Articles by mgedwards

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!  I was happy to have the day off yesterday.  My family played so hard during the three-day weekend that I felt a bit weary at work today.  My wife felt the same way.  Of course, my son is always a bundle of energy.  Work was extremely productive despite my weariness.  I finished the monthly performance metrics and finished the first draft of a report on development assistance.  I’ll proofread it once more tomorrow and then hand it in to my supervisor to review.  I also met with the cafeteria operator to discuss adjustments to the cafeteria.  The cafeteria has received mixed reviews.  Most complaints have focused on the prices and food selection.  The vendor agreed to adopt some changes I hope will improve its image.
 
Last year, I wrote about Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and reminisced about my time walking on the National Mall and at the Lincoln Memorial.  In November, I dwelled on the passing of Rosa Parks and the start of the Civils Rights Movement.  Tonight, I want to focus on another aspect of Dr. King’s legacy, one that some may consider controversial.  I want to focus on Dr. King’s historical legacy.  Dr. King has become larger than life both as a martyr and as one of the country’s most revered public figures.  Only one other person, Christopher Columbus, has a U.S. federal holiday dedicated in their honor.  President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln were each honored with their own holidays until Congress consolidated their birthdays into a single federal holiday, President’s Day, in 1971.  Officially known as “Washington’s Birthday,” it is actually the celebration of both presidents’ February birthdays.
 
As time passes, holidays that honor individuals seem to diminish in importance.  This is partly because their legacy fades, and reality mingles with myth.  The legacy of Christopher Columbus has been increasingly scrutinized as the remembrance of his legacy has shifted from his “discovery” of the Americas to the negative impact of his arrival in the New World, particularly the devastation of indigenous Native Americans by disease, conquest, and colonization.  His legacy has also come under fire from those who claim he did not discover the Americas after all.  The Vikings very likely “discovered” America when they arrived in Newfoundland from Iceland in the 9th Century.  Some allege that Chinese Admiral Zheng He “discovered” America in 1421.  Others have noted comparisons between the pyramids in Egypt and the Aztecs temples and claimed the knowledge arrived in the Americas from the Middle East.  The legacies of Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, and others have also been tempered by the reality that they were in fact humans, men with flaws as well as virtue.  The George Washington who chopped down the mythical cherry tree and could not lie to his father also fought Native Americans and their French allies in 1854.  When he was defeated, the French showed him mercy and released him.  He regrouped and fought again until the British were victorious.
 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. may very well suffer the same fate.  After all, between 1963 and 1966, President Lyndon Johnson was the public figure most admired by Americans, and in 1967, Dwight Eisenhower won the honor.  While President Johnson was instrumental in signing key civil rights legislation into law, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, his legacy is now overshadowed by his involvement in the Vietnam War.  Nowadays, President Eisenhower rarely tops anyone’s list of best presidents for reasons most people cannot explain (thank Eisenhower the next time you drive on the interstate–the U.S. Interstate highway system was largely built during his administration). 
 
Dr. King’s legacy may also fade with time and will likely grow tempered with a measure of reality.  Those who were with him and were most vocally supportive of him have aged.  His widow, Coretta Scott King, was too ill this year to publicly honor her late husband.  His family has been fighting over the future of the King Center.  Allegations of Dr. King’s controversial behavior have surfaced in many biographies, including some by former associates.  For now, Dr. King represents the embodiment of civil rights in the U.S., but I cannot help but wonder what will happen to his legacy as time passes and memories of the Civil Rights Movement fade into the history books.  Perspectives on civil rights and support for Dr. King’s ideals have already started to splinter.  People’s definition of “I Have a Dream” and its meaning have diverged over the years.  While it may not be politically correct now to tamper with Dr. King’s legacy, with time, his legacy will change.  The question remains as to whether Martin Luther King Jr. Day will still have meaning to future generations of Americans or whether it will become a minor holiday marking a specific time in U.S. history.
 
Blog Notes:  I didn’t have time to finish yesterday’s entry on Seoul Grand Park.  I added some more monologue for your reading pleasure.

For my 2012 post commemorating Martin Luther King Day, click here.

Seoul Grand Park

On Sunday my family and I visited Seoul Grand Park, a large family fun center in suburban Seoul.  It is one of three major attractions in the Yangjae area.  The Racetrack, which was crowded with would-be horse racing fans, lies nearby.  The Museum of Contemporary Art is adjacent to the park.  Inside the park lie two major attractions, Seoul Land, an amusement park, and the Seoul Grand Park Zoo, the largest zoo in Korea.  My wife and I considered visiting the park many a time, but we never had the opportunity until yesterday.  Other activities took precedence.  We thought the park was far from home, but it turned out to be an easy 15-minute drive from our home (in good traffic).  We may visit more often now that we know how proximate the park is and how little admission tickets cost.  5,500 Korean won admits you to the zoo and lets you ride on the tram and shuttle train that traverse the park. 
 
Seoul Grand Park is a very long park with a vertical component.  I estimated that the entire area is about three-to-four square miles, and from the entrance to the back of the park, there is a vertical rise of about 750 feet.  While not a difficult hike, it is definitely not an easy walk for a family with small children.  The park surrounds a small, scenic lake.  The roadway from the park entrance complex winds around both sides of the lake and subdivide into the amusement park to the north and the zoo to the northwest.
 
We took the shuttle train up to the zoo and disembarked.  We were immediately met at the zoo entrance by a scuplture garden filled with statues of animals made with recycled materials.  I really enjoyed the zebra sculpture made from recycled computer keyboards.  We wandered further and showed our son some of the animals he loves to play with as toys.  The cast of the movie "Madagascar," including Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe, were all in the house.  My son had a great time viewing the animals.  The zoo itself is seems to be about as big as the San Diego Zoo, bar none the best zoo in the world, but the Seoul Grand Park Zoo is but a shadow of its San Diego counterpart.  I’m not sure the animals receive proper care.  I especially took pity on the hippopotamus.  It lay inside a dirty building in a dirty pen with all sorts of fruit scraps scattered around the pen.  The water was very dirty.  Perhaps some zoos appear cleaner than they really are, but I’m positive that the hippos at the San Diego Zoo receive better treatment than they do at Seoul Grand Park.  I also didn’t like the fact that some visitors threw food to the animals.  Some of the bears and monkeys begged for food.  It’s very unhealty when visitors start loading the animals up on the junk food they buy from vendors.
 
For the Shutterbugs:  I posted some new photos of Seoul Grand Park for your viewing pleasure.  Note the map of the park in the first photo.  It gives you a geographic sense of the size and layout of the park.  I also tried to sneak some action shots of vendors selling their wares at the park entrance.  Vendors such as these are very industrious throughout Korea.
 
One thing you may discover if you scroll through the photo albums is the change of seasons in Korea.  Korea is very beautiful spring through fall, luscious green from the monsoon rains, but during the winter when the trees are bare, the landscape can appear dingy brown when no there’s no snow.  Seoul Grand Park isn’t as beautiful this time of year as I’m sure it is during the summer and fall.

The holidays are officially over

Tonight I regretfully took down our Christmas decorations.  The Christmas star and ornaments went into a box.  The lights, garland, and beads were put away.  The fake tree went back into its box.  Everything went into storage.  The holiday season is officially over at our home.  We try to leave the Christmas decorations up as long as possible without drawing unwanted attention by antics such as leaving the tree up until March or leaving up the outdoor Christmas lights all year long.  The decorum adds a nice, festive atmosphere to our home.  After we disassembled the Christmas ensemble tonight, our living room looked too bare, and my wife and I talked about what we could to fill the gaping hole where the Christmas tree once stood.  Taking down the Christmas decorations and putting them away is always a chore, like cleaning up at the end of a party.  Eleven months from now, they’ll be back out of the box and back in our living room.  That may seem like a long time, but time seems to pass by more quickly with each passing day.  In fact, there are only 345 days until next Christmas!
 
Last night we hosted a group of University of Washington MBAs in our home.  Three of my classmates came over for dinner, along with seven others who also graduated from the UW MBA Program.  I met some of them for the first time.  All are very nice chaps.  We had a great time reminiscing about the program and catching up on how the UW Business School has changed since we graduated.  We also decided to form an official alumni association chapter in Korea.  The university, particularly the business school, has a very strong connection with Korea.  Each year, the business school’s executive program hosts dozens of executives from Korean companies such as SK Corporation and LG that send some of their best mid-level managers to the UW Business School for additional training.  The UW’s Executive Education Program is one of the best executive business programs in the United States.  Korea has a large number of UW alumni, and once a year many of them get together for an event.  The local chapter is not well organized, and last night we decided to form an alumni group to raise the profile of the university and energize local alumni.  We’re hoping to have a weekend retreat and host a few events each year, including a large barbeque at our home next Spring.  I’m looking forward to getting involved as much as I can as an expatriate who speaks discombobulated Korean.
 
Blog Notes:  A big congratulations to the 14-3 Seattle Seahawks, who defeated the Washington Redskins 20-10 on Saturday to advance to the NFC Championship game.  They will face the Carolina Panthers, who beat the Chicago Bears 29-21.  Tough luck to Indianapolis Colts and the two-time defending Superbowl Champion New England Patriots, which both lost this weekend.  If the Seahawks beat the Panthers and advance to the Superbowl, they will face either the Denver Broncos or the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Any dedicated Seahawk fan will be rooting for the Steelers to win, because as former AFC West division rivals, the Broncos routinely beat the Seahawks.  Those days are gone, fortunately!  I’m cautiously optimistic that the Broncos and the Seahawks meet in the Superbowl.  If they do, I think it would be the first time two former division rivals have met in the Superbowl.