Quote of Significance
"기쁘기도 기쁘나 실상은 웬일인지 이기고 나니 기쁨보다 알지 못할 설움만이 복받쳐 오르며 울음만 나옵니다. 남승룡과 함께 사람 없는 곳에 가서 남몰래 서로 붙들고 몇 번인가 울었습니다. 이곳의 동포들이 축하하는 말을 들으면 들을수록 눈물만 앞섭니다."
-손기정 (1936)
"As happy as I am, somehow, my sadness overpowers my joy now that I've won (the gold medal). Nam Seung-Yong and I cried together many a time in places where no one could see us. When other Koreans in Germany congratulate us, tears keep rushing to my eyes."
-Son Ki-Jung (1936)
This quote signifies the heart-racking pain that my countrymen have had to suffer through the first half of the 20th century. The first Korean ever to win an Olympic medal, Son Ki-Jung had to run 42.195km with a Japanese flag planted on his chest. Even today, the Olympic records show that two Japanese placed 1st and 3rd at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
This is a memento from a period when Korean could not be Koreans. The thought of my ancestors toiling under Japan is enough to make my blood boil at times. Imagine, if Korea was still under Japanese rule. There would never have been a KMLA, and a certain teacher named Carlton Johnson might not have found a quality called 정(情) in the Land of the Morning Calm.
Thank god that Korea can be Korea today.