THIS HOUSE SUPPORTS THE DEATH PENALTY

     Actually, this was the first debate topic that I've got when I was on the debate team in my middle school. I chose this topic not just because this issue is familiar to me, but because this is what I really advocate on. Living in Korea for more than 17 years now, I heard too much about hideous crimes and too weak punishments. Also I heard numerous cases where weak punishments about the first-degree murderer led to more grudge crimes. Murderers who had fulfilled sentences often went to kill witnesses, prosecutors, or other people involved in the court case.
     The most common opposite argument for this issue would be about the basic human rights of that criminal. They might say, even though what they have done is against our ethics and is wrong, we still don't have right to take away their rights. Furthermore, they will also argue about the sadness and tragedy that will occur to the family and close friends of the one. However, I will rebut this argument by giving two arguments which will support death penalty policy.
      The first supporting argument will be about preventative role it will play for the society. If weak punishments occurs steadily, gradually people will have less awareness about committing crimes. This will then lead to the increase in the number of crimes. The death penalty will play preventative role for further crimes and will therefore stabilize the society.
      The second argument that the proposition side can bring is that the death penalty prevents the accused from committing further crimes. As mentioned above, accused will have hatred towards the prosecutors and eventually, as other cases show us, will lead to other crimes. The death penalty for first degree murderers will thus prevent possible crime that can happen in the future.
       With those two main arguments, I strongly support for the adoption of death penalty in Korea.



Soon, I will equip myself with bunch of evidences and statistics and come back! :)

Movie scenario in free format - Garrioch's IR class

I found this idea when I was working on the Eng. class with Mrs. Choi. I was left with a piece of story, so I just put myself to work on finishing it and revising it. I will turn this piece into movie scenario by final draft soon! :)

After writing this, I feel that this is very similar to <Jigsaw>............

Decision

With shivering, you open your eyes. You are lying on the bed which is very strange. You take a look at the ceiling which is white. Turning your head, you look all four side of the room that you are in. It is all white. No spots but pure white is glancing at you. Neither chair nor any furniture is in this room. By looking at these white walls, you find yourself feel dizzy and ill. Trying to escape from those, you close your eyes. You feel better.

After about ten minutes (you are not sure because, again, there was nothing including the clock), you feel your stomach longing for a food to eat. You open your eyes once again to search for a food. By taking a close look, you find a square line in the wall that you didn’t realize before. It is like a window. You can’t open it because there is no knob. But when you were just about to crush it, the window suddenly opens. There, you find a piece of bread with a cup of milk in a square hole. you search for if there is any crack to break and escape, but it is perfect.

Soon after you finish your meal, there is a sound whelming the whole empty room.

“How was your meal? I hope you liked it because it can be the only thing to eat when you choose to stay here…... Oh, I see you wrinkling your eyebrows. From that reaction, I guess you really don’t want to stay here. Okay. I will let you take a chance to leave this room. Remember, it is only a chance. I will not let you run away easily. But don’t be frustrated. I’m only going to let you make some choices. Not that hard, not that many. Only Five choices are for you to make. But be careful, once you make those decisions, it would be irreversible. If you want to join this game, please push the door in your left. If you don’t want to, you can stay here for your rest of your life. I will provide you enough food to survive. Now, here is your first choice to make. Show me.”

     What the heck! You try to realize what led you to this Damn situation, but you couldn’t remember a thing! You even forgot your name! It is like there was an eraser in your head.

     After few thoughts, you make up your mind to take a chance to escape from here. You are sure that if you stay here anymore days, you would get insane. So, you turn left and make few approaches to the door that you didn’t realize before. Like the window, there is a big square line. The voice accepts your sign and let you pass the door. Through the hallway, you find another room with a door like the one before. It automatically opens. There you see a room that is very similar to the one which you were in, Except that there is no bed. Instead, there is a sleeping bag in the left of the room and there seems to be a person in there. On the right side, there is a TV. A reporter and interviewees are having a conversation and there are few people walking in the street. The Voice comes just right after when you wanted to have a explanation,.

           Seems to be frustrated, right? I’ll tell you how to make a decision. It’s simple. You have to choose between the man in the sleeping bag, the people in TV, and yourself. There is a button for each object on the door to next room. You push a button for the one you would kill. Then the way will reveal itself. But remember, it’s irreversible.

     Shocked at the very first moment, you soon grasp your concentration. What shall you choose? The one in a sleeping bag? people in TV? You?

Wait a second! Is there a guarantee that he will be able to kill people in TV? The voice might have a way to kill the one in the sleeping bag but there is no way it could kill all those people in TV. You soon approach to the button of the people in TV. When thoughts were spread to this, the voice speaks as if your mind is being read.

      You shouldn’t dare to choose the TV because you think I couldn’t kill them. As an example, I will kill one of people in TV. Hope you enjoy~.

Only after a second the voice gives a laughter, the one behind the reporter fall down all at sudden in a crosswalk and the car gets to tear him apart as if to make you sure that he surely died and it is not a coincidence. Screams of the people fulfills whole screen and the camera gets to be shaken for a while. You change the channel just to see if it’s fake, but other TV channels soon also reports this accident. Turn to the weather channel to see if it’s today, and you get shocked to see that it is today: The situation on the TV was real.

You stop your finger that was having its way to press the button for the TV, and panic for a while. You did nothing but just questioning the ability of the voice. However, some pressure gets to be felt in your heart. You feel guilty for it.

Now it’s obvious that this is not some kind of joke. You get to know the seriousness of situation and have a little more thought about it. Who will you choose?

Yes. You chose the one in the sleeping bag. Of course, you don’t dare to kill yourself. For the people in the TV, you think sacrificing all of them just to save one isn’t right. So you made a decision to kill the one in the sleeping bag. For the sake of more people, you think this sacrifice is justifiable.

Back to the room, there is no sound: screaming and yelling from the pain of death by the one in the sleeping bag. Only a dreadful twist in the bag makes you to realize that there was a human in the bag.

When the door opens you head right away to the next room as if you want to get rid of the decision you made. Right behind you, the button for your life, which is floating in the air, chases you tenaciously like your desire to survive.

Ah, there is a room that is very similar to the ones you met before. This time, only difference is that you have a miniature of an airplane on your right instead of TV. You know the rules.

Only this time, it took less minutes to decide. You know what you chose. This time, the one in the sleeping bag makes more harsh reaction. The one twist its own body as if it gets to be poked everywhere. By its bounce, the whole room gets to be quaked for a while. After few minutes, its reaction gets to be gradually abated, then after few more seconds, it remains still.

Unlike the one you met first, this time you don’t actually try to hide or get away from it. You watch the whole reaction like a baby try to learn something. You shake your head to wake yourself up, and go straight away to the next room. The button for your life chases you tenaciously again. Two more decisions left to make.

Again, you see similar room. You have nothing to be amazed about this room because you are quite adapted to see this room, but you get to be horrified by the object that is on your right. It is a globe.

But this amazement doesn’t change your decision. In fact, it accelerates your decision. Now, your finger presses the button automatically without any trouble.

The reaction has been exacerbated. This time, the one doesn’t only twists its whole body as if got electric shock, but also shouts and expresses its death agony. Its voice seems to be familiar to you, but you don’t have time to think about this. Your only concern is to get out of this maze and there is one more decision to go.

But your door doesn’t open unlike it had been. After few minutes of waiting, you scream and shout eagerly for the door. You try to crash the door and try to kick the door to make open, but it doesn’t work. The voice has come.

    Don’t be overwhelmed by your bad temper for I’m going to let you go. Go to where? To the real world. To where you longed for. Excited, right? Then please make your own way to the door. I will open it for you, and make sure to bring your button with you. It was so great to have time with you and I will delightfully wait to watch your last decision in the real world. Bye.

There, the door opened and the light that is very warm oozed. You grasp your button in your right hand tightly and slowly walks to that door like a soldier camouflaged in the forest. You get to speed up slowly and finally you put the first step on the other side of that door.

Because of bright light that were shining on you, you couldn’t open your eyes, instead, you grope for the right way to go. One, two, four, ten, fifteen, thirty, hundred steps it became and you finally reached the end.

Yes! It is something different than white! Instead, the mood seems to be gloomy and black is the major color and concept of this situation! It is a real world! I could see a lot of people standing in the black suit. But, wait. Where are you standing?

By the mood and clothing of people I can guess that this is a funeral. Funeral for whom? You break in the troop of people and go to the front of the troop. There, you saw some pictures that are in a frame with two black lines on the upper side. They are pictures of your dear friend, your dad, and your mom.

Still for a while, you make a final irreversible decision. Like the rat in the last.

Where do you see when you walk? (Photo Essay)

Where do you see when you walk? (Photo Essay)

Junsuk Lee

<Polaris>

Sometimes I feel like everything is so vague. I feel like I'm walking on a cloud. Try not to fall, I always lowered my head and looked at the path just in front of my toes. In that way, I was able to be ensured that I'm actually 'walking', and I'm not falling to the ground.

These sentences may seem abstract, but these describe my behavior towards life at my very best. People say in life there are three kinds of goals which you can look up to and aim for. First is long-term goal, second is mid-term goal, and the last is short-term goal. Above these three kinds of goals, I only aimed at the last one: short-term goal. Maybe it was because long-term goal and mid-term goal seemed so vague. Maybe it's because I felt insecure just to look at long-term goals. I only had one pair of eyes, so to choose from those, I only aimed at short-term goals, until there was a change in my life at middle school.

So basically what I did in my middle school was just focusing on what was given by teachers. I tried to participate in class, do well on given projects, get good scores on given exams. What they just asked me was quite simple, and after finishing what was given, I went  out and hung around with my friends, usually heading to karaoke or PC room. Yes. I was passive. I didn't really had concerns about what I'm going to be at future. All that mattered to me was the present.

But fortunately, there was a strong impulse from the heaven. A series of coincidence that led me to KMLA were given in my path and captured my very narrow perspective. I unintentionally was able to be a member in Korean debate team of my school, and that year, surprisingly being fortunate, middle school debate competition managed by the mayor of the Namyangju city was first held. Because it was the first competition held ever, it was quite easy to acquire the high place. And also thanks to the other two excellent members in my team, I was lucky to get the first place in the first held Namyangju city middle school debate competition.

Then, based on the first place we've acquired on city-level competition, I was able to participate in provincial debate competition. Already expected, it was much harder than city-level competition. After having a rigorous debate with Chung-Shim International Middle-school, we decisively lost and had to be satisfied getting the 4th place.

Those coincidence was already too much for me. However, it didn't stop as the phone bell rang to my adviser teacher from Chung-Shim middle school after a year passed from those fortunes. They asked me and my teammates to join their debate team going out for KMLA Middle School Debate Contest, since it required four members. They said they got good impression of us at the competition, and called us when the members were needed. One of three members in each team now had graduated, so without fight we four had united and went again to the ruthless battlefield; this time, as allies.

I'd say this time it was very unlucky because we only got 4th place. Every team in the debate said that we deserve the first place, but somehow we couldn't satisfy the evaluators and only had to cease our march at the semi-final.

But the matter of getting the first place or fourth place is not important here. What is important is that somehow the impulse of coincidence led me to look at KMLA. A bunch of series of coincidence led me to actually see KMLA and dream of myself going to KMLA. I even had insomnia because I couldn't stop thinking about the life of KMLA and preparing for the entrance interview. Other than playing guitar, it was the first goal I actively dreamed of. It was my first mid-term goal.

So my sight had been upraised. I was now trying to see a little bit more than what was given at my toes. I now aimed for mid-term goal: going to KMLA. For the first few months, it was so hard to manage to look at both goals. I had to focus on the study for KMLA math and Korean language contest while getting high enough scores on my current school. But after finally getting the entrance letter from KMLA, I now got used to it, and now searched for the profound goal: the long-term goal.

As it always did, the coincidence again happened upon me. On my usual way to home from school, I saw a poor street-food selling old man. He was selling sugar cookie (뽑기/Bbob-Ki). Seeing this old man had so much importance on my life and on my vision, because I saw a little printed title in his bike: "National Honorees".

As far as I know, the title "National Honorees" was only given to people who almost sacrificed their lives. And the man in front of me earned that title. But looking at his status quo, I just couldn't understand this country. How could they treat him like this when he devoted his life for this country? I was very shocked at that moment that I even still remember the menu and the price of sugar cookies; 1 for 300 won and 3 for 800 won. I didn't know anything for sure, but I knew something was wrong. This surely inspired me and led me to have interest in politics. This was the seed for my profound thoughts about what I am going to be when I go up. And because of big influence this had on my mind, I sort of became muckrakers and dreamed of myself at future changing my nation. From this moment, I settled up my mind and found my own long-term goal: becoming the President of South Korea.

And that picture is related to my ambitious long-term goal. On the winter of 2011, I fortunately had a chance to go to Yeoido Youth Forum for students who are interested in politics, and was lucky to go to National Assembly of Korea. That picture above is the picture that I've taken in National Assembly. The background image is a imitation of the office of the President. It was just a imitation. Yet, I felt something overwhelming my entire body, and came to have confidence at my marathon to achieve my long-term goal.

Still, nothing changed. Still my long-term goal, becoming the President of South Korea,  is ambiguous because of its significance and its characteristic. There are no such things as guidelines or degrees to become the President. You have to make up your own way. However, I am now able to manage to look at short-term goals, mid-term goals, long-term goals at the same time. Sequentially looking at all three goals one by one was what I found as a solution to manage three goals at the same time. Whenever I become lazy or obsessed with current problems, I try to look at my long-term goal and shave myself again to achieve my bright future. I sometimes use this photo as a mean to keep me conscious and restrain myself from being lazy. Walking with your eyes only focused right in front of your toes may prevent you from falling, but it wouldn't lead you to anywhere. You at least need Polaris to find your current location and final destination. And this photo is a compass and Polaris for my ambitious goal.

Photo Essay!

I recently had a trip to myself, thanks to the photo essay that Mr. Garrioch has given us. I needed to find some photos that I've taken, and through the process I realized that I didn't took much of photos. There were things I really wanted to say about myself, but I couldn't find appropriate photos that will supplement my essay. Considering the amount of photos that I'm available with, this assignment, photo essay, seemed really IMPOSSIBLE.

However, thanks to my peers, I was able to find some good photos of me which I can interpret and explain about myself. So here are some lists of them which I want to use in  my photo essay: