Tuesday.....International.....Kang Chol-Hwan

I used to like to tell the story of how I had watched soccer, on and off, 15 minutes here and a half an hour there, for the last 40 years....and never saw a goal! Well, two weeks ago I tuned into a game from somewhere overseas and sure enough, that little ball fits into that big net. After watching a little bit of the USA/England game, I can now say that I have seen three goals! I don't mean to belittle the game for I'm sure it is terrific to those who play it and are fans but it did get me wondering about the pastimes of various countries. If this is Europe's sport, is there anything that can be gleaned about a people who, in effect, watch a pinball game for most of an hour and a half? For one thing, they must be very patient! It reminds me a little bit of the Russian national pastime of chess where knights, bishops and rooks move back and forth incessantly and pawns barely move before the ball is somewhere near attempting to kick into the net. Compare this with America where highlights of the many scores, in whatever sport, fill up the sports newscast every night. Many Americans can now say that their favorite player, in whatever sport, is from another country. My favorite Pittsburgh Pirate is I. M. Itchyru but he never gets in the game because he's always  scratched.
     North Korea gave Brazil all it could handle in soccer today, in losing only by a goal. I saw a photo of the North Korean team in practice and would normally root for these underdogs going up against the rock star Brazilians. It will never happen though for I see Kim Jong il's's odious picture on every jersey and smell the stench of death.  The pictures of the people that are subject to his tortures, whims and ego fill the stands, shouting help us! How, on God's green earth, do I let the little things of life bother me when half of a nation suffers from repression and the other half trains to kill their would be helpers in a future war? This man will never have compassion on his countrymen, and most probably will cause a war before he leaves this earth, and even if he does depart, his successors would surely know that Nuremberg type trials face them if they open the country up. I'd like to invite you to read a book with me, one that I have not finished yet. Kang Chol-Hwan spent ten years of his early life in a forced labor camp in North Korea before escaping to China and then South Korea. Listen to his pleas and pray for the people that he left behind.