I watched a powerful documentary online yesterday. It was about doctors and aid-workers who go into North Korean to identify and treat Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients. Without the treatment, these patients will slowly waste away and eventually die within a couple years. I saw a tall and handsome young man who only weighed 95 lbs and couldn’t stand up on his own strength because of the disease. Another man was carried in by a rickshaw and couldn’t even produce sputum because he was so weak. A young girl of 11 years old brought her father to the clinic with TB hoping that he would be cured. But he decides not to get the treatment and instead give the treatment to the girl who also contracted the disease. He died within a couple years although she made it…

My parents are both from North Korea. They came down to the south at the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. I could very well be living in N. Korea and be one of the TB patients there. And I might have to make the decision of dying of the disease so that my 11 year old daughter might have a fighting chance of surviving…

Instead, I was born in S. Korea. Then, my parents decided to immigrate to this country. I received education from one of the premier universities. And I live very comfortably in a suburban house. And my 11 year old daughter’s biggest worry is what outfit to get into for school each morning…

If I ever complained about my life, I should be condemned to hell. The things that I worry about, the things that bother me, the things that I get agitated about… How ashamed I felt after watching that documentary. But I also know that it will only last a few days. I will soon forget about the conditions of others in other parts of the world and become self-focused again, acting like I deserve the best. Unless I go to God and be reminded of what I deserved and what I got instead.

Teach us to number our days

that we may gain a heart of wisdom

Ps. 90:12

PH