Reflections on Rice

At least twice a week, I work as an assistant coach for my old high school's speech team. It's a wonderful opportunity to stay involved in what I love and help cultivate the amazing talent that some of those kids have.

Today, my good friend Josh and I (Who is also now an assistant coach) had the privilege of coaching a young girl from South Korea. Her speech category was Poetry, and her pieces were quite... well, I'm not exaggerating when I say they were powerful. The poetry she recites was written by a North Korean man who documented, through his outstanding spoken word, the injustice dealt to them.

Now, before I get to the core of what I want to express, I want to say that seeing this piece gave me a new perspective on exactly how venomous the conflict between North and South Korea is. Growing up in America, we pretty much learned that "North Korea= bad and people can't leave and their leader is crazy and" et cetera, and that "South Korea= the victims". It's quite a bit more complex than that.

The words were heavy. The poet witnessed what was called "relief rice" from the UN brought for hungry people, but given to the military. At first glance, one can already see the horrible leadership, but when one looks mindfully into the text, one begins to realize exactly what is happening.

Rice is the staple of almost every single Asian culture's diet. Over 3,770 million (that's almost 4 billion, yes) people eat rice every day, myself included. It truly is the stuff of life. The poet witnesses the rice being transported past starving, emaciated people and given to the military. Any excess rice they had was thrown during a parade to display the might of their military having had a full meal. This says something strong... Not only do they not even drop the extra rice into the hands of the starving, they waste it by throwing it in celebration of war.

The poet tells the "people of the world" not to call it "relief rice"-- How powerful that request is! He doesn't want relief rice, because that makes it sound like rice alone will solve all of North Korea's problems! He even tells the United Nations that if they have rice to send, it would be better to fire it into the air! This again draws a terrible picture of misusing life-giving food as ammunition. Rice, the grain of life, is being used to support war, spread starvation, and deal out death.

Rice is so small, so light, and yet so powerful. Something so innocent, if misused, can spread suffering-- But it still brings life to billions of people.

I like hearing prayers, songs, poetry, et cetera in other languages. Sometimes translations use very subtle changes to influence the message they want to get across. In the Chinese translation of the Lord's Prayer, for example, the Prayerspeaker asks God to "give me today my daily rice". I love that! It's a fantastic coloring of the difference (and also similarity) of Eastern culture to Western culture. Staples of our diet such as bread and rice can say such simple but powerful things about who we are!

If you've ever seen videos of people farming rice in countries such as Vietnam and China, when it's done traditionally it is quite obvious that it's back-breaking work. As much as I may not look like it, I do understand the value of hard manual labor. It's a fantastic feeling, being able to contribute strongly to something through work! Rice takes a very, very long time to farm and the work is quite tedious.

Rice can be a very powerful symbol of what I believe I should be like. Simple, subtle, but full of power. Hardworking. Fast to give life, and careful to not take it away.