History

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Editor's Note:  I try never to post anything political, but this event is historic and with so many not even knowing why Korea is divided, I felt the need to write about my own experience and why this event is so meaningful. 

Last week, I watched as the Presidents of North and South Korea shook hands, and crossed into each others' countries for the first time.in decades.  Historic, and poignant and most of all encouraging to me.  I have many South Korean friends, and I also was born during the Korean conflict.  

Hunters Point, CA, we lived in a Quonset hut

As a matter of fact, I didn't get to meet my dad until I was about 4 months old since he was on a battleship involved in the conflict; you see it wasn't called a war back then, it was just a conflict, and there was no peace treaty, there was only an armistice.  Armistice is defined as "temporary stopping of open acts of warfare by agreement between the opponent."  So in essence, the Korea's have been at war since I was an infant and that's a lot of years.  

The Seoul Hilton

When our family was living in Japan one of our favorite destinations was South Korea; we loved the people, amazing food and the countryside was breathtaking.  Plus, the shopping was awesome!
On one trip to Seoul, as we were getting ready to go out in the morning, the housekeeping crew came to our rooms, and took away the flashlights, and informed us there would be a black out that night, and that the room shutters would be taped closed at all times during the black out.  Yes, they were practicing for war.  

Black out in Seoul

At 9 p.m. that night sirens blared in the city, and all activity in the city stopped.  Lights in our rooms went out, and the entire city was enveloped in darkness.  Our children, then 5 and 9, were curious to see "what it looked like" outside, so we peeked out from behind the shutters, and the scene was dark, and eerie.  Taxis and cars stopped, with no signs of life anywhere.  This went on for 1 hour. Being in the dark for 1 hour with no signs of activity on the streets or in the hotel gave us an idea of of what life was like on the Korean peninsula. 
Last weeks' historic meeting gives me hope that the Korea's can live in peace with one another and eventually those from the North and South can travel freely between each country to see their relatives.  I'm not naive enough to think that this will be easy, or will happen overnight. For now we are witnessing history in the making, and that gives me hope for the Korean peoples as they watch their leaders and hopefully move forward towards peace.