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: Three Cents Column by Director Bong

Three Cents Column by Director Bong of RGO 24! 'Although I am lacking and my writing is only worth as much as 'three cents...' I share the Sunday messages and interpret them with 'the language of the world.''

칼럼_연재칼럼_Three Cents Column

Two women who made the ‘impossible’ ‘possible’

The ‘eternal First Lady’ whom Americans love the most

When Franklin Roosevelt was about to give up on engaging in politics due to polio, someone helped him return to politics with constant encouragement. It was his wife, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (Oct. 1884 ~ Nov. 1962). She is one of the nine people whom Abraham Maslow--known for the theory of the Hierarchy of Needs--considered to have achieved self-actualization on the earth. She is also respected as the ‘eternal First Lady’ whom Americans love the most.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt lost her mother when she was eight years old, lost a younger brother at the age of nine, and lost her father when she was ten years old, so she became an orphan. This little orphan girl spent her tragic childhood maintaining her livelihood through harsh labor. She realized to her bones, ‘I am not attractive,’ ‘Nobody loves me consistently,’ and ‘Even people whom I rely on can possibly disappoint me.’ However, despite of this, she did not give up on her life and did not become a slave to timidity and fear. Instead, she kept working on her ‘self-transformation’ in the course of overcoming her circumstances. No matter what kind of despair she faced, no pessimism came out her mouth.

Because of her experience overcoming the hardships in her childhood, even when she lost a beloved child of hers, she was able to be thankful that she still had her other children to love. Moreover, when her husband, Franklin Roosevelt, had to use a wheelchair because he was suddenly stricken with polio, she said, “The trials that I am going through right now are God’s Will telling me, ‘Work hard on what is entrusted to you more humbly.’” Mr. Roosevelt was able to get himself up because of his wife’s encouragements. In addition, he became the first American president to be elected four times in history, and he saved an America that had fallen into despair due to the Great Depression.

With her belief, “If you overcome the first difficulty, you can also overcome the next difficulty,” Roosevelt stayed ‘together’ with the people around her, while encouraging not only herself, but also encouraging the people in any difficult situation. Also, she made the ‘impossible’ ‘possible’ by raising her level and herself through endless ‘self-transformation.’

A golfer who won a total of eight games with a short height, 153cm, at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour

Kim Mi-hyun, a Korean female golfer, won eleven games at the Korean Tour and set a new standard of golf for the national game. After that, in 1999, she finally launched herself into American golf. However, the process was not easy. Her father failed in his business so they used their rent money to go to America. Without any proper sponsor, the whole family was staying at cheap motels with a used van during her life as a golfer.

Kim’s height was barely 150 cm and her physique was very inferior as a golfer. It was disadvantageous for her to navigate the whole green field because of her short stature. Moreover, LPGA extended the length of the entire field so the distance to the holes got further. Therefore, it was more advantageous for tall golfers and disadvantageous for golfers who had the physical limitation of a short stature. At that time, America made a regulation stating that a golfer who was short, such as around 150cm, should play with a junior golf club. It was because for a short person, it was difficult to swing and not easy to control with an adult golf club. However, Kim trained herself with an adult gold club and also used it for actual games.

This indicated that Kim did tearful training in order to cover her weakness--which was the length of swing due to her height--with a long adult golf club. In order to extend her golfing range, she gained 8 kg of weight intentionally and pursued endless self-transformation. Golf experts laughed at her initially, but when she actually won a game, they had to correct their theory and establish a different theory. Among the big and tall American golfers, Kim won a total of eight games at the LPGA tour with a short stature of 153cm. She got a nickname ‘Super Peanut’ and remained as an example of ‘human victory.’ While being ‘together’ with her family even in difficult situations, she made the impossible possible by growing herself through endless ‘self-transformation.’

Golfer Kim Mi-hyun