So today I was reading the Wall Street Journal and they had an almost full page piece on a man named Park Tae-joon. I had never heard of this man, I bet none of you have either. Mr. Park, 1927-2011, was a former South Korean army officer who literally built the South Korean steel industry from nothing after the Korean war. In his final years he led a charitable organization near Seoul and told reporters he lived by a simple motto: "I dedicate my short life to my eternal country."
My first thought was, "How sad." Here is a guy who thought a country was eternal and that was as high a thing he could devote his life too. I thought, "Man, this guy died and the minute after his heart stopped beating he realized he wasted his life because his country isn't eternal." But then I realized that Mr. Park's statement spoke volumes more about our lives than his. I am at a coach's convention which, professionally, has been invaluable. But as I look around the room, it is filled with people who will say, "I dedicate my short life to my eternal sport." Sure, we can dress it up and say we are positively influencing lives (which is true in most cases) or that we are attempting to make life better for some kids (again true in most cases), but at the end of they day, it is still a game. More than that, at least Mr. Park had the insight to realize that life is short. Even if I live to be 80 years old, life is incredibly short. Most of us, by that I mean most Americans, just don't get that. We think we will live forever, at least we live our lives like we will live forever.
So what is it that we would say we dedicate our short lives too? Better yet, what would the way we live say we dedicate our short lives too?
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