[One Thousand Characters a Day] Park Su-mil's Classical Transcription 'Bungwoo'

Editor's NoteAsia Economy provides daily 1,000-character transcription content for readers of the 'One Day, One Thousand Characters' newsletter. The transcription content is carefully selected according to daily and monthly themes from Eastern and Western classics, Korean literature, notable columns, and famous speeches. Today, through sentences from by Professor Park Su-mil of Hanyang University, we reflect on the joy of meeting and befriending one person, and the preciousness of time spent with good people. The text contains 757 characters.

People like new things, but there are also things that become better with age. Wine and fermented soybean paste are representative examples. However, among things that improve over time, nothing is better than a friend. A friend (親舊) means 'a person kept close and befriended for a long time.' Love can blaze brightly with just a moment of connection, but friendship is a long-standing relationship built by enduring time. Therefore, love is exciting but unstable, while friendship is familiar but comfortable. In the language of the Indians, a friend means 'one who carries my sorrow on their back.'

In the past, friends were called 붕우 (朋友). The origin of 붕 (朋) means the two wings of a bird, and the origin of 우 (友) means two hands of a person. Like a bird's wings or a person's two hands, if one is lost, the other is useless. This signifies how precious friends are.

However, it is truly difficult to find friends who share your heart. Even though being born in the same era and space is a tremendous connection, people fail to form close relationships because they consider age, social status, region, and wealth.

Yeonam Park Ji-won said the following about making friends: "A great friendship does not necessarily require facing each other, and a good friend being near or far is not a problem. It is only about connecting through the heart and seeing the person's character." True friendship does not consider external backgrounds. If hearts match, one can become good friends. How happy would it be to meet a friend who understands your heart during beautiful times and have candid conversations? How many times does that happen in a lifetime? Such friends are dearly missed.

- Park Su-mil,