to Dad, received 9/2/09

RoseE writes:

"Dear Dad,

The rivers in Taegu don't strike me as particularly battle-worthy rivers. More like glorified streams, really. They're not big enough for shipping. They've even got fountains in them. If I weren't a missionary I could probably wade or rock-hop across the one by our house. But then again, it's bigger than the stream under Burnside's Bridge*, so I guess it sometimes doesn't take much water to bring an army to a standstill.

I think that if perceptions define reality it's only a matter of time before the two Koreas are reunified. As far as most Koreans are concerned, they're still one country--that just happens to have two governments. Whenever anyone draws a map of the country to show me where something is, they always draw the whole peninsula and then, as an afterthought, a slash across it to indicate the 38th parallel. Most children's maps don't even show the border at all--just one continuous Korea labeled 'Uri Nara'--Our Country.

I'm going hiking in the mountains outside the city today, in Palgongsan National Park. It's gorgeous. You've got to come see it.

R. Hadden"


Included with these letters are 2--for lack of a better word--business cards with RoseE's picture, address and email address on the front, and this quote on the back. See if you can spot the Korean mistake(s):

"The road must be trod, but it will be very hard,
And neither strength, nor wisdom will carry us far upon it.
This guest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong,
Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world
Small hands do them because they must,
while the eyes of the great look elsewhere. " J.R.R.Tolkein



*Burnside's Bridge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnside's_Bridge In September 1862 at the Battle of Antietam, the Union Army under the command of Major General Ambrose Burnside tried to cross this rather narrow bridge pretty much in single file for 6 hours while a small band of Confederate soldiers from Georgia methodically picked them off one by one from the other side.

The water in the river below them was waist deep.

It is said that if Burnside had been able to get across the river, the Union would have won the war at Antietam.