Ring Around Old Glory

Korea Knows The Story

Ashes Ashes

We All Fall Down

"If it should come to pass that any Koreans succeed in gaining compensation from the American government for the events of 1945-1953, certainly the people of Cheju Island should come first.
On this hauntingly beautiful island, the post-war world first witnessed the American capacity for unrestrained violence against the indigenous peoples fighting for self-determination and social justice."

Bruce Cumings (1943-) Professor at the University of Chicago

Every day before most people go out the door they check the mirror to see if there is a tiny spot or blemish they forgot to clean up to make their face pretty. I would take this as a good practice when wants to put their "best face" before the world. So, before going on, let it be known that I believe that the United States can be a shining example for the whole world if we make sure the face the world see is spotless. To get rid of a spot you must look at it first then deal with it. This is the motive for what I write.

Recent realization. I just remembered that the current "stated" reason that the United States is at war with Iraq is because they are accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) yet Iraq has never demonstrated possession of such weapons. North Korea wants to prove to the world that the United States has "other motives" for invading Iraq like to keep the American economy floating in oil. So North Korea detonates two nuclear weapons first on October 9, 2006 and again on May 25, 2009; by doing this they have proven beyond all shadow of doubt that they possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The United States doesn't declare war on North Korea. Why? North Korea doesn't have any oil. But perhaps the greatest reason is there are some people in US government that know that North Korea knows something about the US that most US people don't know; and thus the reason for the following story.

Is it possible that people in America have had their conscience seared by the relentless rhetoric of their media and idle talk? Are people so easily convinced that North Korea is "bad" and the US is "good", when the US possesses about 20,000 active weapons of mass destruction (WMD) (2002) with an economy based on military development. It is a frightening thing to think that there may be people who can have their daily thoughts metered out for them; people who believe everything they are told on their news is the "truth".

Nations rise to power and fall, its the pattern of history. It has also been said, "The bigger they are the harder they fall." If anyone lives outside the US for any time, this is a foregone conclusion.

How to explain this story has been a challenge. There is a sinister shadow fallen across the land as the smoke of huge forest fires burning come and go here in the Interior of Alaska. I lived here 11 years ago before my life was altered by my time in Korea. Before I left Alaska for Korea there was a battle going on but I lost in a major aspect of my life and it cost me a stint in the fires of another world; all of what caused me to fail 11 years ago has been burned away and I trust nothing remains. All my senses tell me that I'm on the very brink of hell on earth; I battle with forces both seen and unseen as I try and tell this story as succinctly as possible.

As I contemplate how to begin I remember a song entitled We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel that a Korean student shared with me back when I lived in Anchorage Alaska in 1988. The lyrics which have a chorus that has the following words:

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

I personally believe that this particular song is great because it speaks about a time in history affected by this fire that is burning everything up; the song goes on to explain that the fire began long ago BUT they could say that they tried to fight it. The story I'm about to tell is the result of the fire that was begun by people who today keep the fire burning and are not making an effort to fight it at all. Because of this, their land and ways are being dissolved and absorbed. I have tried to tell them about what I discovered about my country the United States of America as the world outside see this country and all it has done in the tiny span of 200 years; many people understand and sympathize and admit something must change while others don't want to hear anything about it. Because of this, the world now sits amidst a field of nuclear weapons which they have lost any ability to account for.

I guess you can say that those who started this fire have a blood infection which can only be cured by a special transfusion. Even yesterday I saw with my own eyes children of this land who are already damaged beyond understanding by the blood infection that began the fire. I saw this kind of damage and corruption of young children's lives before I left for Korea in 1998 to escape to a land where families love and cherish their children. After living 11 years among a people who actually worship their children, it is literal horror to come back to a land that sits in the shadow of darkness to the poor children I left; this was my vow before I left Korea, to return to the victims of a battle and fire that the children of Korea are protected from all this life in childhood.

Because of this, the land we so greedily took from the original inhabitants is now being given back to a people who are not much different except that they have about 2.5 million years more planetary skill than we do and that now includes our most advanced technologies. I can say this because I know a secret I learned during my 11 years of living with them in peace and safety while the fire burned in the USA after 911.

The people our forefathers displaced long ago have secured access to every level of our society in the west including every level of defense and security; in these ways this land is being dissolved and absorbed. Those of us who are from the original people who formed the first settlements from England and European countries can't understand the faces involved in this assimilation because our inner thinking has no link to a more powerful collective than they have. We are on our own and because of this we will lose; that is unless we secure access to a force and collective that is more powerful than a puny 2.5 million years old collective. There is only one way to secure access to this power and ultimate collective. I have tried to tell them but many don't want to hear. Because of this, the world now sits amidst a field of nuclear weapons which they have lost the ability to keep an account of; it's just a matter of time before this fire takes their children "in mercy" as it did the children in this story which is my tiny attempt to "fight a fire" with the written word.

This Story Comes From A Collection Of Stories

Written By My Students of Jeju Island

Between 2006-2009

On April 3, 1948 the greatest holocaust of humanity took place and the world has no clear story about this event to motivate anyone to consider what happened. The number of people killed on this day was equal to the number of people killed by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, 80,000. The atomic bomb had no face but killed most victims instantly by radiation and fire; yet the event on April 3, 1948 was carried out systematicaly by mens, guns and gasoline. The force behind this evil is insidious and has been growing ever since that day. North Korea has drawn a line and said the spread of this disease must stop or it will use the same device of death their enemy has used.

From January 1933 - 1945 the Germans killed six million Jews and others whose behavior did not match prescribed social norms; however what happened on April 3, 1948 produced an indiscriminate killing rate that was 15 times greater that the Nazi holocaust yet no one knows about it.

On April 3, 1948 Korean police backed by US armed troops came on to Jeju Island and gave the people of Jeju Island an ultimatum; this ultimatum was to join with the American troops and be on the American side or else be labeled "communists" and killed. The people of Jeju Island were simple farmers and fishermen and had no idea what a communist was but knew that the white people with the Korean police were foreigners who didn't belong on their island.

The people of Jeju Island have had a long history dating back centuries as being "outsiders" among the Korean people. Jeju people just kept to themselves and didn't want to be bothered by anyone. The Japanese had been their last source of torment and they saw the Americans as just a replacement for the Japanese and said, "No thank you! Please get off our island."

The people of Jeju Island have had a long history dating back centuries as being "outsiders" among the Korean people. Jeju people just kept to themselves and didn't want to be bothered by anyone. The Japanese had been their last source of torment and they saw the American as just a replacement for the Japanese and said, "No thank you! Please get off our island."

The American troops decided to label these farmers as "communists" and ordered that the Korean police to gun them all down; this included men, women, children and livestock. The killing went on until the number dead was close to 80,000 or more than one third of the island population. The number dead was more than could be buried so the US Army ordered the villages with all the dead to be burned with gasoline.

Note: I will expand and detail this story as time permits.

This action naturally produced a split among Koreans, as loyal true Koreans don't kill their own blood. Among the Korean Freedom Fighters which had been formed to throw off the Japanese, infighting began and many loyal Korean citizens ran north to get away from the deceptive Koreans who had sided with the American when they took over the Japanese position of occupation. The opposition from the Koreans backed by the US forces proved to be too great so the Freedom Fighters under the direction of Kim, Ill-sung called on help from their Chinese neighbors who were at the time communists.

To this day the line of division still exists between "loyal patriotic Koreans and Koreans who have sold their soul out to the USA. Now South Korea has lost its cultural foundation and social security found in very ancient respect for family and loyal leaders of society. Like all Asians, Koreans want their own land and culture but those who sold out their own blood for a chance at the "American Dream" are now a pathetic people left to grovel at the feet of the USA. A culture that has never known drug abuse now struggles with an evil unknown for thousands of years; they no longer have family loyalty as they have sold their own cultural heritage for financial gain.

In North Korea the original purity of Korean culture remains and if there is any danger of it being compromised, the people of North Korea stand ready to die together in one blinding flash. They never forgot what Japan did to them and now they are even more deeply hurt as their own blood continues to destroy their precious culture and now even hurt their children which is unthinkable in Korean culture.

I must publish my writing quickly as time is running out; by this I mean that the Koreans who betrayed their own blood have destroyed their own cultural social security and have no place to survive but in the land that dissolved their culture. They are here and more are coming; I don't know how you will stop them but I do know that North Korea stands ready. I guess we have a choice, we can admit that as a group of run aways from Europe 200 years ago, we got off on the wrong foot; we may have had a technological edge over the "savages" we killed in order to get this land but our time ran out and September 11, 2001 was just the tip of the ice berg. I'm willing to admit and confess openly all the wrongs done especially those my country made a great effort to keep secret from me; however, each person is born with a conscience which is the precious link to the most powerful timeless collective in the universe. The USA proudly proclaims that it is "One Nation Under God" and if this is true then statement on all our currency gives us directions on how to confess, repent, change our ways and get ready for the words "In God We Trust" is our ONLY hope.

"Ring Around Old Glory, A Pocket Full of Stories, Ashes Ashes, We All Fall Down" There is no escape because it's in our blood but I have found a "Blood" transfusion which offer perfect protects. How did I get this? First I confessed the errors that my blood and family committed (in this story) and became as those who were offended. Next I came back to the place that is still full of the same disease with a sample of the Spilled Blood. This writing begins the process of healing in my life and I hope in those who still live in this very young country.

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