[Lee Jong-gil's Autumn Return] Red-haired Anne, Happiness Comes Closer the More You Imagine It

Essay by Author Baek Young-ok 'Hello, My Red-haired Anne'

'Anne of Green Gables: The Early Years (2009)' is an animation based on "Before Green Gables" by Budge Wilson. It tells the story of Anne Shirley before she arrived at the green-roofed house on Prince Edward Island.

Six-year-old Shirley lives with Aunt Joanna, taking care of children her age and doing household chores. Though her days are hard and repetitive, she remains optimistic, believing that happiness will one day favor her. "If someone in this world is happy right now, someday happiness will come to me too."

Shirley has a dear friend: Eggman, the egg seller who lives reclusively in the forest. The townspeople call him a wizard because of his long hair and bushy beard. Shirley is surprised when she visits his house for the first time. The walls are filled with beautiful paintings. On the desk are various books, a typewriter, and a telescope.

Shirley secretly watches Eggman, who is so absorbed in playing the cello that he even sheds tears. She imagines him as a prince transformed into a beast. She thinks he must be hiding in the forest as if dead because he can no longer meet his beloved. Eggman smiles kindly and says, "That is loneliness."

'Anne with an E' Still Cut

Loneliness ends the moment a friend recognizes it. Shirley and Eggman begin to erase their feelings of loneliness and sadness by understanding each other's deficiencies. Eggman says that he feels more peaceful now living alone in the forest than in his wealthy and glamorous past. The place where he, once severely broken and hiding, later opens his heart and meets new love (Mr. Henderson) is also in the forest.

From the 21st, the essay "Hello, My Anne of Green Gables" by author Baek Young-ok will be available for sale. It says that by learning to know and love oneself through Shirley's voice, one can grasp the happiness waiting nearby. Warm advice can also be heard from the adult Eggman. He has a sad past of losing the lover he loved to his younger sibling. Because of that, he hid in the forest, but meeting Shirley gradually opens the door to his heart.

'Anne with an E' still cut

"Poetry isn't about the poet's thoughts. What's important is what you, the reader, feel. Shirley, every time you come to buy eggs at my house, I'll teach you words."

"But why are you so kind to me?"

"I am on the side of imagination."

There is countless pain and sorrow in the world. No matter how much we resolve, we inevitably break down several times. But we cannot just stay still. Even as adults, we must fall and learn to grow into strong trees. Author Baek believes that both Eggman and Shirley recognize each other's loneliness and plant their roots there.

"Success is rare, and failure is common. When we see someone who has failed, we feel relieved thinking 'I'm not the only one.' How fragile is the child crying inside our hearts? When we see someone going through the same hardships, we don't want to admit it, but comparing others' pain to recognize our own fortune is human nature. But crying alone is lonely, and crying together makes life bearable, doesn't it?"

'Anne with an E' Still Cut

A cup can break at any time. Without the present moment to pick up the pieces and wipe the spilled water, the future is just an illusion. The solution lies in this very moment. Author Baek says she learned this truth from young Shirley. When we stop taking anything in the world for granted, we can truly live every moment.

"Comfort is not something that comes to you but something you discover. Like air, it always stays by my side, but many things are only remembered after they disappear. The presence that can soothe my deep darkness is therefore already something I know, something that has existed within me."