chapter 3 final draft han sang deok

My father

 

He is overweight. He even can't see his feet. Due to his excessive fat rate, at every physical examination, he gets the grade 'dangerous' by fat related disease. All of the family members are really worried about his weight. But the biggest problem is that he doesn't care about that.

 

"You need to have diet" I always say to him, when he eats at 2 o'clock in the morning. "Your abdomen looks mountain. You need to think about your health"

 

But he pretended to be deaf when I talk about his weight.

 

My father had a very hard time when he was young. His family was refugees who came from DMZ. After settling in Seoul, circumstances were even tougher than expected. I heard that he had come close to die of hunger. He once said to me that during that hard time he was just happy only to eat. Maybe it developed to the habits that he has to eat anything in front of him till he gets satisfied. He became the person who can't control the appetite, still not changed.

 

However poor it might be, his parents taught manners and morals strictly to their children. Following this, my father also gave me and my brother lots of moral disciplines. At some time he was like a moral teacher to us. I and my brother rarely listen but he keeps trying to teach.

 

"People in North Korea are still left to starve to death" my father would say to me. "Why don't you eat all of your leftovers?"

 

"But Dad, it is North Korea, poorest country in the world" I resisted to him meaninglessly. Soon, I could find myself devour my leftovers.  

 

Also, my father hates talking except for the discipline time. In fact, He doesn't like chattering. Every weekend staying in the house, he says only 3 things. "Let's eat.", "Let's watch TV.", "Let's sleep." I'm not saying that he does only 3 things. He plays with me and my brother, does the housework, and makes my mother rest some time. But they are the only things me and my brother can hear during weekend.

 

In addition to his speechless, he has difficulties in showing his emotion. About 3 years ago, I got the call from the university that I was accepted. I thought that this could be happy news for my father who was working at that time. So I called him immediately to surprise him. While I told him this happy news, I couldn't feel his happiness in his voice. He seemed just hearing. After all, the last saying was "Good job."

Just two words "Good job" were a little bit disappointing response for son's acceptance to the college.

 

At long last I could know by my mother that in fact he was actually really happy but he just didn't know how to express that.

 

Though hard to understand, hard to be familiar with, I love my father. Traits mentioned above complete the personality of my father. Maybe I should listen to North Korean story till two Koreas unify. But, now I try to feel my father's sincere heart.