Sunshine Lee's Culture Essay Written in Poetry
Guide Dog
When the elders said that a year goes by fast and that time flows like running water, I didn’t use to think much of it, but now that year after year have come and gone, those words have come true. And every time the presidential election is upon us, I think that 5 years – a single term for a Korean President – goes by so quickly. There is an election coming up. I haven’t decided whom to vote for yet. I watch as accident after accident breaks out. A pandemic like this has been around for very long and I am annoyed by the two parties which are immersed in slandering the opposite candidates, rather than in discussing today’s zeigeist. No wonder people have started talking about aiding mental treatment. I never missed voting in an election since coming back to Korea. But there has never been a time when I really liked the candidate voted for. First of all, I don’t like the fact that the candidates are always focused on domestic matters. Just open a world map in an elementary school, and you would realize that Korea is surrounded by world super powers– China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. with the Pacific Ocean in the middle. And we are the only divided country in the world. Our relationships with the world’s super powers are geopolitically very important for us. We should learn and be close to them.For that to happen, we need a global outlook. As we lack natural resources,having good relations with the rest of the world is economically very important too. That’s why I value a leader’s global outlook the most important. But I haven’t seen a single leader of the past or present with a decent global outlook. I also care about G 7 and G 20 Summits. I am nowadays avoiding news about the presidential election. But there was a picture that caught my eye.It was a picture of a retired guide dog in Yong in. The dog looked more dignified and honorable than the person holding it. I don’t have a pet, so I don’t even know how long dogs live. Yet the fact that they retired made me think that they must have had the tough job for many years and I burst into tears at the dignified face of the dog. They also reminded me of Caroline whom I had forgotten. I went to Washington to study a long time ago. The historic Georgetown University was renowned for their linguistics department and I chose socio linguistics as my major. It was a beautiful campus, but it felt unfamiliar.And in a classroom a girl sitting next to me was very kind to me. She was Caroline.And I found out that she was blind. She hurt her eyes in junior high while playing basketball. She taught me a lot of things. There was always a guide dog sitting in the classroom. I forgot his name but the guide dog had a golden fur and dutifully guided Caroline. Although I saw handicapped people in Korea, I have never seen a guide dog – I found it interesting that Caroline went everywhere with her guide dog. Later, she moved far away to Albuquerque,and I came back to Korea. When I moved back to the U.S., I stopped in Albuquerque to visit her for a few days. She cooked me a meal and she still had the same guide dog. There were many native Americans living in Albuquerque who made crafted goods like rings and necklaces, with blue gem named turquoise set in silver. Caroline bought me a beautiful ring and bracelet. We lost touch for a while and I heard that she passed away. I couldn’t believe she was gone, just like that – I felt sad.I once saw her talk to her mother on the phone. I asked her “Your mom helps out, right?” and she was stern in her answer: “It’s my life, why would she help?” It was that kind of independent spirit of children that I saw in the U.S that I felt was different from Korea. I should have obtained the phone number of her mother. I hadn’t known she would be gone so early like that. In Washington, I think of her. In the street that I used to walk with her, and in the garden in Georgetown where she used to volunteer. I also wonder what happened to her guide dog. The guide dog in the newspaper resembled the guide dog of Caroline’s so much that I thought of them even more. That picture reminded me of a lyrical scenery of my youth. In that way, this messy presidential election has helped me in some way. Choosing a leader of a country means that we will see that face for a few years on TV and YouTube and in the newspaper and magazines. I sincerely hope that we have a leader that people will be able to respect throughout the term, and I hope that even if he lacks a global outlook now, he will learn fast and obtain strong diplomatic skills that could help us face the strong global powers. A country that is small but strong – that is my wish. 
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