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'SNU graduates should not look for 'best jobs'

Posted August. 31, 2016 07:13,   

Updated August. 31, 2016 07:37

한국어

In his commencement speech at Seoul National University on Monday, Kim In-kwon, the honorary director of Wilson Leprosy Center and Rehabilitation Hospital, advised the graduates "not to look for the best job.” This may have sounded unfamiliar to SNU graduates who must be filled with pride at their achievement. However, it was a sincere advice based on his own life experience, bringing deep resonances not only to the graduates but also to the society.

Graduating from SNU medical school, Kim started working at Sorokdo National Hospital on Sorok Island in 1977. At first, his intention was to get required credits to apply for the specialist exam, but he never left Sorok Island even after he had achieved this purpose. He wanted to be in the place where he was needed. From 1983, he was recognized as one of the core members of Wilson Leprosy Center and Rehabilitation Hospital, rejecting a professor position at SNU hospital. “I had made the decision all by myself, and I am confident that it was not wrong,” he said, demanding the new graduates to “follow heart.”

Each year, the United States media picks good commencement speeches to post on their papers. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan addressed a similar idea at this year’s commencement speech at Carthage College. “Life can put your best-laid plans through the paper shredder. You may never get that dream job—or if you do get that dream job, it may turn out to be a nightmare. But maybe you’re meant to do something else. What seems to you like catastrophe could end up becoming opportunity. Don’t be so quick to dismiss that opportunity if it doesn’t fit into the plan.”

Some may mock such advice as condescending when today’s youth, either in Korea or in the U.S., are faced with an unprecedentedly dull job outlook. But this seemingly idealistic view certainly presents the truth of life. At her commencement address before the Harvard class of 2008, J.K. Rowling, the writer of Harry Potter, said she was “set free” after failure, because her “greatest fear had been realized,” and that given a Time Turner, she would tell her 21-year-old self that “personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement.” Young people should believe as they face the uncertainty of their future that someday they will come to cherish even the dullest moment of life.



고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com