KOREAN-AMERICAN VOICES: Calvin R’s Story
By Calvin Reeh
REFLECTIONS ON BEING KOREAN-AMERICAN
“이때 범 한 마리와 곰 한 마리가 같은 굴 속에서 살고 있었는데 그들은 항상 신웅, 즉 환웅에게 빌어 사람이 되어지기를 원했다. 이때 신웅이 신령스러운 쑥 한 줌과 마늘 스물개를 주면서 말하기를 ‘너희들이 이것을 먹고 백일동안 햇빛을 보지 않으면 곧 사람이 될 것이다’했다. 이에 곰과 범이 이것을 받아서 먹고 삼칠일 동안 조심했더니 곰은 여자의 몸으로 변했으나 범은 조심을 잘못해서 사람의 몸으로 변하지 못했다.”
The Sunset Of Jeju Island, painting by OHJEA KWON
Dosan Ahn Chang Ho of Tender Age
Sailor to a new world, a foreign land.
Hardly a boy, yet forced by heaven
to be a man.
For family, for country, for humanity.
How worried mom must be!
I hope you learn to sing and listen
as the winds whistle for you,
for soon you will water your bed with tears.
Love your wounds and do not be leery;
favor comes to the steadfast and upright.
Ahjummas with tussled makeup
rise early in the morning,
only to see their prayers seep to the ground.
Truly I tell you, I have not found such faith,
not in all of Israel.
Live long, live true, live free!
Like the radiant sun behind
an island mountain.
Dosan Ahn Chang Ho
Translation of the opening quote: “In those days, a tigress and a she-bear lived together in a cave, praying to the god Shin-ung, also called Hwan-ung, to become human. Shin-ung gave them each a handful of wormwood and twenty pieces of garlic, telling them: ‘if you eat this and do not see the sun for a hundred days you will become human.’ After eating and faithfully waiting twenty-one days, the bear took on the body of a woman, but the tigress was not faithful and did not transform.” -Samguk Yusa
Author Note: Ahn Chang Ho (1878-1938), also called Dosan, was a politician and a leading activist for Korean independence in the early 20th century. He and his family were among the first Koreans to immigrate to the United States, arriving at San Francisco in 1902.
