Some people say the world is corrupted, full of evil, depraved. However the warmth, or the humanity, still continues its powerful heartbeat in this harsh, cold world. Recently, I was impressed by certain people’s love and their strength.

I volunteered my services for an international organization—helping people in foreign land such as Africa—named “World Vision”. The organization’s main role was to assign each Korean sponsor a foreign child who needs financial help. Then the sponsors supported their assigned children financially and developed relationship with the children by exchanging letters. My job there was to translate the letters written in Korean by sponsors into English or the other way around—translating English letters into Korean. Last Monday was the first day for me to go into the office and actually perform my duty. My task was quite simple; yet it was not a trifling job at all.

There was total number of fifteen thousand people in Seoul sponsoring the poor kids. I was astonished by its fairly big number; however this number, although surprising, was not the thing that made me feel the warmness with my heart. There was one letter written by a sponsor with relatively long length and a piece of yellow Post-it on the top. At first I was busy, translating the letter into English; therefore I did not really pay attention to the Post-it. The content of letter was not so unique or different from other letters, including the three common substances that all the other letters included: complimentary comments about the kid’s cute appearance (I guess all the children have sent their own pictures), questions asking for the child’s health, and an apology for writing back so late. As I finished the translation, I looked at the Post-it unconsciously, read the notes, and couldn’t stop myself from being extremely emotional. What that small note saying was very touching. It said that the one who wrote this letter is not an actual sponsor, yet a new owner of the house where the real sponsor was living it. The sponsor had moved out; however the new owner had no way to contact him. Therefore, she, an ahjuma who wrote the letter and the note, received the letter written by 8-year-old African kid instead of the original sponsor. After reading the letter and looking the child’s picture, she felt something deep inside her heart. Then she decided to become a new sponsor for the kid, replacing the original one’s spot.

What a beautiful world it is. How beautiful the people we live with are. She did not pay a significant amount of money. Most of the sponsors, according to the letters, are not very wealthy. Yet they are taking care of the ones who are given less privilege than them, providing the poor kids with financial help with their best. These people do have warm hearts, they do appreciate what they are given, and they are the true happy ones, I thought.

We Should Marry Mr. Bing.

My English class—Ms. P and all of us—had a fevered discussion over a practical issue: marriage. The question of what kind of man a woman should marry seemed quite vague for me. Of course, it was. How could have a sixteen-year-old girl, who hasn’t even imagined putting herself in a wedding-dress, create a structured standard of her future husband? However, it is a question that I must end up with a clear answer in the near future.
Despite its ambiguity, the question brought several adjectives in my head that would describe “the man”: tall, rich, polite, well-mannered, concise, respectful, humorous, active, clean, attractive, courageous, wise, smart, charming, sweet-sounding, tanned, organized, muscular, assiduous, decisive, and short-haired.
What a long list of impossible fantasies. It is not possible for a man like this to exist on the same planet with me. Well, luckily he may exist. But why would this Renaissance man want to marry me? There is no way for me to marry that man, and I know it so well. So, I decided to tear down my nonsense delusions.
Let’s be more practical. Let’s think of a person, a man, a character, whom I would want to grow old with. After a while, I was able to think of a fictional character named Chandler Bing from my favorite TV program, Friends.
Why would I marry this man?
First of all, he has his plan. Mr. Bing is a man who looks after for his future and prepare ahead for it. He earned money and continuously saved small portion of it in order to save budgets for his dream house in the countryside with a small yard where he can be with his children and Monica.
He owns true courage that makes him a real man despite the absence of manly body. Chandler is capable of expressing his love in front of his partner. He is a man who can show his wife his tears to tell her his sincere feelings. He is not a pretentious coward who is busy taking care of one’s own pride. Moreover, Chandler is brave enough to quit his job in order to achieve his real goal. This decision may seem risky, yet his passion and effort are trustworthy of grabbing success.
The very profound evidence of Mr. Bing so appropriate for a life partner is Chandler’s possession of his friends: Monica, Joy, Ross, Rachel, and Phoebe. I think looking at one’s friend is a fine way to determine what kind of person the one is. Having such worthy friends for such a long time evidently proves his good traits as a human being.
Chandler Bing, this man is not very rich. He is neither concise nor muscular. His appearance is portrayed as unattractive (although I personally think he is charming). Mr. Bing is not necessarily smart, clean, or organized. He is definitely not a Renaissance man. Yet, I would still love to walk down the aisle holding this lovable man’s hand.

It was such a long day; I was bored. I turned TV on, so naturally as if I was planning to watch it. With the remote, I changed channels several time, and there it was. Cinderella. When I was young, I watched that film for more than ten times, and I just loved it. So I decided to watch it again with the remaining sweet feelings from old memories. Familiar songs made me smile. However, as it went on, I realized something; something new.
Currently, Cinderella is definitely one of the most loved and popular stories in the earth. Its sweet love lines attracted little girls all around the whole world. Walt Disney Productions had selected the fairy tale to make their 12th animation film, and its successful picturization caused more girls to fall in love with the prince.
Cinderella is the main character in this story. She is the one who was in charge of all the minor housework and she is the one who bears all the pressure from her stepmother and stepsisters. She is certainly a nice, polite, and virtuous girl, yet not a naïve one. The dress and her glass shoes that the fairy godmother has magically created for her perfectly fitted her size. If so, how is it possible for one of the pair of her glass shoes to come off? If she didn’t really have ambition, why would she want to go to the ball? Yes, she said “yes,” when the prince asked her out for a dance, and she was the one who later stepped out and tried the shoe on when the prince was searching for its owner. Love at first sight, people call it, yet loving someone after a couple hours of dance is certainly not enough for them to get married.
Although some people call Cinderella as the pleasant love story, the real truth about the story is quite bitter. The book directly handles lookism and importance of material possession. The prince fell in love with Cinderella since she was beautiful, not because of her inner personality. Cinderella loved the prince, knowing his background and wealth he had. They knew nothing deep about each other. What the prince recognized about her was her outer beauty, and what Cinderella noticed was his position, prince of a nation.
There is a new term called ‘Cinderella complex’. It is described as a desire to be taken care of by others, fearing being independent, which nearly occurs in women. This desire is originated from Cinderella, the story in which it values outer beauty, dressing pretty, and having wealth, but gives idea of a character that cannot be strong enough to be independent, waiting for a man—a prince—to rescue her.
Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast. What a coincidence! Every main character in the story is beautiful, young lady. Young girls do watch these things, and they do accept these things. Why do girls put on their make-up since young ages? Why do they want to shop all the time? Why do they consider plastic surgery? No wonder.

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