My New Year's Dream > IDEAS & IDEALS

• 목록

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast
                                       Man never is but always to be blest."
                                                   Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

                            
      With dawning of a new year, two things, among many, have become more frequent subjects of conversation among us. One is about the outgoing president Kim Dae-jung; and the other is about the next president to be elected in December this year. I find all those enthusiastic admirers of Mr. Kim has remarkably become silent by now, while the voices of angry and sarcastic critics are heard. And consequently, hope is high and expectation great for the new president to be elected. It is exactly like when the former president Kim Young-sam came to his last year of presidency years ago. The permanent revolving door of hope and disappointment has turned once, and seems to begin another cycle with a new face in the Blue House.

      Whoever would it be, what is certain and thrilling is that we will have a new president at the end of this year, and he (or she?) will need a lot of good and able persons to fill so many high and important positions to be vacated and replaced. Having seen several of my colleagues in the campus being appointed to the ministerial position overnight in the past by the newly elected president, my heart leaps again with new hope of being called this time. To my great disappointment, my telephone on the desk in my office had been silent until now after so many presidential elections, but I feel that it will ring this time without fail. One of my college friends, who are constantly being seen on TV surrounding one of the strong presidential candidates, promised he would strongly recommend me to the new president.

      Then, it is time to give pause for thought to the job I can do best with my knowledge and experience in the new cabinet to be formed. I know prime minister is out of the question and beyond my reach. My expertise is English literature, and I am afraid that many people will think literature, especially English literature, has nothing much to do with any government work. I agree, but Minister of Education seems to be OK for me, I think, for I have been in school anyway, and there surely will be less objections from the newspapers to my appointment to the position, if the newly elected president decides to do so. But, aye, there lies also the rub.

      Although I belong to the category of educators in this country, I know virtually nothing about the education itself, even though I have been in it for so long. Whenever I hear people complain very strongly of the educational situations and problems of the country in general, I feel at a complete loss for words. To tell you the truth, with my long experience in the university, I do not even know what the university is. To manage or cope with the education in a country will surely be a huge and tremendously difficult work indeed beyond my ability, and I know I had better decline the job, even if it were offered to me.

      But the real problem with me lies elsewhere in this case. Reason in me fails, but passion prevails. In spite of the facts and truths I have enumerated above to disprove and discredit my dream and hope of earning a ministerial position, it is very likely I could not decline it, if offered. I would rather jump at it. Success or failure comes next.

     With my appointment to Minister of Education, my name, along with my face, and my glorious resume will appear in the morning newspapers, and from the moment countless calls and telegrams, and very expensive flower-pots will flood into my house and office from my friends, relatives, rivals and even from enemies, congratulating me on my success in the world. That will make me immensely happy.

      From the next morning a well-dressed driver, nay, a chauffeur, will come to my door to drive me in large and black limousine to my grand new office, and there I will be greeted by my inferior officers standing in a line. An empty elevator will always stand there only for me. Every morning, upon my arrival at office, my personal secretary, a young and beautiful woman, will bring a cup of good coffee and the time-schedule for the day. With earnest and solemn face I will hold meetings with my under-secretaries, decide something according to their professional advice, and sign some important documents all prepared by the experts in the field.

      Soon I find I do not have to worry about my salary and about my meager monthly allowance which had been doled out by my nagging wife with a constant warning not to waste on buying all those unnecessary books. So many lunch and dinner meetings have been arranged in a fabulous place, all at other person's expense. Travels by airplanes at home as well as abroad are frequent and they are all free, and I enjoy the privilege of having the most comfortable seat in the plane and using the VIP room at the airport. This is why all the high government dignitaries, including the president, like to travel so often while in office.

      Newspaper reporters and TV cameramen will follow me. I will appear on TV often with other important and powerful persons in the government including the president himself, and it makes me feel more important and powerful than what I really am. Like a man drunken with strong cognac, I will spend every day in this constant state of drunkenness in power and glory without noticing the flow of time. How nice!

     I anxiously wish my dream will continue longer, but very sadly I have to wake up from it. How strange indeed it is that I came to start this new year of Horse by dreaming a funny dream unfit for and unbecoming to a sober man like me, even for a while. All this impossible dream is due to the fever of presidential election. But I do not regret or blame it. Rather I welcome and thank for it. As long as there is presidential election every five years in this country, my hope and dream will not die. Before the permanence of political problems the final judgement of the incumbent president' achievement, nay, any other presidents' in the future, will ultimately depend upon his or her ability and good intention to make it happen smoothly.
                      (January 15, 2002)