Sunshine's Sensibility

햇살의 분별력  -안도현

감나무 잎에 내리는 햇살은 감나무 잎사귀만 하고요
조릿대 잎에 내리는 햇살은 조릿대 잎사귀만 하고요

장닭 볏을 만지는 햇살은 장닭 볏만큼 붉고요
염소 수염을 만지는 햇살은 염소 수염만큼 희고요

여치 날개에 닿으면 햇살은 차르륵 소리를 내고요
잉어 꼬리에 닿으면 햇살은 첨버덩 소리를 내고요

거름 더미에 뒹구는 햇살은 거름 냄새가 나고요
오줌통에 빠진 햇살은 오줌 냄새가 나고요

겨울에 햇살은 건들건들 놀다 가고요
여름에 햇살은 쌔빠지게 일하다 가고요 

This poet's choice of words are exceptional. He's probably one of the best poets ever who is good at handling descriptive vocabulary. I unsuccessfully tried to translate this poem into English; I feel small. How stupid I was to think that I was able to convey the subtle meanings in a different language. But... I wish I could. 

The Wizard of Oz: Hidden meanings (BBC article)

The classic film was first shown 75 years ago. Since then, there have been many interpretations, from religious allegory to an acid trip. BBC Culture picks out five of the most interesting readings of L Frank Baum’s modern fairy tale.

• Political satire
• Religious allegory
• Feminist manifesto
• Parable of theosophy
• Drug trip

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140819-the-wizard-of-oz-hidden-meanings?ocid=global_bbccom_email_20082014_culture

The Giver

I'm more like a planner. I hates dealing with things that pop up abruptly. I suppose, however, I'll have to change my attitude after reading this book.

The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past. 

The community with sameness and everything under control looks like a utopia at first. But it gradually becomes distopian. There's no joy without pain. The values of life maybe lie in unexpectedness.

The Fault in Our Stars

Augustus: "It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." 
What a fearless and unregretting love! I'm amazed by this intrepid youth who isn't overwhelmed by life's daunting challenge. He's likely to trip over, but gets on his feet soon and goes on for his goals. Honestly I'm ashamed that I was scared of being hurt.

Augustus: "They[Cigarettes] don't kill you unless you light them. It's a metaphor: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but don't give it the power to do its killing." 
What a fabulous justification! And it's true. You have the power to control things.

Augustus Waters is a 17-year-old boy. He is a cancer survivor with a prosthetic leg. What he fears is oblivion. He's in love with a girl who encourages him to ignore it: There was time millions of years ago before organisms experience consciousness, and there will be time after. There will be no one left to remember even greatest people on earth, let alone you. Everything will be forgotten.
Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 16-year-old girl. She has extended her life, not curing her lung cancer. She meets a boy who makes her life meaningful. But she feels like she's a grenade and doesn't want to give irreparable pain to the boy she loves.

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

I just happened to see this movie because I thought it was another buddy travelogue showing Latin America. To my surprise, I didn't realize it was a biopic about Ernesto Guevara, who becomes known as Che Guevara later, until the last scene showed the statement of his execution and the real travel pictures of him and his friend. 

I was very impressed. The movie was basically amusing, and I felt that Ernesto was extraordinary and nice enough to make friends with. I sensed from time to time that this movie was not shallow and made me think about injustice and inequality in society. And I started to think, "What IS this movie?" It gives clues as to how and why Che Guevara had transformed into a Marxist revolutionary; he became a new man because of the encounters with poor peasants he had on the journey. 

At Machu Picchu, Ernesto feels that it's plausible to unite Latin Americans regardless of the national boundaries and race. 

Ernesto looks out the window at the river that separates clinic people from lepers both literally and metaphorically. He ponders over the division and finally on the last night of his stay he swims across the river despite his asthma in order to spend the night with the alienated patients.   

Ernesto was so sensitive and compassionate that he couldn't turn his back on the truth and miserable people's tragedy. The journey transformed the way a young mind had thought and shaped up a philosophy he would die for. What on earth are the encounters with various cultures we go through on our journey? I feel really sorry for the loss.

LET THE WORLD CHANGE YOU
AND YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD 

Pulp Fiction at 20: How a phenomenon was born (BBC article)

Quentin Tarantino’s homage to disreputable genres stormed Cannes 20 years ago. Tom Brook shows how the film became a sensation.


http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140514-how-pulp-fiction-shook-up-film

The hidden messages in children's books (BBC article)

Adults often find surprising subtexts in children’s literature – but are they really there? Hephzibah Anderson delves into the world of Freud and fairy tales.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140318-hidden-messages-in-kids-books

MOOC (Massive Online Open Course)

https://www.coursera.org/

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses.  Although there has been access to free online courses on the Internet for years, the quality and quantity of courses has changed. Access to free courses has allowed students to obtain a level of education that many only could dream of in the past.  This has changed the face of education.  In The New York Times article Instruction for Masses Knocked Down Campus Walls, author Tamar Lewin stated, “in the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing them as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree.”

Although MOOCs are the latest trend, not everyone agrees that schools should offer them.  Joshua Kim Insight Higher Ed article Why Every University Does Not Need a MOOC noted that offering free material may not make sense for the individual university.  It may be more important to stand out in other ways.

There may also be some issues for students who lack motivation.  Since a MOOC is voluntary and there is no penalty for dropping the program or lagging behind, there may be issues with course completion.  Although a student may have received an excellent education, there will not be a corresponding diploma.

For those who desire a free education and have the motivation, the following includes the:  Top 10 Sites for Information about MOOCs:

1. Udemy Free Courses – Udemy is an example of a site allows anyone to build or take online courses.  Udemy’s site exclaims, “Our goal is to disrupt and democratize education by enabling anyone to learn from the world’s experts.” The New York Times reported that Udemy, “recently announced a new Faculty Project, in which award-winning professors from universities like Dartmouth, the University of Virginia and Northwestern offer free online courses. Its co-founder, Gagen Biyani, said the site has more than 100,000 students enrolled in its courses, including several, outside the Faculty Project, that charge fees.”
2. ITunesU Free Courses – Apple’s free app “gives students access to all the materials for courses in a single place. Right in the app, they can play video or audio lectures. Read books and view presentations.”
3. Stanford Free Courses -  From Quantum Mechanics to The Future of the Internet, Stanford offers a variety of free courses.  Stanford’s – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence was highly successful. According to Pontydysgu.org, “160000 students from 190 countries signed up to Stanford’s Introduction to AI” course, with 23000 reportedly completing.”  Check out Stanford’s Engineering Everywhere link.
4. UC Berkeley Free Courses – From General Biology to Human Emotion, Berkley offers a variety of courses.  Check out:  Berkeley Webcasts and Berkeley RSS Feeds.
5. MIT Free Courses – Check out MIT’s RSS MOOC feed.  Also see:  MIT’s Open Courseware.
6. Duke Free Courses – Duke offers a variety of courses on ITunesU.
7. Harvard Free Courses – From Computer Science to Shakespeare, students may now get a free Harvard education. “Take a class for professional development, enrichment, and degree credit. Courses run in the fall, spring, or intensive January session. No application is required.”
8. UCLA Free Courses – Check out free courses such as their writing program that offers over 220 online writing courses each year.
9. Yale Free Courses – At Open Yale, the school offers “free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.”
10. Carnegie Mellon Free Courses – Carnegie Mellon boosts “No instructors, no credits, no charge.”

Manhattanhenge: New York's solar phenomenon (From BBC)

14 July 2014 Last updated at 00:14 BST

New Yorkers have witnessed "Manhattanhenge", a solar phenomenon during which all east-west streets on the city's grid system are spectacularly illuminated by the setting sun.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in 1996, inspired by its likeness to Stonehenge, where the sun aligns with concentric circles of vertical stones on each of the solstices.

Manhattanhenge — sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice — is a circumstance which occurs twice a year, during which the rising sun aligns with the east-west streets of the main street grid in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.

How Syria's ancient treasures are being smashed (BBC article)

Syria, graced with thousands of historic sites, is seeing its cultural heritage vandalised, looted and destroyed by war - but volunteers are doing what they can to document the damage and save the country's cultural identity from obliteration.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28191181?ocid=global_bbccom_email_10072014_magazine

Sorry about that! The art of public apology (BBC article)

3 July 2014 Last updated at 00:02 BST

Sex scandals, corruption allegations and exchanges with offensive language seem all too common among celebrities and political figures these days.

And when an embarrassing report surfaces, they are often called on to apologise publicly for the offending actions or words.

Edwin L Battistella, author of Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology, says most public apologies fail.

He tells the BBC how to say "I'm sorry" effectively.

Converse shoes: In the all star game (BBC article)

The ubiquitous rubber-soled shoes and boots made a successful leap from sport to streetwear. Katya Foreman looks back at their colourful history.




http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140606-art-on-canvas-converse-shoes

역린逆鱗 (2014)

It's a well-made movie that sends a message, but wasn't a box office hit. What is deplorable is moviegoers' attitude, most of whom seek only for temporary pleasure.

The film title means a dragon's scale. Putting a hand on it claims your life.

A dragon is docile. You can bring them under control and ride on it. There is, however, a scale that grows backwards on its chin. If it is touched, the animal never fails to kill you. A king is a figure who wields power in a dynasty and thus has such a thing. The king's fury, consequently, is synonymous with the dragon's scale. --From Han Fei Tzu

The most impressive scene is when the protagonist forgives and embraces his archenemy who ridiculed his father and spearheaded his father's execution. It's an adequate example of "detaching yourself," which is a lesson Morrie (Tuesdays with Morrie) gives. Detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it. 
I'm overwhelmed by his decision. It's poignant though, considering his endless agony night after night torn between vengeance and forgiveness. I'm not sure how much this scene relies on the historical fact, but it looks plausible because he was keenly aware of what was the best thing to do as a king, not as a son.
He didn't cling to the nightmare from the past and eventually transcended the limits of an ordinary human being.



Jeongjo is the 22nd king in Choseon Dynasty. He witnessed his father's tragic death. The executioners were the crown prince's political enemies who aided and even manipulated the then king--his grandfather. He was only 11 years old. He grew up in fear of being killed, and finally ascended to the throne at the age of 25 in 1776.
There were continual attempted assassinations since the first year of his coronation. He had survived everything but one: poisoning.
What a loss! I wish I could turn back time and save his life. He is one of the greatest kings in Korean history. His demise is lamentable because it was a watershed and the last chance to be able to reform the corrupt country. He could have established a modern democracy earlier. Then we did not have to be forcibly occupied by Japan one hundred years later.
History repeats itself. To my sadness it is repeating.

其次는 致曲이니
曲能有誠이니
誠則形하고
形則著하고
著則明하고
明則動하고
 動則變하고
變則化니
唯天下至誠이야
爲能化니라

중용 23장
작은 일도 무시하지 않고 최선을 다해야 한다.
작은 일에도 최선을 다하면 정성스럽게 된다.
정성스럽게 되면 겉에 배어나오고
겉에 배어나오면 겉으로 드러나고
겉으로 드러나면 이내 밝아지고
밝아지면 남을 감동시키고
남을 감동시키면 이내 변하게 되고
변하면 생육된다.
그러니 오직 세상에서 지극히 정성을 다하는 사람만이 나와 세상을 변하게 할 수 있는 것이다.
The one who is devoted to even a little thing can change both oneself and the world.

Tuesdays with Morrie

This book is full of wise quotes. They're resonating because they come from a dying old sage. 

Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently. 

Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. 

(When you face death,)  You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. If you accept that you can die at any time--then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

Don't cling to things because everything is impermanent.

Now, more than ever, material things held little or no significance. You can't take it with you.  

Neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have. The truth is, you don't get satisfaction from those things. 

Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

Giving to other people is what makes you feel alive.  

Do the kinds of things that come from the heart.  

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn. --Mahatma Gandhi 

The Great Gatsby

I had 2 misconceptions about this story. 1) I thought it was a romance: a poor man's unsuccessful struggle to win a rich girl's heart. 2) This book is overestimated: it's not worth being a class.

After reading the whole book and the book club discussion, I discovered, The Great Gatsby is not just a common, insipid lover story. There is a man who is obsessed with climbing up the status ladder by getting married to a woman with a fine inherited position.

Gatsby was driven by his love/desire for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, but she led him towards everything he despised. He seems to idealize her in his mind. It's vile and disgusting when Daisy and Tom calmly eat things even after the car accident as if nothing had happened. They're despicable and pathetic people who never care about other people's pain and sorrow.
This story depicts the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status by chronicling Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream. His desire is synonymous with American dream. If the eponymous character's desire for a woman is not metaphoric for American dream, his acts are inexplicable for me.
After all, the story represents a decadent time in American history and I think this is why it became Fitzgerald's magnum opus.

The picture above is the original cover of the book. I like it because it shows decaying aspects of the opulent twenties in the US.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)

Setting (From Wikipedia)
Advent Children takes place two years following the events of Final Fantasy VII. During such game, the former war soldier Sephiroth attempted to absorb the energy hidden deep within the planet, the Lifestream, and rule over mankind in the same way as the extraterrestrial Jenova once tried. However, Sephiroth was opposed by a group of soldiers led by the mercenary Cloud Strife and was defeated. Nevertheless, Sephiroth's final spell, Meteor, still damaged the planet, destroying the city of Midgar in the process.
The survivors started living in the new city of Edge. Cloud and his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart now run a courier service and serve as caretakers to the orphan boy Denzel and their friend Barret's adopted daughter Marlene. Recently, Cloud has moved out of the house and isolated himself from his friends. He is still haunted by his role in the death of Aerith Gainsborough, who was killed on his watch by Sephiroth. In addition, both he and Denzel are infected with the mysterious new ailment known as "Geostigma", which has no known cure.

Drum covers

I initially was eager to play the drums when I came across The Reason by Hoobastank. The song is simple, but beautiful and powerful. It struck a cord with me.
I wish I could drum in an amateur band after I retire.

Attention-grabbing ad

What a CF! The angles, colors, and music all together. Take a look at the rippling muscles! Everything is lifelike! Perfect realization of 3D! Looks as if I could feel the players' glistening beads of sweat and hear them panting. Literally can't take my eyes off from it just like the tag line.

So we're gearing up again for the World Cup. Meanwhile Brazilians are taking to the street today against spending huge amount of money on the soccer games rather than social projects. Riot police is firing tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters. I don't want to go to this extremely bipolarized country, let alone travel.

Koreans haven't gotten over the heartbreaking ferry accident and we don't know when we can get back to normal. Ironically, no as usual, politicians are busy preparing for the general election slated for early next month. Black comedy.

I have to write a eulogy for the deceased and their families, but I don't know where to start. It's an appalling catastrophe. I'm sick and tied of incompetence and irresponsibility of the ruling rightmost conservatives. Do we still have hope among the ageing electorate? Democracy is fading away. Hard to establish but very easy to collapse. I miss the late president.

At dawn

It was at summer's early dawn when I was in 8th grade. I felt full in my heart and I still vividly do. The world seemed to be all mine amid the tranquil atmosphere. There have been a couple more times since the first thrill. The rest was not as overwhelming as the first, though.

Staying up all night, looking at light appear in the sky, seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world still slept. An unforgettable moment for adolescent me.

This was forgotten in busy routine until I opened the introduction of The Alchemist. I had felt a special bond with the author. I've never thought that a foreigner living in other part of the globe would feel exactly the same. The book was highly acclaimed, but I honestly think the story is mediocre. Suffice it to say that the introductory pages say it all.

A shepherd boy who is in pursuit of treasure purportedly buried in a faraway place sets off for a journey. After a grueling odyssey, he finds the treasure in the place where he least expected: in his hometown.

We all need to be aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don't all have the courage to confront our own dream. 

Why? 

There are four obstacles: 

1. We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it's still there.

2. If we have the courage to disinter dream, we are then faced by the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey. 

3. Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn't work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: "Oh, well, I didn't really want it anyway." We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how. 

I ask myself: are defeats necessary?
Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.
So, why is it so impatient to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?
Because, once we have overcome the defeats--and we always do--we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.
Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. 

4. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.    

Oscar Wilde said: "Each man kills the thing he loves." And it's true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal--when it as only a step away.

This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.  

I believe the writer's message is synonymous with 盡人事待天命.

Sow a thought, and you reap an act; 생각을 바꾸면 행동이 바뀌고
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;    행동을 바꾸면 습관이 바뀌고
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;   습관을 바꾸면 성격이 바뀌고
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.  성격을 바꾸면 운명이 바뀐다.
                                                                by Samuel Smiles

Favorite Disney songs

Disney stories are obvious and boring after all though they offer extravagant, amusing scenes. So I don't like them with a few exceptions.

1. Tale As Old As Time (From Beauty and the Beast)
The story is basically a cliche, but what is timeless is you have to look inside the person, not the appearance. Belle feels that she doesn't fit in the village. There's no one she can really talk to. Instead, she finds pleasure in the imaginative world of books. I'm well aware of this feeling.





 


I hate the docile, dependent female image that Disney princesses instil. I deliberately despise the associated color pink. Go, The Paper Bag Princess!


2. Can You Feel the Love Tonight? (From The Lion King)
Simba becomes a real king by earning his throne after an ordeal. When Simba was a young cub, King Mufasa gave his son a tour of the land, teaching him the responsibilities of a king and the circle of life. The best scene!










 

Poetry (Pablo Neruda)

I've long thought that poetry isn't my thing. They haven't been the things I appreciate. They have been what I have to analyze and decode. Bad consequences I get from school and exams. I should have been free from the old ideas. I didn't have to follow critics' opinions; it's OK to put my own interpretation. A good poem for others isn't necessarily acceptable to me. 


And it was at that age... poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face

and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of

someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
I felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke free on the open sky.

Library scenes

I love libraries. Time is all mine here. I'm in a world apart from the ordinary hustle and bustle. I like the silent, relaxing ambience. My favorite place is usually next to the the windows through which light gets in. I find the muted atmosphere mystical. Something mysterious is likely to take place at any corner of  the endless arrays of stories and knowledge.

1. Love Letter
I like the scene in which the boy is reading a book behind a billowing curtain in the breeze. This seems as if it foreshadows his premature death.
The boy and the girl have one thing in common: the exactly same name. Other students make jokes about them and thus the girl feels embarrassed. The boy checks out lots of hard books that nobody seems to read. The boy's name is written on the borrower's card of those books. It turns out that the name is actually the boy's attention to the girl. How innocent of them!


2. Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Seonjoon and Yoonhee do research together and build up deep trust in each other. The two promising scholars often meet in the library and exchange their opinions. They're concerned about what it is like to live well, and try to practice what they've learned to eradicate societal corruption.

3. It Started with a Kiss
Xiang Qin tags along behind Zhi Shu wherever he goes. Even to the library which is the last place people find her. Zhi Shu doesn't shun her. He enjoys her attention and deliberately controls the physical distance between them. They seem to play a funny hide and seek.

Evocative music

Again the weather on weekend is disagreeable. My psychological mood is pretty much affected by bright sunshine or gloomy clouds. I need music. To soothe myself.
Songs are evocative of memories. Things eventually end up in good old days though they were either pleasant or bitter back then.
Life and landscape in LA were impeccable. Every single day was perfect. I'll never forget those days. Colorful bougainvillea and the blue sky with no cloud. It was like a sweet dream. The city itself is not as fascinating as NY, though. Horizontal LA and Vertical NY. The museums, the Met steps, and the park. I hate cold weather, but I can endure the chill if it's in NY. I wish I could see the green meadow and the festivity of NY in Spring and Summer.
Music makes me feel better on a gray day like this. I'm fond of music with metronome 100. I like it when my heart palpitates in response to the pulsing drumbeat. The smashing sound has to do with something primordial and thus it's thrilling.

Pictures of Hollis Woods

      

It's nothing but a kid book. It's boring because the story is predictable. However, there is an inspirational part of the story that I realized during the book club discussion.
Sometimes what you see is so deep in your head you're not even sure of what you're seeing. But when it's down there on paper, and you look at it, really look, you'll see the way things are. 
Look at a picture one way and you'll see one thing. Look again and you might see something else. 

You see the same thing differently before and after you're in a particular situation. For example, songs are just songs. But the lyrics sound different when you break up with a boy/girlfriend. They sing your story.

Hollis Woods is the place where babies are abandoned. Hollis has been in many foster homes and what she really wishes is a family. But Hollis thinks she is a mountain of trouble and thus she doesn't deserve a family. After a car accident, she declines the warm offer to live together with the Regans though she's desperately in need of parents and a brother. Later she catches different things from a picture she drew. The message has always been there, but she didn't recognize it. Now she wants to get back together with the Regans.

Everyone has the same experience; you've looked at a painting and seen one thing, only to look again later and discover something different.

When I first looked at the calligraphy painting in my teens, it was just another masterpiece of Joseon Dynasty. When I looked again in my mid twenties, I could understand what the artist truly wanted to render through the desolate landscape.
I was struggling to build good relationships with people. People  that I had thought were trustworthy turned out to be unreliable. I was lost and confused.
The artist lost his enormous power and was banished in a remote island. Nobody came to see him but one follower. He realized who was a true friend or a fair-weather friend, and then represented the ideas with pine trees. Pines are evergreen and never change colors even when it's cold.

To Kill a Mocking Bird

The story is described by a little girl named Scout. Her father is an indefatigable defender of human rights and takes humanitarian efforts for innocent people like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. She's well brought up with her father's educational remarks and lessons from an array of incidents that occurred in the neighborhood.

This is the best book I've ever read. I'm really fond of the main character, Atticus. Basically Atticus is humble and unprejudiced. He doesn't boast of his achievements (i.e. shooting skills). He is kind to unprivileged people including blacks and supports them wholeheartedly. More important, I like him as a good person and especially as an excellent father figure/educator.
Atticus never blames or looks down on the teacher who doesn't allow Scout to read at home. He suggests an alternative and prevents his daughter from thinking that school is a weird and unreliable place. Also he's kind enough to have Jem read stories to an elderly cranky lady until the day she dies. He knows that she has different views about things, but he wants his son to see what real courage is.
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Most people are (real nice), Scout, when you finally see them. 
Atticus says in the trial that all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe. Some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they're born with it. But he then says that it is a court that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller or the stupid man the equal of an Einstein. Atticus knows the reality and what ordinary people normally think of. Nevertheless, he strives hard to persuade people, having a firm faith in man.
Atticus says if he doesn't defend Tom Robinson, he can't hold up his head in town. Most folks are entitled to full respect for their opinions. But before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. He doesn't want to let his kids down when they're grown and look back on the case.

Here is an insightful quote from the book. It's not necessary to tell all you know... folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do. It aggravates them. You're not gonna change any of them by talking right, they've got to want to learn themselves, and when they don't want to learn there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language. 
I had tried unsuccessfully to change my troubled students' attitude toward learning and life though they had their own pace and timing. I had to admit that I was not the person who was in their critical moment. Instead I'm happy and content if I can have a good influence on a handful of students a year.

The older I grow, the more content  I am with what I have. I used to want more, want better. I'm thankful for who I am and what I have. I've become optimistic about my life and I'll try hard to be a better person to understand people around me. I wasn't born as a suppressed slave in the feudal system. I'm not an uneducated woman who is influenced by extreme religious fundamentalists. I'm not surrounded by racial bigots. (There but for the grace of God go I.)