Freedom is worth whatever it takes
Learning about others may be one of the best ways to learn about ourselves. In her book “In Order to Live,” Yeonmi Park chronicled her escape from North
Korea with her family to China and then to South Korea. As defectors from the hermit kingdom,
Park and her family faced increasingly dangerous obstacles to reach freedom all along the way.
Park wrote, “In North Korea, it's not enough for the government to control where you go, what you learn, where you work, and what you say. They need to control you through your emotions, making you a slave to the state by destroying your individuality, and your ability to react to situations based on your own experience of the world.”
What a hostile and dark place North Korea is especially in small towns where Park grew up. Food shortages and intermittent electricity were norms and many people were driven to smuggle cigarettes and other contraband to provide the barest essentials for their families and neighbors.
Each of us has expectations based on experiences as well as promises. As a child Park grew up hoping for one good meal each day. She and her sister would dream about how much bread each could eat if given the chance.
Few if any Americans can identify with defectors like Park and her family who sacrificed so many things for years to escape institutional slavery. America and other free nations are not concerned about citizens fleeing freedom. On the other hand, millions of illegal immigrants have crossed our borders the past two years from more than 140 nations. Millions of got-aways are hiding heaven knows where for whatever purposes.
After Park and her mother finally arrived in South Korea, they were ushered into programs to help them learn about living in the free world. Park particularly enjoyed educational opportunities and proved to be a very fast learner. She wrote, “I crammed twelve years of education into the next eighteen months of my life.” She continued, “I vowed to myself to read one hundred books a year, and I did. I read to fill my mind and to block out the bad memories. But I found that as I read more, my thoughts were getting deeper, my vision wider, and my emotions less shallow. The vocabulary in South Korea was so much richer than the one I had known, and when you have more words to describe the world, you increase your ability to think complex thoughts.”
In contrast Park wrote, “In North Korea, the regime doesn't want you to think, and they hate subtlety. Everything is either black or white, with no shades of gray.”
Today Park holds dual citizenship with South Korea and America, and has earned a BA at Columbia University. Americans, particularly those in high school and college could learn a lot about freedom and slavery from Park.
For nearly 250 years American patriots have declared our independence, fought for our individual God-given rights, and died so that future generations could enjoy freedoms from government tyranny.
Our enemies have been working a plan to destroy America from the inside out. There is no other nation on earth to run to for freedom. If we don't fight to keep our rights, we will collapse into a wad of tyranny and become a footnote in history. Freedom is worth whatever it takes.
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at Pjandme2@ gmail.com.