eaten by predators like the seal leopard.

When the females return, the males go out to the sea in search of food, and the females raise the chicks.

In addition to this, there are many animals that take care of their babies and protect them from various threats. It is difficult for most of the animals’ babies to maintain their life themselves without the help of their parents.

When the babies themselves become a parent, they also instinctively sacrifice for their babies.

Emperor Penguins My happiness is based on other’s sacrifice

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Discussion

1. Let’s find other cases in nature in which animals or plants sacrifice for their young ones.

2. Let’s bring back memories of our parents who sacrificed for us and discuss it with each other.

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Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

My happiness is based on other’s sacrifice

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2. Value of a Sacrifice and Examples

Love is more than a noun-it is a verb; it is more than a feeling-it is caring, sharing, helping, sacrificing.

William Arthur Ward (American Author, 1921-1994)

What is the meaning and value of a true sacrifice?

We should not demand a unilateral sacrifice just because my life is happy due to other people’s sacrifice. A sacrifice should be done voluntarily. A sacrifice that is not voluntary is like another form of violence. In addition, there should be a clear purpose and value in a sacrifice. Through the examples of those who practiced sacrifice, let us find out what is the meaning and value of a true sacrifice.

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1. Discovery of a work worth sacrificing for 1) For the world where a life is respected The movie Schindler’s List is a true story about a German industrialist, Oskar Schindler. During World War II, he tried to accumulate a fortune by selling enamelware and ammunitions to the military. He employed Polish Jews to operate his ammunitions factory and gathered wealth. One day, Oskar Schindler witnessed a miserable massacre. Even though the Jews did not do anything wrong, they were sent to the concentration camp just because they were Jews. They were shot just because their one arm was missing or they learned too much at school or they were unable to clean the bathtub. As he felt guilty about seeing such things, Oskar Schindler began to create a Schindler’s list to save the Jews. He tried to save Jews that were planned to be sent to the death camp at Auschwitz with money.

Oskar Schindler used all of his fortune to bribe authorities so that his workers could stay at the factory, and he saved about 1,100 Jews. Until the war ended, he took care of the Jews, and they all earned freedom at the end.

After World War II, Oskar Schindler was in agony because of the fact that he was not able to save one more person. What was the reason that Oskar Schindler, who pursued

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only money and success, sacrificed everything he had to save the Jews? It was because he realized the value in the phrase, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” To one person, one’s own life is like the world entire. So, when a life is lost, then the world is no longer meaningful. In the last scene of the movie, Oskar Schindler cried, “If I had sold this car, I would have saved ten more people! And if I had sold this gold pin, I would have saved two more!” We can think about the value of the dignity of life again through this.

Movie Poster of Schindler’s List (1993)

2) For the world where there is no racial discrimination Desmond Tutu, who was born in 1931 in South Africa, worked to fight against racial discrimination all his life. Tutu wanted to become an educator, but he could not receive the same education as the white people due to a racial segregation policy called “apartheid.” As a result, he decided to become an archbishop instead. In the early 20th century, the racial segregation policy forced the different racial groups to live and develop separately. For example, non-white people could not attend the same school or go to the same workplace as the white people. Even the bus that they could take and the beach that they could go to were segregated.

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One day, Tutu and his daughter were walking on the beach, and they saw an empty swing in the only-white region.

Tutu’s daughter said, “Dad! I want to ride that swing.” Tutu answered in a weak voice, “We cannot go to that region.” The daughter asked, “Dad, there is no one who is playing in that playground. Why can’t I go there?”

How would Tutu feel when he heard that? And how could he answer his daughter’s question? How could he say “since you are black, you cannot go there” to his daughter?

After Tutu became an Anglican archbishop, he still fought actively against the racial segregation policy. In recognition of his contributions to this cause, he received a Nobel Prize in 1984. However, after Tutu received the Nobel Prize, he still did not have the right to vote. The right to vote was first given to the black people in South Africa in 1994. On 27 April 1994, the first voting day for the black people, Tutu expressed this day like this in his book called No Future Without Forgiveness: “The day for which we had waited all these many long years, the day for which the struggle against Apartheid had been waged, for which so many of our people had been tear gassed, bitten by police dogs, struck with squirt and batons, for which many more had been detained, tortured, and banned, for which others had been imprisoned, sentenced to death, for which others had gone into exile—the day had finally dawned when we would vote, when we could vote for the first time in a democratic election in the land of our birth.”

As Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president in South Africa on 27 May 1994, the racial segregation in South Africa came to an end.

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2. A sacrifice is an expression of devoted love that does not ask for compensation 1) A sacrificial love that overcame disabilities There was a girl named Anne living in the poor house in Tewksbury.

At the age of five, Anne suffered from an eye disease which damaged her sight. When Anne was eight years old, Anne’s mother died and Anne’s father, who was an alcoholic, abandoned his children. When Anne and her brother were sent to the poor house, Anne’s brother died due to the poor conditions of the house and Anne fell into despair. After Anne became blind, she often tried to commit suicide. People thought that Anne could not recover and she was sent to a room in the basement for mental patients.

When everyone gave up on Anne’s treatment, Laura, who was a nurse, volunteered to take care of Anne. Rather than giving her a treatment, Laura became a friend to Anne. Laura went to Anne with biscuits to read books to her and prayed for her. Laura gave much love to Anne, but Anne did not say anything or eat any food that was brought to her. One day, Laura found out that one of the chocolates was gone from the plate that she put in front of Anne. Having received courage from this, Laura kept reading books to her and prayed for her. Anne slowly responded to this and later she talked like a normal person. Anne entered the Perkins Institution, a school for the blind, and she found happiness in her life through her faith as she went to church. Later, Anne went through hardship when Laura died, but she graduated the school as an outstanding student. In addition, she succeeded in an eyesight recovery operation with the help of a newspaper company.

One day after the surgery, Anne saw in the newspaper that a child who cannot see, hear, or talk was in need to be taken care of. Anne decided to return the love that she received to that child. People said that no one can teach that child who cannot see, hear, or talk but Anne said, “I believe in 16

Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

God’s love.”

With love, this child had grown into the most miraculous heroine in the 20th century. This child was “Helen Keller” and her teacher was “Anne Sullivan.” Like Laura who helped Anne become like a normal person by sympathizing with her pain, Anne Sullivan spent forty-eight years of her life with Helen Keller. Later, Helen Keller expressed gratitude towards Anne Sullivan in her essay called “Three Days to See.” In her essay, she said that if she could see for three days, she would visit her teacher, Anne Sullivan, and look at her on the first day.

2) Love for the people, “Love people like myself” One of the greatest figures in Korea’s history is King Sejong. His life can be expressed with the phrase “love for the people.” King Sejong’s achievements are countless in the fields such as national defense, science, music, culture, and more. However, his most important achievement is the invention of “Hangul,” the Korean alphabet. He explained the reason why he created Hangul.

“Being of foreign origin, Chinese characters are incapable of capturing uniquely Korean meanings. Therefore, many common people have no way to express their thoughts and feelings. Out of my sympathy for their difficulties, I have created a set of twenty-eight letters. The letters are very easy to learn, and it is my fervent hope that they improve the quality of life of all people.”

Regardless of the King’s thoughtful intention, there was great opposition among the people of the government. They thought the people would raise a rebellion if they learned and knew the characters. Furthermore, they said that there would be no one working the agriculture and the foundation of the country would collapse. Most of the people in the government thought Value of a Sacrifice and Examples

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that learning how to write and read was a privilege only for the upper class.

Therefore, King Sejong started to create Hangul on his own. It is known that King Sejong almost lost his eyesight because he created Hangul even though he had a heavy workload. Hangul was created in December of 1443, and it was officially proclaimed on 9 October 1446. Hangul is the only alphabet in the world to have clearly written historical records of the date on which it was first created.

King Sejong, who loved the people, came out of the palace and built a cottage like the people to lived there for two years during his reign. He also made the people vote in order to know their will. He even let the lower class go on maternity leave and implemented a policy to hire the disabled in various fields because he could not tolerate the discrimination of the disabled. In addition, when the country was in a difficult situation due to famine, he shared the land of the royal family to the people. Despite the opposition of many, King Sejong sacrificed and devoted his whole life for his people. Here are some words that King Sejong left:

“The reign of peace that I dream of is the world where people can do what they want to do.”

“The people are the roots of a nation, and the roots should be strong so as to create a peaceful nation.”

“It is in order to avoid confusion in undertakings by the people that they have a king rule over them.

How, then, could a king hope to live up to the dignity expected of him as a ruler when he refuses to hear out his people when they bring to his attention injustices done to him?”

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Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

King Sejong’s Statue

Discussion

1. Let’s find the work that is worth the sacrifice around us and discuss it with each other.

2. Other than the examples already mentioned here, find other examples of sacrifice or devotion and discuss it with each other.

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3. Practice of Sacrifice

Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.

Napoleon Hill (American Author, 1883-1970)

What are the obstacles that hinder the practice of sacrifice?

Even though we realized the true value of a sacrifice, it is difficult to practice that sacrifice if we do not abandon our selfish interest. When we fill our hearts with only greed, then we can inflict harm on others which leads to a conflict. Selfishness makes us pursue our own interest or profit, threatens the existence of a community, and diminishes our spirit of sacrifice. If we realized the true value of a sacrifice, then we have to overcome our selfish interest and make efforts to practice sacrifice.

1. Selfishness makes one pursue one’s own interest One of the examples which made people pursue their own interest or

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Lesson 7 A Sacrifice without Compensation

profit out of their selfishness is the opioid crisis. Opioids are a class of drugs found in the opium poppy plant, which result in the relief of pain. In the late 1990’s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not get addicted to prescription opioids. Due to this, healthcare providers began to prescribe opioids at greater rates, even to the patients that did not need this prescription. The patients who took opioids became so addicted to them that they could not carry on with their daily lives. In addition, many people died due to opioid overdose. Looking at this grave situation, the state of Ohio sued the pharmaceutical companies.

Therefore, the selling of opioids was restricted and the use of overdosereversing drugs was promoted. Ironically, some of the pharmaceutical companies that made these overdose-reversing drugs were the companies that made these addictive pain relievers. The companies made money by making people become addictive to the drugs as well as treating those addicts. Like this, selfishness makes people ignore human rights and the dignity of life and inflicts harm on many people by going blind due to the pursuit of their own interest.

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On the other hand, Confucianism teaches these words as the virtue of a leader: “You must first think about public will and then private will. You must throw away your personal greed and work for the public interest.”

Hippocrates (BC 460-377) is an ancient Greek physician regarded as the father of medicine. Hippocratic oath is an ethical code attributed to Hippocrates pledged by physicians. The Declaration of Geneva, which is a revised, modern draft of the Hippocratic oath, is commonly used today.

The following is an excerpt from the Declaration of Geneva.

In this way, physicians pledge that they will not use their medical knowledge for their own interest but for the service of humanity. Therefore, there have been many great physicians who dedicated their lives to the service of humanity in our history.

As a member of the medical profession: I solemnly pledge to dedicate my life to the service of humanity; I will not permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient; I will respect the autonomy and dignity of my patient; I will maintain the utmost respect for human life; I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat; I make these promises solemnly, freely, and upon my honour.

Excerpt from The Declaration of Geneva

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2. The importance of practicing peace in daily life There is a great sacrifice in which you give your life for a friend, but you can practice small sacrifices even in your daily life. Jean-Paul Sartre, a French novelist, said, “Commitment is an act, not a word.” Even to do small things, it is important to make effort, not just to say it in words.

If we look at the footsteps of great people, the path they have followed was the continuation of suffering and sacrifice. However, it is not that they sacrificed because they are great; but since they sacrificed for others, they are regarded as great. Therefore, sacrifice is not something that people only with high position or who possess a lot of things can do. Sacrifice begins with the heart of not being ignorant to the suffering or pain of others.

There are many ways to practice sacrifice with even small things. We can donate a little money to a volunteer organization or we can clean up the streets with our friends. We can participate in relief activities by visiting regions affected by natural disasters or we can teach other students that lost their opportunity to receive education. If we practice sacrifice starting in our daily lives and love our neighbor, then there will be no more conflicts in family, school, and society. Rather, there will be peace everywhere.

We cannot achieve world peace with selfishness. If we try to satisfy our selfish desires, then there will be only conflict. A sacrifice that does not ask for a compensation is needed to achieve world peace. The compensation for a small sacrifice that we make in our daily lives is not money or honor.

The compensation for the small sacrifices that we make is a world of peace.

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Discussion 1. Let’s find ways to practice small sacrifices in our daily lives.

2. Let’s discuss our heart before and after we practice sacrifice.

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Application Read the excerpt below and share something small that you have with the person next to you..

On Sunday, I went to Mass. The priest gave a sermon on “sharing” and told us to share whatever we have with the person next to us.

I could not give my car key and I thought about the price of the things that I wore such as my scarf, earrings, necklace, and more.

I was searching for“excuses” why I could not give those things to the person next to me.

And I found a mint candy in the back pocket of my pants.

A few days ago, I got this mint candy from a restaurant, but since I do not like mint, I gave this to the person who was sitting next to me. The priest asked us how happy it is to share even a little thing with the person next to us.

Everyone around me was shining with a bright smile, but I could not smile.

From Once In My Life by Jang Younghee

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A Sacrifice without Compensation Conclusion The more developed animals need more care from their parents in their childhood. For humans, the care and sacrifice from the parents are essential. Without the sacrifice from the parents who give birth, raise, and feed their children, there is no one who lives happily on his or her own. Furthermore, humans receive every resource from nature. Like the story in the book titled The Giving Tree, nature generously provides resources and a place to live for humans.

A sacrifice is not something that one can demand by force.

Demanding sacrifice is another type of violence. A sacrifice must be done voluntarily, and one can practice sacrifice voluntarily when they realize the meaning and value of sacrifice. Therefore, the meaning, value, and necessity of sacrifice should be taught to students at school and train them as the citizens of peace who practice sacrifice voluntarily.

A sacrifice is essential for humanity to live in peace. World

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peace cannot be achieved with selfishness. If people try to satisfy only their desires, then peace will be broken and there will be only conflicts and disputes. Selfishness makes people pursue their own interest or profit, harm public interest, and even cause harm to others. A method to live together by practicing sacrifice and to take care of each other should be sought after. This should also be done in family, school, country, and international society. Small things can be done without a sacrifice. However, a sacrifice without asking for a compensation allows people to do greater things. If all nations and people around the world sacrifice and yielded their profit little by little, then we can create the greatest legacy, world peace. When we sacrifice for world peace, it is difficult to expect the compensation to be given to us right now. However, our sacrifice will pass down a world of peace as a great legacy to our future generations.

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Image source p.6 first https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81zxGlf9WCL.jpg p.7 left https://pixabay.com/id/photos/cincin-tahunan-pohon-pohon-grates-2924661/ right https://pixabay.com/id/photos/busuk-kayu-log-pembusukan-posting-1774405/ p.9 https://pixabay.com/photos/penguins-emperor-penguins-baby-429128/ p.14 https://www.facebook.com/SchindlersListMovie/photos/pb.202396106505502.2207520000.1566978257./1996343580444070/?type=3&theater p.18 https://pixabay.com/photos/sculpture-structure-outdoors-heaven-3167710/

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Data source The Hippocratic Oath and the Declaration of Geneva Oath of Hippocrates & Declaration of Geneva https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1720375&cid=47336&categoryId=47336 Opioid http://www.healthvermont.gov/response/alcohol-drugs/governors-opioidcoordination-council Anne Sullivan https://www.biography.com/activist/anne-sullivan Tears of the Antarctic, Emperor Penguin http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/culture/mbcspecial/ vod_pack/index.html The hidden life of treestree class https://www.mcst.go.kr/kor/s_culture/book/bookView. jsp?pDetailSeq=794

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