An unexpected gift

'Who am I? How do I want to live?’ I sometimes ask myself.

I read books to find answers. As I listen with one ear and go out with the other, the knowledge I got in a book cannot remain in my head. I don't have to say it, but I feel uncomfortable because I can't express knowledge that I don't remember whenever I talk to people.

Fortunately, these days, memories that fade like faded old pictures can be seen by Googling. But I spent a lot of time reading a book, so shouldn't I get something from books? I often think deeply about what the authors are trying to say and apply the author's wisdom by overlapping it in my life. Every time that happens, life is quite fun and enjoyable.

I had been away from books for a while because I thought I would regret the rest of my life if I fell in love with books and didn't take good care of my children. After the children grew up, I wanted to read a book, but I didn't know which book to read, so I snooped around the book club of the local library and wandered. When I was getting annoyed by the old people's book reviews talking in English, I joined a Korean-speaking book club. The Korean Book Club is that it gave a thrill to me who had been drooping while reluctantly attending in English.

‘My mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday.' Camus novel ‘The Stranger’ The first sentence hit me. The anxiety that my mother, who had been in and out of the hospital all her life, would die soon crouched on my chest and weighed on me, as if waiting for the day that a death row inmate would die. It was two months after my mother's death that I learned of her mother's death while studying abroad. I was afraid to remember and express the pain, so I buried it in my mind and wandered. I fell in love with Meursault, the protagonist, who doesn't even try to excuse his mother's death in The Stranger Book.

In Camus' short story 'Guest,' the conflict between a murderer smaller than a dot in the desolate wilderness and the main character who has to lead the killer to death or life occurred in less than a day. But to me, why did the painful time to find the right path on their own felt like several pack years had passed?

I had to put my head together with the book club members and read a book in moderation. However, I fell into a book like a swamp. If I were alone, I wouldn't know which of the many books to read, but the chairman, who leads the book club, invites the instructor to organize the books to read and sets the table. I can eat well and stay healthy and focus on my work

Meetings in life are very important. Human happiness and unhappiness are determined by meeting. Meeting with the president of the book club, members who grow by exchanging, and instructors was an unexpected gift. Once a month, I open a gift in a book club, open my eyes to a new world, and apply it to my life. And I am excited as I wait for the book club next month, where I can see another new world.