Going, going; I, to, am going.
Going, going; you too, are going.
Windblown clouds.
Soaring birds.
Old and young.
Going, going; we’re all going.
Men and women.
Children and adults.
Going, going.
We’re all going.
Some die from a fall;
Some from a beating;
Some from old age;
Some from sickness;
Some from resentment;
Some from loneliness;
Some from abandonment;
Some from hunger;
Some from war;
Some from an accident.
Countless diseases and innumerable accidents kill us.
And we kill ourselves.
Is this world Death’s playground?
Or Death’s museum?
We live forgetting that we all die.
We forget that death is coming for us,
For the traveler.
For the student in his extracurricular studies,
For the bride and groom on the church steps,
For the would-be lawmaker running for public office,
For the voter,
For one eating noodles,
For another eating soup.
Blind to this,
Unaware of our doom,
We head carelessly toward our deaths.
You’re going.
I’m going.
We’re all going.
They smile when asked, “Why go on living?”
The person asking for a cigarette,
The person dreaming of love,
The person wanting to “make it,”
The person trying to earn a buck,
The person seeking success.
Failing to use their good head on their shoulders,
With plots, threats, and fear,
They prepare to bribe Death;
They make offerings to the god they workship.
Striving for money, honor, and power,
During their short journey toward death,
They fail to use the good head on their shoulders.
Without knowing the value of life,
People have lost their life’s goal.
No one teaches the goal and value of life.
Even those who are taught are blinded and deafened by their own desires.
We must go back to our roots,
Back to the principle of Hongik Ingan Eehwa Segae—Widely Benefitting Human, Harmonious World.
We must all wake up and pay attention.
We must see to it that we don’t have another unhappy president,
Whose last words were, “Hey, you got a cigarette?”
We must now bring an end to this environment,
In which a president had no choice but to jump off a cliff only one year after leaving office.
The choice of former president Roh Moo-hyun was courageous and resolute;
It was a final cry telling us that the Republic of Korea must no longer be this way.
The president made a choice,
And his choice was death.
He showed us that our lives are the only thing we choose.
It was entirely his choice,
Not the fate of a cow or pig,
Which has no choice but to be led pathetically to its death.
We must learn a lesson from the choice the president made.
Our lives belong to no one else;
We choose them.
They are not ours unless we choose them.
Those who choose their own life,
Those who choose to live and die,
Gain victory in life and death.
Suicide was neither holy nor beautiful for the former president,
But he was not cowardly.
He made a decision concerning what he had done,
And he can never decide again.
It wasn’t something impulsive.
He left his last words, and he said that he would embrace everything.
He was a flower that had bloomed in adversity and extreme poverty.
Everyone respected and had expectations for him.
It couldn’t last though.
There is no position of success in this world more precious than that of president.
He showed us what success is.
Even success, with all the money, honor, and power it entailed,
Ultimately ended in sad futility.
A life lived for completion is greater and more beautiful
Than one lived struggling for success.
As we pray that the soul of President Roh Moo-hyun might find peace,
We must understand why we exist at this time and what we should live for.
Let’s do our best in these times to share with others the Hongik spirit.
