7.4 Empathy and compassion

When I was old enough, I started to give food to birds and dig wells for them. I dug wells with all my power and told the birds, "You should come here and drink the water." Then they would come and drink water there. They would come and eat the food I gave them. They did not fly away when I went closer to them.
I thought fish could live in any kind of water. So I dug a hole, filled it with water, and put fish in, but they died overnight. I cried and cried saying, "I wanted to take care of you with all my heart. Why did you die on me?" I think I am quite an emotional person. When I looked at a fish separated from the group, I would say, "Your mom must be crying because you're away." (173-27, 02/01/1988)

My father hated it when people killed dogs. One day, people from my village came and caught the dog I loved most. They threw a rope around its neck and hanged it. It did not even know what was going to happen to it. It used to wag its tail to show its joy to see me coming home. Holding the dog that had been hanged, I cried and cried. I realized then that people were not as trustworthy as dogs were (71-145, 04/29/1974)

After having seen a beggar shivering in the winter, I could not eat or sleep when I was young. That was the way I was. I told my parents to bring the beggar to our home and feed him. I think that God must have thought He could make use of some of that quality in me.
I could not sleep if I heard that some people in our village were starving. I told my mother that we must help. Then my mother and father would say, "Do you want to feed the entire village?" I sometimes took some rice from home and gave it away without telling my parents.
We did some beekeeping in our house with several hundred beehives. There were many houses in the country where the families didn't have enough oil to light lamps. I gave the beeswax to those people. I was too young to know how much it cost at that time. Eventually my father found out and I got a good scolding (56-33, 05/10/1972)

Poor friends in my neighborhood used to bring their lunch with boiled barley or boiled millet. I could not eat my rice after having seen the poor food in their lunch boxes. I had to switch lunch boxes. When some of my friends' parents were sick but could not go to the hospital because they did not have money, I would beg with tears in my eyes to my own parents to give them some money. If they would not give me the money, I announced that I would sell this and that in the house to get the money. (58-79, 06/06/1972)

I was often hungry when Korea was a colony of Japan. I would invite poor students to eat as much food as they could, so my month of meal tickets would run out in three days. (155-316, 11/01/1965)

There were students who had a hard time finishing school. I quit school for several months and on behalf of their parents, I took care of them. (26-69, 10/18/1969)

When a group of people bullied weak people, I fought against those rascals. I fought for justice. The feeling of being hit is an important part of shaping one's philosophy of life. (15-132, 10/03/1965)

[Referring to encounters with Japanese police] Many times, I spit up blood through near-fatal experiences. However, I never gave my friends' names under torture; I was loyal to and responsible for them. I risked my life for theirs. I fought alone. I did not budge even under threat of death. (23-132, 05/18/1969)

I did not talk even during the most dreadful torture - being hit by clubs. You must keep faith with your friends. Once you have made a promise, you must keep it to death. One night, after torture, I felt the most sorrowful ever, and knew that I would never forget that day. (33-115, 08/09/1970)

Even if people can put my body into prison, no one can imprison my heart and belief. They can hit me however much they want. When they hit me, all of that will be a foundation for me to connect to God and God's work to this point. Those moments were testing how much I could actually love my enemies. I said to them in my mind, "Hit me for as long as you want, but I will never hate you for this." I vomited blood after being hit for so long, but I still thought, "I was beaten on behalf of all mankind. I am beaten, but I will not remember the pain. Please, Heavenly Father, forgive those who hit me." One must successfully go through a test in which your life is at risk. (27-73, 11/23/1969)