By, Jae-Boon Lee - South Korea

I believe in the irony of fate. There is a proverb about the irony of fate which is called ‘the horse of an elderly man’ in Korea. Many years ago, there was an elderly man who had only one son and a favorite horse. He treasured them. One day his son rode the horse and unfortunately fell from the horse and broke his leg. The elderly man became angry with the horse and regretted having the horse. However, his feeling and thinking changed before long. All of the young men living in his province- except the handicapped- had to go to the army as soldiers to fight against the enemy. The elderly man thought that he was lucky and felt grateful for his horse.

The story of the elderly man shows us that life is a cycle of good and bad things.

Last year my daughter had a car accident. She suffered a collarbone injury and her tailbone was broken. She absolutely couldn’t move until her bones healed and became strong. It took 6 months for her to recover. She stopped school and had to stay home in a fixed position. She felt that all of her world had stopped and she was very depressed for a long time.

I also had difficulties from her accident, but I didn’t think that there were only difficulties at that time. When I was faced with my daughter’s accident, first of all, I regretted that I hadn’t used enough of my time for her. I thought about my life and my family. I tried to share my time with her, and we were much closer than in the past. I knew that my daughter also thought about her studies and the future deeply. Her attitude toward others changed, and she became more mature, considerate, and careful.

I have experienced lots of things in my home, school, work place, and so on, and I have had a cycle of good and bad things throughout my life. I believe in the irony of fate. So, I use it to console myself and expect another stroke of luck whenever I am confronted with some new difficulty.