What is the most fatal, inevitable enemy of
all living things? Of all life-threatening matters, the answer is disease.
Humans, especially, have coexisted with it, trying to research, find
treatments, and overcome it. Thus, as technology developed more and more,
people were able to find better and more effective cure for diseases, resulting
in lengthened life expectancy. Similarly, I believe the largest change in 21st
century is disease, in both positive and negative ways.
To begin with, some of the incurable
diseases wouldn’t be called the same in 21st century. As I mentioned
earlier, humans are able to conquer diverse illnesses through constantly
growing technology. Humans have done so until today, so there’s no doubt that
more diseases would be overcome. To give an example of the incurable disease in
past, pest, best known as black plague, was one of the biggest threats to
Europeans in mid-14th century. Millions of people lost their lives, and
there was no hope at the time, as no one could figure out the cause of it. However,
today, pest isn’t even conceived as a serious disease since vaccine was
invented. Scientists were able to verify the cause through microscope, and inhibited
the potentially dangerous germs from harming humans. Likewise, in 2012, there
are lots of diseases thought to be formidable and insurmountable, such as AIDS
and cancer. Though countless people are suffering from them these days, through
extreme advance in technology in this century, I expect these diseases to take
the same path as pest, and even longer life expectancy for humans.
On the other hand, developments in 21st
century may even worsen the ‘disease matter’. To be specific, extreme
developments today have harmed the environment largely. The thing is that the environment
is not the only target. Humans are also influenced by boomerang effect, and the
best example is cancer. Although cancer is known to be a contemporary disease,
it is not, as an ancient Egyptian was found to have carried cancer when he was
alive. However, it was not a usual disease for Egyptians, and such informs us
that some change brought increase in occurrence of cancer, which is human
activity. In fact, there are numerous evidences showing how human activity can
affect cancer cells to be more active. As humans are always looking forward to
advance in their civilizations, more pollution is being generated every second.
Although humans might overcome the present diseases in the future, at the same
time, it is possible for them to resurrect the deadly illnesses that haven’t
been found yet.
To sum up, 21st century will
open up a new age for diseases through vast enhancement in technology and
development. However, it is not sure whether the situation would improve or deteriorate,
as the chances are fifty-fifty. Whether it would be an innovation or a
disaster, humans must be ready to absorb such changes in disease on the
upcoming 21st century.
As a
student in KMLA, I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at this school. Every time
I do, there is always meat to meet the nutrition balance. Similarly, most of
people cannot imagine their meals without meat. The point is that the humankind
is just accustomed to eating it, from the beginning of human’s existence. Though
it wasn’t the same method, humans did hunt, feed, and enjoyed entertainment on
animals in the long past. Thus, my opinion is that modern humans cannot blame
themselves of feeding on animals. It is not a problem, and the mass livestock
industry itself is understandable as the human population has increased
massively nowadays. Instead, the issues I want to bring up are the inhumane,
modern method of livestock industry, and people’s perception about these
matters.
The
first serious matter in today’s livestock industry is the brutal method of it. Mainly,
it can be divided into two parts: breeding and killing. To begin with breeding,
animals are kept in captivity, inhibiting their will to move freely. Moreover,
often, there is not much space in a cage, providing livestock extremely crowded
and uncomfortable environment. Consequently, animals develop body parts humans
want, and sometimes, one gets slaughtered without experiencing anything other
than the cage. This fact that animals are locked up in a factory and get killed
makes the relationship between animals and humans unfair. In past, the justification
people proposed after killing animals was ‘coexistence’. Saying all animals are
in the same position, humans emphasized that animal meats are just products of
competition between species. They also mentioned that it is reversible, that
animals can always take humans. However, is it really reversible today? Taking
a glimpse at the livestock industry proves it is not. Technology has developed,
and so did the weaponry. Along with the captivation techniques, weaponry allows
human literally to control over any animal, and jail it. Such an unjust, cruel
breeding method differentiates the positions human and animals are in, even
inflicting tremendous pain to animals. If humans want to make an excuse for
utilizing and feeding on animals, they should stop using these breeding
methods, and let animals absorb into nature.
To
add, humans better choose alternative means to kill these animals when
utilizing and eating them. As I mentioned earlier, humans breed these animals,
so that they can do anything they want, whenever they want to. If that’s so,
isn’t it the least courtesy to do kill them without pain? According to the
movie, ‘Earthlings’, it is stated that due to monetary problems, livestock
industries cannot adopt anesthesia in their process. Humans, therefore, are not
even providing animals the least favor they can. As a result, animals are being
massacred with such an enormous agony that humans can’t even think of.
Moreover, there was this one killing method called, ’shecita’, in other words ‘kosher
slaughter’, which is claimed to be religious and sacred. It uses special
equipment for killing, which allows humans to drain the blood out first without
touching it. The thing is, I’ve seen these kinds of equipment only in gore
movies like ‘Saw’, not in real. I’ve never imagined such delicate, cruel
equipment designed for butchery would exist in real. Such apparatus’s existence
displays us the cruelty of human nature, suggesting how brutal humans can be if
the subject is not humankind. This action, I believe, will not be limited to
animals, and such violent nature has potential to cause lots of problems if it’s
expressed to humans directly in the future. Consequently, these cruel equipment
and methods of killing should be inhibited before more people get influenced
through them. Ultimately, if modern humans want to make the least justification
and not cause problems to overall society, humans should find less-painful
means when slaughtering animals.
Last,
but most importantly, people’s perception about livestock industries must
change. Some of the shocking scenes in the movie were that children and all
people working in such industries consider animal slaughter as a natural
process. Especially, it was surprising to see how children were considering
killing dolphins as a spectacle. What such reality tells us is that problems I
stated above are not being recognized by people, even the ones who kill
animals. However, awareness is the most essential factor to fix these problems.
If it doesn’t exist, the reality will continue until the balance between nature
and humans collapse. It would be too late when we realize it, so humans must
try hard to see the reality critically right now. Through various means such as
campaigns, people should stop thinking brutal animal slaughter as a reasonable
affair.
Since
humans walked on two feet and used tools by hands, they attained higher
position than any other animals. The thing is, however, it does not mean they
can breed, captivate, and kill them so brutally. Though people got accustomed
to eating meat, they should never get used to doing these cruel things. Therefore,
the movie ‘Earthlings’ is a great, extreme warning towards people considering slaughter
as a natural work. As it suggests people to change their perspectives, not
their eating habits, I firmly believe it is a well-motivating film to change
the world.
Dexter is an American drama about a serial killer who murders only the culprits and hides his identity. Dexter, the main character, works as a forensic scientist, and at the same time, does things what he calls, 'justice'.
The series reached its peak at the ending of Season #6, in which Dexter's true identity gets revealed by his half sister. There was a huge gap between Season #6 and #7, and finally, today is the day when the new episode comes out. I can't wait to see how the story gets unfolded, and how Dexter will escape from his inevitable destiny. I'll continue writing after watching the first episode today.
Wow. Yesterday I watched the first episode, but couldn't write about it as it was so thrilling that it couldn't get off my mind.
In the sneak peek, Dexter's identity gets revealed by Debra, her half sister. However, Dexter tries to get out of this risk by convincing her sister that they could hide the fact he killed the victim. She became so pale that she was persuaded, and agreed on Dexter's idea. They burned the place so that no evidence would be left. BUT! The preparation of the victim's blood Dexter likes to collect falls into the sewer, providing evidence for the cop later.
After, Debra kept thinking that this might not be Dexter's first killing, and she almost robbed Dexter's house,...and guess what she found..! The preparation of blood Dexter had collected... Dexter walked into his house finding her sister holding the preparations, and the episode ends.
I was really surprised to hear this is not the last season of Dexter, as his identity is just revealed. As I'm a fan, I'm glad to hear such news, but at the same time, I wish the director would not lengthen the events so that he can make more episodes...
‘Walking Dead’ is an American drama about
zombies. I’ve watched it for mere fun until now, but eleventh episode of season
2 captured my attention, compelling me to think about complex matters.
To simply describe the situation, several
people from the protagonist’s group, including the protagonist, gets into
conflict with another survivor group. During the process, the protagonist
notices that one boy from the other group is left behind, with his leg stuck in
the iron door. As the protagonist is depicted to be always nice, he saves the
body, although most of his team members disagree. Returning to the base, people
lock the boy in the shed, and have debate about what to do with him. As most of
them fears that the boy would bring his group to the farm they are settled in,
all people except one person suggest that they should murder the boy. The only
person who disagrees gets disappointed about others’ moral values, but still he
can’t convince others not to do so. Consequently, others, including the
protagonist, go to execute the boy, but fails as they notice that protagonist’s
boy is watching. Meanwhile, one antagonist in the group pretends to let the boy
go, but secretly kills him in the forest. At that night, the person who
disagreed gets severely injured as a zombie opens his stomach. Though he is not
turning into a zombie as he isn’t bitten, the damage is so harsh that an
operation cannot be held. To relieve the pain the man is having, a guy from the
group shoots him in the head.
There were two questions that popped up in
my mind when I first watched it. First, I wondered, ‘who decides what is right
or wrong? Even though the boy is a potential threat, is it morally right to
kill him?’ Considering these two questions, I thought that it would be creepy
if such problem is broadened to the world we’re living in. In the drama, the
thing that most people asserted was right in their perspectives. As a result,
even ‘killing’ was justified, and nobody suggested an opposite opinion, because
they thought they might get disadvantages for it. Today, in the world we’re
living in, the most frequently used democratic method is the principle of
majority rule. However, can anyone be certain that such system is completely
democratic and righteous? How about people who gets disadvantages, just because
the majority agrees they should get them? Moreover, the boy gets killed
secretly in the forest, and the antagonist who committed it pretends he doesn’t
know anything about it. This is a bit weird thought, but maybe this episode is
indirectly criticizing the modern society, where people try to do things
illegally if their objectives are not achieved.
Furthermore, it was really ironic that the
person who shouted true moral values gets killed by a zombie. Why do good
people always die first in the dramas or movies? Maybe it’s to make the story
more thrilling and interesting. However, isn’t it actually depressing as such
events imply that people who do right things get disadvantages? I know it’s a
broad interpretation to conclude as such just by watching the drama, but it was
a bit sad as I saw lots of these happening in real life. I murmured ‘Awwh…’ in
the dormitory room when the man died, because he was so pitiful and the
status-quo of our society nowadays was so bitter.
‘Walking Dead’ was always only humorous and
fun, but not that day. This great episode gave me an opportunity to think about
what’s right, and the tragic reality.
Koreans
are best known as polite and respecting the elders. Hence, when old people pass
away, their descendants gather together in order to have ceremony, paying much
respect to the dead. This event, Jae-Sa in Korean, has been held nationally or
in family unit from the moment Korea was established. Enabling people to
interact with relatives and have respect for the ancestors, Jae-Sa is one of
the greatest customs that I would like to introduce to other countries.
To
begin with, Jae-Sa makes people to respect the elders. All the countries have
funeral, but they don’t have ceremonies like Jae-Sa. Unlike funeral, Jae-Sa is
held annually to say hello and pay respect for the dead. This distinct feature
lets us have constant respect for the elders. The contrast between other
countries makes the difference more conspicuous. For instance, when a Christian
dies, the funeral large in size is usually the typical one. However, it ends
with just first one, and possibly, the dead can be forgotten if they pass away
early, especially for young descendants. Such can discourage young ones from
attaining respect for their ancestors. However, in Korea, people present their
ancestors food, drink, and cut grass that grew on the tomb every year. Hence,
even if old people pass away early, their existence would never be forgotten,
and their life would be recalled continuously. As such annual event can grow
much respect for the ancestors; it will be advantageous if other countries
follow such tradition.
In
addition, Jae-Sa gives opportunities for people to meet their relatives. The
term, ‘nuclear family’ is often used to describe how the modern families are
comprised of. Most of the families only have parents and siblings, so it is
unlikely to see relatives many times. Consequently, citizens of other countries
don’t have chances to meet their relatives except traditional days such as New
Year’s Eve, which can potentially decrease the bond between them. However, in
Korea, Jae-Sa prevents such deterioration of intimacy. As it is best
recommended not to be absent for Jae-Sa, it increases the number of meetings
with the relatives. Even relatives who went abroad gather together in one
place, so it is also a great chance to see each other. Personally, I actually
have a close cousin who immigrated to U.S., but I never longed for him as I can
meet him every time Jae-Sa is held. Our closeness never decreased, and he
remains as my best relative.
To
sum, Jae-Sa is an opportunity for people to communicate with both their elders
and relatives. Nowadays, people around the world are so busy that they can’t
care about themselves and their family members. If Jae-Sa can be adopted in
various countries, I don’t doubt that it would be the best tradition for both
the alive and the dead.
On July this year, one of my grandmothers passed away. As she had serious health problems, she was in the convalescent hospital until the day she died. Because such news was so sudden, I was forced to leave school, though I had numerous classes to take that day. One of the relatives who lived near KMLA came to pick me up, and I left with mourn and grief. When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was that everyone was dressed up in black. Although I knew that it was a Korean tradition to have respect for the dead, as the news was so unexpected, I didn't have time to change my clothes. It was really embarrassing, and some people might have considered me as rude. During the funeral, my cousins, brother, and my task was to serve the food for the people who visited. Though the process was really tiresome and boring, we endured such agony and tried our best for more than ten hours, as it was our beloved grandmother who had passed away. The next day, it was time to bury grandmother's body after burning it. When the body began to dive into the flame, my grandmother's sisters cried and mourned in such an intense despair that everybody was touched, and some even cried following them. We stood still looking at the fierce fire, to pay respect for the person whom we are unable to see anymore. After her body turned into ashes, we went to one cemetery to say our last farewells. We purchase the best, glistening tombstone for her, and wrote our message on it. It was short, but it was enough to (my brother with black suit) endow our thankful mind to her. It went, "Here lies a woman who spent her entire life supporting her children." We bowed to show her respect, and our family returned home, promising to visit her annually. At home, I was tired out, so I went to bed without even washing. Sitting on the bed, I slowly closed my eyes. The thing I couldn't believe was that the person who gave us big smiles and hope a week ago has passed away. The thought that I can't see her bright face anymore made my eyes full of tears, and I sincerely wished her luck in afterlife. Thinking back, what I recognized was that this was the first time our family and relatives had met over the last three years. There had been a conflict about money, and such event split my family and relatives from joining together on traditional days. We didn't even phone each other to say hello, and the conflict lingered for 3 years. As my family and relatives were both in real grief as my grandmother passed away, we both looked at our past 3 years in introspect, regretting how stupid we acted against each other. I was actually exciting at the end of the funeral when my parents decided to meet our relatives on traditional days such as Thanksgiving every year. The thing was that we even started meeting each other on normal weekdays. We had as much fun as ever, as my relatives and I hadn't met for years. One day, when my relatives arrived again at my house, I suddenly wondered, 'who is responsible for all this ecstasy? Why are we happy all of a sudden?' The next moment, I got the answer for my question: my grandmother. All of a sudden, again, I prayed for her, closing my eyes in the bathroom. After, I went out to enjoy the happiness and harmony my grandmother had left us. I know that our memory of her image and face will slowly fade away. However, I'm pretty sure that our hearts won't forget her gift, until the day we lie beside her and meet her again.
I unlock my cell phone, go into 'music' application, and click playlist #1. The playlist is filled up with music of the band, 'boowhal', which I often listen to when I study. Its calm, dreamy songs allow me to concentrate on the words I look at, and solve problems more fast and efficiently. This band, 'boowhal', actually has a very long history from 1984. At the time, Kim Tae Won, the leader of boowhal, organized the band called 'The End', and gained massive popularity. In 1985, the group changed its name to 'boowhal', but soon confronted big hardship as the vocal, Kim Jong Seo, left the team for military matters. After a while, Lee Seung Cheol, who currently shows up as a judge of the program, 'Super Star K', joined the team. In 1986, boowhal recorded its first album, 'Rock Will Never Die'. Such album is still being remembered as one of the best Korean rock albums until now, and it received the most popularity during boowhal's history. Songs, '희야', '비와 당신의 이야기', '인형의 부활', etc succeeded to draw people's attention, and even attracted female fans who had not had much contact with rock music before.
In 1987, after some alteration of the members in the team, boowhal introduced its second album, 'Remember'. However, soon, Kim Tae Won went to jail for smoking marijuana. There were two songs he composed while smoking marijuana, which were '천국에서', and '회상3', and such facts hindered boowhal to rise as a band. Thus, the team got disbanded after such trouble, and it was 1992 when the members united again as a team. Kim Tae Won, who looked back at his past with an introspect in jail, decided to make better songs for people.
Kim Tae Won tried to bring Kim Jae Gi to be his band's third vocal, but if he did, he would have had to wait for years until Kim Jae Gi does all of his military service. As Kim Tae Won was really eager to make him as his vocal, he waited that long time. In 1993, boowhal recruited its members and brought out their 3rd album, '기억상실', which is best known for the song, '사랑할수록'. Kim Jae Gi, as expected, showed his outstanding talent while practicing the songs. He was even known to be one of the best singers of Korean history. Unfortunately, before he dived into real recording, he got killed in the car accident while taking his towed car back. Nowadays, Kim Tae Won looks back on this past and regrets, saying that if he lent Kim Jae Gi money to drive taxi, he wouldn't have gotten killed. As a result, the album came out as a 'practice' version, even though the album is still very well-made.
After Kim Jae Gi's striking death, Kim Tae Won scouts Kim Jae Hee, Kim Jae Gi's brother, as they had similar tones. Some people say Kim Tae Won brought him to soothe his guilty conscience, but no one is sure except for him. Anyway, the fourth album, '잡념에 관하여' was a complete failure, as its songs were strange and hard to understand. It is recalled as one of the worst album in the boowhal history.
The next vocal for the 5th album, '불의 발견' in 1997 was Park Wan Gyu. Unlike most men, he was capable of raising his tone similar to that of woman's, which became the key to success. As the general trend for rock at the time was high-pitched voice like Kim Kyung Ho, the fact that Park Wan Gyu was able to digest various high-pitched songs Kim Tae Won composed was really a strong point. Consequently, the group boowhal officially announced its boowhal, 'resurrection' in English, and again received vast amount of popularity. The most well known songs of the album are 'Lonely Night', and '마술사'.
If there was one more unlucky vocal like Kim Jae Gi in the boowhal history, it would be Kim Ki Yeon, the sixth vocal of boowhal. Kim Tae won at the time praised his ability to handle high-pitched songs smoothly, so the album was again filled up with numerous high-pitched songs, such as '가능성', '너에게로'. As he was about to become active as boowhal's vocal, he got diagnosed with vocal cord nodules, which is one of the worst disabilities among singers. Therefore, the sixth album also ended up as failure, though songs themselves achieved recognition as well-made songs.
'Color', which is the seventh album made in year 2000, is known to be one of the greatest albums of boowhal. Changes in the members other than the vocal boosted the morale of the band, and the result was really successful. Sad to say, however, as the record company went bankrupt and the general trend altered to 'idol music', 'Color' became one of the most unfortunate albums of boowhal. On the other hand, some people look at this phenomenon as boowhal's luckiest moment, as it was this moment when boowhal manias first started to appear. Such album was remade in 2012, and as expected, it achieved great success.
For a short break between albums, Kim Tae Won and the first vocal, Lee Seung Cheol decided to make a special album. Such album achieved great success, as it included one of the most praised songs in Korean history, 'Never ending story'. Because it gained so much popularity, it officially became boowhal's 8th album, '새벽'. Though many fans wanted Lee Seung Cheol to stay as boowhal member, he left as soon as he showed how much impact he can give to the fans.
The ninth album, 'Over the Rainbow', didn't receive much attention, as the songs of boowhal started to get soothing and relaxing, unlike the music boowhal pursued. The vocal, Jeong Dahn, also failed to gain popularity, although his voice was pure and clear.
In 2005, boowhal's tenth album, '서정' got introduced with a new vocal, Jeong Dong Ha. Through the gossips, it is known that Kim Tae Won was extremely attracted to Jeong Dong Ha's ability and tone at the vocal audiiton. His voice fitted well with the calm songs such as '노을', and '추억이면' Kim Tae Won started to pursue, and Jeong Dong Ha anomalously became boowhal's stationary vocal for the next three albums.
The eleventh album, '사랑', came out in 2006 with vocal of Jeong Dong Ha. However, it was since then when boowhal started to get criticized for composing calm music. In 2009 and 2010, boowhal introduced its 12th official album, '25th Anniversary: Retrospect', which is divided into two parts. The first part includes the widely popular song, '생각이나', and the second one includes '사랑이란건'. Through such touching songs, boowhal achieved another great success. As Kim Tae Won really got attracted to Jeong Dong Ha, he signed 5 more years of contract to him, though the official contract ended as the 12th album.
And now, just a few months ago in 2012, boowhal's thirteenth album, 'Purple Wave', came out with, of course, vocal of Jeong Dong Ha. As soon as it came out, its songs charted top on the billboard, from first to tenth, which shows the great popularity of the band 'boowhal' itself. Its songs including '차갑다', 'Return to Innocence', and '1982' drew attention of millions of people, and just like many other boowhal albums, it achieved success.
Boowhal is my favorite band, which is the reason why I'm posting its history on my blog at 1 a.m. However, the thing is that the boowhal didn't receive all that popularity just because the songs so far were great. In my opinion, the key to boowhal's extreme success was that it boosted courage for people to rise in hardships, by showing that the band surmounted various difficulties it confronted. The message is that anyone can overcome the troubles he or she is facing, and that anyone can achieve success just like boowhal.
What is the most fatal, inevitable enemy of
all living things? Of all life-threatening matters, the answer is disease.
Humans, especially, have coexisted with it, trying to research, find
treatments, and overcome it. Thus, as technology developed more and more,
people were able to find better and more effective cure for diseases, resulting
in lengthened life expectancy. Similarly, I believe the largest change in 21st
century is disease, in both positive and negative ways. 
