Foolish humans believe that everything ends with death. They believe they escape the consequences of their love and hate, their animosity and forgiveness, and all the bad deeds and good deeds for which they must be held accountable. However, even in death, no soul is truly free from the past it has lived.

The records of rebellion and loyalty, accumulated layer upon layer like the rings of a tree, from your past life. Or perhaps your young days, spent struggling with affection and aversion. Or the struggles that wandered through the 108 earthly desires will remain as memories in your body and soul. It is like the two remaining traces after tears have dried.

Liberal democracy is an inevitable decision for the glory of the nation.

Even if you lived as just one among countless wild grasses, with the face of a simple farmer, under the name of "mincho" (the common people), you and I are one who has formed, or is forming, the history of this land.

However, whether that name will be beautiful or ugly is your choice alone. If you have lived as a traitor who tormented the nation, then those memories and traces are your responsibility for choosing so.

Born as descendants of Dangun, living on the land of the white-clad people, nourished by blood, bone, and flesh with the dew and grains given by heaven and earth, you and I are one with this country and this land. One who becomes a child, a father, a husband!

With that singular role, the young children, wives, parents, and siblings given by heaven are all our people. Your young child is also our people. My lovely grandchild is also your and my people.

The children and grandchildren, descendants of the traitorous bloodline left by Lee Wan-yong and Song Byeong-jun, all dedicated to the independence movement. The descendants left by Hong Beom-do and the heroic Mr. Kim Jwa-jin, who left no descendants. Dr. Woo Jang-chun, born the son of the traitor Woo Beom-seon who participated in the murder of Empress Myeongseong, who then led Korean agriculture. President Park Chung-hee's achievements and his descendant, Park Se-hyun, are also our people.

No matter who it is, no soul has ever escaped the glories and tribulations of the nation. Do not believe that you will escape the love for the nation or the hatred caused by the nation once you die. Sooner or later, they will remain as two traces of tears, of joy and sorrow.

You and I did not choose communism. We chose liberal democracy. Because communism was a tragedy for the nation, and liberal democracy brought glory to the nation. Therefore, we are allies of the United States, following its liberal democracy.

The betrayal that chose communism and caused pain to the nation's heart remains as two streams of tears, even after countless years have passed. On the day when the destiny of the nation wavers, should we not break this chain of tears that could flow again?

An Oath Before History Offered in the Name of the Common People

Do not think it ends with death. The suffering your descendants endure because of you is precisely treason. If your children, parents, and grandchildren must weep because of your single act of betrayal, you cannot leave this land and nation even in death. You will be held back by the resentment and condemnation of generations of descendants.

God, destiny, and reincarnation in the afterlife are solely your choices. Happiness and unhappiness are solely your choices. Life and death are part of the choices you have made. Which god you believe in is also solely your choice.

Do not condemn Israel. They are people who have struggled to survive for 2,000 years. They have endured countless invasions and had to take up arms to survive. Do not turn a blind eye to the cries of those abducted and taken by Hamas. You must first know how to be enraged by the actions of Palestinians who beheaded newborns.

Our firm resolution regarding communism and liberal democracy is our resolute choice for the happiness and glory of the nation. However, no matter which path you take, no soul is outside the history of the nation.

From now on, even in death, I will not depart from the past and the traces of tears through which our white-clad people have lived. For you, I will clasp my hands together. Leaving you behind, I will entrust the future of our people.

If you live as a sinner of the nation even to this day, you will receive the punishment for choosing communism amidst the struggles of your descendants even after death. Therefore, do not dare to call yourselves progressives, nor hold your heads high as leftists.

I too wish to depart from all the karma I have accumulated someday, but still, even in death, I will not let go of the hands of this land and my people. Even if I am a sinner of unfilial conduct, disloyalty, or broken friendship, someone will pray for a single blade of grass like me.

I swear that this current oath is also the one and only choice of mine, who has lived as a common person. I swear for the traces I wish to leave on the path toward the nation's history.

December 3, 2022, from Jeolla Province, Poet Jeong Jae-hak

◆ Poet Jeong Jae-hak

Poet, national merit recipient, columnist, former promotional committee member for President Park Chung-hee, and served as a teacher in Jeolla Province for 36 years.