Happiness and misery waiting in the corner

'Tatata, Tatata.' the sound of soldiers' running boots was heard from afar at dawn. 'The sound was getting louder and closer.  And I opened eyes at the feeling that something hot was weighing on me. The red sun, wielding a freshly rising orange color, was blazing outside the window.

"Fire! Fire!" I heard people shouting. I awake with a start. When I looked out the second floor window, people shouted to come out waving. I looked the door and saw a red flame burning from the hallway toward the room. I lifted the three-month-old sleeping child, wrapped in a overcoat, and rushed out in the underwear. It happened in the winter of 1988 when I went to Seoul to brag about having a son.

Standing in the crowd watching my father's house burn, my legs were as weak as a piece of wood that had been burnt down. I entrusted my child to someone and ran to the father nearby. What should I say to my seventy-year-old father, if he is frightened to death? Tears flowed incessantly at the thought of.

“Father ~” the father seeing me banged on the door at dawn seemed to feel that an urgent situation had already occurred. “The house is burning. Fire! ” “ Where is the baby?” “ I left him to someone.” "That’s enough." Slowly put up the thick coat zipper. Put on the hat, and put on the gloves as if checking each finger. "Father quickly, the house is burning up, let’s go." "There’s no hurry. If I go, is the house less burning? We shouldn't hurry at times like this. Don't cry, starting in the morning."

The building was burnt to the ground with only the skeleton left. The icicles frozen in the waterways, muddy floors are as if I were looking inside a dark cave. My heart sank at the sight of my old father watching it.

People came out of the fire insurance company. In case their shoes would get dirty, my father prepared Nike new sneakers and glove and handed them over. The result, however, is that few compensation can be received. My father did not seem to have expected much, either, because at that time insurance companies were depends on their interpretation.

"What do we do now, Father?" "You go back to America with your child. It's not something that will be solved just because you're here, so going to your seat and living hard is helping me."

Father rebuilt his house. "How did you not have been in a hurry wearing your hat and gloves slowly when the house was burning like that?" I asked later. "I was afraid that the falling fire from the ceiling was going to hit my bald head." We laughed.

"When you live in the world, unhappy things always wait for you. But don't be so discouraged. Happiness will wait for you at the corner again. But you shouldn't be too happy to like it. Does misfortune will wait for you again in another corner."