Through Campus

The campus our house is built on is close to one hundred and fifty years old. In the late 1800s King Kojong originally allowed the land to be used as a western medical clinic and school. Now it is a university. Every step of the campus speaks history, especially the trees. Between the trees you can see a glimpse of the campus buildings. A hundred years ago these were some of the first western classes and research laboratories in Korea.

In buildings nearby lived the staff and founders. They had great vision, but in 1942 all had to leave and the Japanese colonized the campus calling it an “enemy” campus and kicked out the president and replaced him and the faculty with Japanese faculty. The school stood through two world wars and still stands today.

Voices of the past

As I walk through the park I think of the people who walked here before me. There were artists, poets, musicians and political reformists. They were young and full of vision for their nation and for the future, but at the same time full of fear and confusion. There were no video game rooms to run to or even a campus club. The trees and the stars were all they had. There is still a lot I can learn from these trees.

Voices of the trees

As I stood by the stream I heard squeaking sound above me and the branches sway. I couldn’t see anything, but when I looked up an acorn fell on my head. Then another acorn came crashing out of the tree. Then my son whom I was walking with told me,

“Step away from the tree. The squirrel doesn’t want you around it’s tree.”

As I took a couple steps back I could hear an angry squeaking from the top of the tree. This squirrel must get a lot of stress from people and critters and can’t stand them around its tree. Most people that are hit in the head with an acorn will back away and that’s what I did.

History Stood Still

As I backed away I noticed the late afternoon sun coming between the leaves of another tree and the reflection of the waters below and the newly blossomed azaleas all saying hello. They were much more welcoming than that squirrel in the tree and they kind of posed for me that afternoon while all history stood still.

This was picture taken with my cell phone in one of my favorite spots on campus. The explanation of the photo is in response to the Weekend Engagement prompt by @galenkp.