Sunday, July 04, 2004
Leaving and missing (Hyunwoo Park)
In this novel “A Step from Heaven” by Anna, a little girl named Young Ju immigrants to America and misses her friend and grandmother whom she left back in Korea. Leaving beloved people behind is so hard for any one. I’m not an exception about that. As Young Ju does, I also have grandmother back in my home country. Although she is so healthy for her age, he is really old so I’m worried about her. I miss every friends and family members, but I miss her the most. It’s not because we are so close, it’s because I haven’t done anything good to her. When you are missing somebody, all the memories are about things that you would regret. Even though Young Ju is too young to realize what the word missing means, she’s missing her house, friend, and grandma. I don’t think the pain she has felt because of the separation is so much different from mine. Actually, me staying here and studying wasn’t planned. My original plan was just staying about six months and going back to Korea. But I changed my mind and decided to stay a little bit longer than I planned. So I wasn’t so emotional when I first left Korea because I didn’t think that it would be this long. I think the main difference between me and Young Ju is that I knew what she didn’t. I knew why and where I was coming, but she didn’t. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen to her. Having changes without enough understanding about them could be really scary especially if you are a little girl. Moving to another country is quite something. It changes everything; a house, friends, language, even the air. I was pretty exited about coming to U.S. but still worried about my future and people who I left behind. I totally understand how she is feeling, and feel sorry for her. So what I want to say is that leaving your own country affects both physically and mentally no matter how old you are or whether you are staying permanently or not.
