Korea sits there, going on without me. I sit here, going on without Korea.
Unfortunately, for now, Korea is but a distant October memory. The language remains tongue-tied within me. My relatives have silently returned to their private lives, the brief connection between us now faded.
The main reason Korea is so far away is that my life here cannot afford to let anything in, anything at all. As much as I’d like to explore that vast and mysterious heritage, the reality is I can’t. Too busy and not enough money to do anything.
I do think about the few things I learned from cousins when I was there. The most poignant one was that “members of the Ko family don’t like to work for other people.” Meaning they like to work for themselves. The statistic for success sounds about 40%. Not too great for me.
Another thing is Uncle’s connection to Canada. I happen to love Canada (Vancouver 2010 baby!). It’s nice to know that there is a North American outpost for that part of the family.
I wonder if they’re waiting for me to make a move. Sitting back and seeing if I have it in me. Well sure wouldn’t want them to see me now, overweight and not pursuing money through hard work (that’s the cultural ethic by the way).
Instead, I’m being an idealist American. Inventor of innovation, delivering nothing…yet. What would they think of that? What would Grandfather think of that? What kind of advice would I get?
If there’s one, just one single take-away, one virtue I could distill from my Korean roots and family, it would be the work ethic. I want the 4am-rise-to-the-till-the-rice-paddies-360-days-a-year ethic. Something that I’m hoping courses through my bloodstream.
Combine that with whatever brains are available and I should be able to pay a visit back to the Motherland.