So Call Me Mali~

<Mali> 

‘Mali’.

Close your eyes and say this word quietly in your head. What does this word sound like? It sounds somewhat exotic and strange, as if it is an ancient name from somewhere far away like the Middle East, doesn’t it? However, there is no doubt that there is something amusing about this word even when one has no idea about the exact meaning of it: in phonetically terms, I think this word sounds joyful yet sorrowful, and playful yet grave.

You’ll be surprised to know that the name ‘mali’ is actually a quite familiar name; it is the Korean name of the flower jasmine. The name Jasmine originates from the Persian word ‘yasmin’, which means ‘gift from God’ in the Persian language. Jasmine is famous for its sweet, attractive scent as well as the tender, elegant petals. Because of the attractive scent and the snowy white petals, jasmine symbolizes amiability, grace, and friendliness. I hope to make myself easily approachable to others when forming meaningful relationships in life as well, just like a ‘gift from God’ to my acquaintances. Most interesting and unique characteristic of jasmine is that its scent is strongest at nighttime, when it releases its scent into the cool night air. Nighttime is when everything is dark as the octopus ink and good deeds cannot be seen and praised. Although not many things are there to appraise the sweet, captivating scent of jasmine in nighttime, it does its job of spreading the scent to its neighbors quietly and faithfully, regardless of others’ attention and appraisal. This earnest and sincere diligence of jasmine is what I hope to possess, so that I will be able to have real passion for my work even in times when people belittle or disregard what I am doing.

Other than the flower, ‘mali’ is also a title of a popular Korean ballad by the band ‘Boowhal’. The full title of the song is ‘mali-flower’ and it is beloved by many due to the singer’s sweet and gentle voice as well as the magical flow of the melody. Those who do not know the song well-well enough to know what the lyrics are-say that this song makes them feel comfortable and dear. For those who know the lyrics, this song is a very sad and melancholy determination to meet the dead lover(represented by ‘mali-flower’) even through death. This twofold-charm is probably the reason people love this song so much. Like the ‘mali-flower’ in this song’s lyrics, I hope to be a person of great positive significance in my friends’ lives; just like the non-lyrical sweetness of the song, I also want to be a comfortable and delightful person even for those who are not so much close to me.

I, Mali, promise you all that I will be an amiable, earnest, and significant ‘gift from God’ to all dear friends, relatives, and acquaintances, as well as those who are not so close to me yet. 

Debunking the Myth About the Rothschild Family

<The Rothschilds - real masters of the world?>

The Rothschild family, a powerful banking family since the 1800's, is known to have controlled world's economy and various international affairs. Some say they are in control of more than half of world's finance and had funded the Nazis during the holocaust. If these are true facts, then we might be living in a world where a single family is deeply in control of our everyday lives economically......

Guess How I Got Caught!

Throughout my life, I have had quite a lot of experiences of getting caught while playing computer games, watching TV secretly, and doing many other numerous things I wasn’t allowed to do. But there was one embarrassing time when I literally got “caught” by something.                              

I am a huge fan of both watching and playing soccer, and I have been a player from even before I got into elementary school. Because I practiced so hard, I had been able to become one of the best soccer players in my neighborhood by the time I became a senior in my middle school. Since my school was a boys’ school, I was able to get along with almost everyone: my friends were just so crazy about soccer that we spent most of our break-time playing soccer or talking about its strategies. One a hot summer day, a friend called and asked me to join his team in the soccer league composed of teams from local schools. I said yes and we practiced and practiced to get to the finals and win the prizes.

Finally, the day of the tournament arrived and we, as passionate as Roman gladiators getting ready for their next dual, rushed into the stadium. The scenery of the crowded Coliseum made us more enthusiastic than ever even though it was a bit different from what we expected. To our surprise, it was more of a local festival where girls and boys from many schools were watching. The green layer of emerald gave off bright sparkles of heat, the flags of many different colors and logos were fluttering angrily as if they just could not wait for games to begin, and huge waves of crowds were dancing like dragons struggling to ascend to the bright blue sky. We felt as if we were the heroes of an El Clasico match. When it was our turn to go in the field, I started to feel a weird sensation. For the first time in my life, I desperately wanted to show off to all the girls in the spectators’ seats my soccer skills. Come to think of it, I feel I had the strong, delightful expectation of showing off mostly because of the simple fact I hadn’t had the chance to meet or even see girls of my age since I was attending a boys’ school. I was totally caught by the strange sensation that came from the mixed feelings of nervousness of being a “star” in front of all the girls, and my passion for soccer.

From the beginning, I tried my best to perform fantastic soccer tricks and dribbles. Every time I succeeded in doing the Zidane Spin or the Rollercoaster, I could hear the cheers of the crowd. Almost at the end of the game, I was in the striker’s position and had a chance to score a magnificent goal. Someone from our team made an excellent cross to me and I thought to myself, ‘This is it! This is your best chance to become the Ronaldo of Mokdong!’ and did a scissors kick. Everything was perfect except for just one thing; my right foot swung in the air instead of kicking the ball! Instead of the soccer ball, I flew inside the net and lay on the sizzling grass like splattered jelly on cement. What was worse was that my foot got caught in the tangled net and I just could not get it out. All of sudden, I felt like a silly clown at a circus show with the entire crowd oohing at me. As the referee and the opponent goalkeeper came to get me out, I was nothing more than a fallen warrior at the Coliseum waiting for the beast to enjoy its meal, let alone becoming the “Ronaldo of Mokdong”.

That day, I got caught by two    things-the strange sensation of showing off to girls, and the actual soccer net. From the embarrassing experience, I was able to love soccer just as a favorite sport, not as a way to show off to girls. As I finish writing this narrative, the thought of this funny feeling makes me smile gently…

Being a Member of the Legislative Council - a Memorable Experience

  In KMLA, there are three branches of the student council: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branch. Unlike other high schools where the student council is nothing more than a superficial figurehead of the students, the student council has a significant meaning in its autonomy. The members of the student council take an important role in making school's important decisions, deliver students' opinions on school matters as representatives, and work hard to improve current policies with collaboration from the teachers.

  Only about 7 months and a few days ago, I had never even dreamed about being involved in such a enormous role of the student council. However, after having a talk with a 선배, I became somewhat confident about making, or taking a part in making a change in our school as a student representative. I was definitely confident and excited, yet I hadn't been sure if I would be capable enough to be a 'bridge' connecting the students and the teachers. Anyways, I signed up as a candidate for the legislative by-election. Thankfully, with a little bit of luck, I was elected the 10th grade member of the 14th legislative council. 

  During my term last semester, I faced many challenges difficulties while working as a member of the legislative council. What I found especially burdensome were dilemmas where I had to make a choice between studying for the quiz or doing my homework, and compiling statistics for the legislative surveys. However, I soon realized the righteous answer for this question regarding responsibility. After getting in serious trouble because I had not finished compiling the statistics for the teacher-head of the student council meeting on time, I learned an important lesson; a leader/representative has to put the huge official responsibility as his or her top priority mainly because he or she chose to serve as a representative-in my case, a member of the legislative council. Having learned the precious lesson, I really worked hard to listen carefully to the constructive criticisms and advice from fellow students and bring positive change to our school in numerous ways. 

  Today, the new members of the 15th student council officially inaugurated their terms in office. The inauguration ceremony was an excellent chance for me to look back at what I did as a member of the previous legislative council. Although we weren't able to finish all of our promises made in the manifesto, we did take few big steps toward development, and I am sure that those huge steps were the real fruits of our hard work last semester. Being a member of the student council was indeed an invaluable experience in my KMLA life that I will never forget. 

  Finally, I give special thanks to all the members of the legislative branch, and I hope the newly elected members will be able to do a better job and carry on the firm journey towards betterment of KMLA.