nothing to envy

i went through the 292 pages in fear. but what i had to go through were merely words composing stories of people i don't know. the frightening part is that those stories were lived by real people, and those people are not living far. the distance between me in hongkong and people in north korea are not that great in terms of time and geographical difference, and that is what freaks me out the most.

forgive my ignorance, but if it were africa, i might still think it were a bit far from me. and if it happened in the 19th century, or even the early 20th century, i could consider it a part of history. you know there is injustice sometimes and most-where, and most of us are too focused on our own lives to care. but getting to know north korea in the 90s and even the present is like taking a sneak peek at a murder happening next door.

the unusual silence behind that closed door has become so loud and noisy that you are no longer able to pretend nothing is happening. on a side note, i reckon that what has made the system stand would be the manipulation of fear among the people. paulo coelho is right in one of his books, "the devil and miss prym" --

if you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid.

any man has his hell within easy reach, and that's his love for his family.

at first it was for the fear that without this god-like fatherly ruler, they would have been dead for long. and then it was for the fear of the evil capitalism, and the enemies it created. and then it was for the fear of not being able to get into the party, or the fear of being placed at the lowest of the system, and being kept away from all privileges. and then it was for the fear of getting arrested, beaten, sent to labor camp, being kept away from family and friends, or being killed, or even worse, being executed in public.

but when the circumstances get harder, people fear less. the more you have to lose the more you have to fear. undoubtedly a tough case -- there is always something to lose, something larger than life that you think you'd rather suffer or die than lose.