[Dr. Chung's Column] Do You Want a Happy Ending?
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Manmin News
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 15018 |
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March 02, 2005 |
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 Dr. Kooyoung Chung (former president of Seoul Women's University)
I recently read a story of a rabbit who loved a turtle. The story seemed to have viewed Aesop's famous fable from a different angle. A brief summary of the story is as follows. There once was a rabbit who loved a turtle one-sidedly but no one - not even the turtle - was aware of this. The rabbit, who had an immense amount of interest in the turtle, learns how the latter has been agonizing over her slow pace and wants to build up the turtle's confidence. One day, the rabbit cautiously approaches the turtle, suggests they have a race, and the turtle readily agrees to the
proposition. The race begins, and the rabbit who was running ahead becomes concerned that the turtle might give up in the middle of the race. The rabbit also thinks that if he purposely ran slowly, he might offend the turtle. The rabbit runs for a while, pretends to be sleeping from exhaustion, and lies on one side of the road. The rabbit then has a blissful dream in which the turtle, after she sees the rabbit sleeping, wakes him up and together they run up the hill hand-in-hand. In other words, in the rabbit's dream, the turtle finally discovers the rabbit's devoted love for her and accepts it.
At last, the turtle passes by the rabbit who is pretending to be asleep, entranced in his own dream, and whose heart is aching for her. Yet, the turtle is completely unaware of the rabbit's feeling for her. The turtle zealously runs the race alone and the race ends in her lopsided victory. What is worse is that in the minds of the animal family and the posterity who never did find out all the details, the turtle was "diligent and sincere" while the rabbit was "proud and rash."
If the turtle had been able to put an end to tormenting herself for her slow pace, it would have been a source of great joy for the rabbit and thus, there would be no need to discuss the story any further. As I read down this story, however, I kept thinking that had the rabbit confessed and expressed his love for the turtle a little more aggressively, the story might have had a "happy ending."
If we are asked to pick the champion of one-sided love, no one could come before God the Creator. Even though He has formed us and nurtures us in His overflowing love, we do not seek Him or thank Him, but have been busy going astray. Nevertheless, God not only dreams of a "happy ending" with such mankind, but He has steadfastly confessed and expressed His love for us in languages and ways we can fathom. Sending His one and only Son to this Earth and allowing Him to be crucified are the culmination of God's love for us.
God's only-begotten Son resurrects three days after the crucifixion and visits His disciples. Thomas, who was not present when Jesus first visited other disciples, declares, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe [the resurrection of the Lord]."
A week later, Jesus visits His disciples again and Thomas was also there. What does Jesus do this time? Jesus does not admonish Thomas for his little faith. Nor does He ignore Thomas and walk by him. Instead, Jesus feels compassionate toward Thomas, approaches him, and tells him, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe" (John 20:27).
 In other words, Jesus helped Thomas understand in a language he could understand. What was the outcome of this? Thomas, who had once doubted, confessed, "My Lord and my God!" Per his earnest confession, Thomas dedicated the rest of his life for the Gospel and attested to his love for the Lord by shedding the blood of martyrdom in India.
This is a "happy ending." One-sided love and unseen love are beautiful. Yet, when we give and receive love, it is of a more beautiful kind.
Do you want a happy ending? Then, express that love within you to others in a language they can understand. Let none of us be a heartbroken rabbit. Instead, I hope 2005 will be a year in which we express our love to those around us and taste a blissful happy ending which we all so desire!
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