A life spent avoiding blank spaces on paper
At the bank counter, at the district office, the moment a form was handed to her, her stomach dropped. Her whole life she had been somebody's mother, somebody's wife. The day Bok-sun Jeong, past seventy and newly literate through Ulsan Nambu Library, wrote her own name neatly in her own hand for the first time, one blank space in the world was filled.
When I could not read, the world was nothing but blank spaces. The bank, the government office, everywhere only fear. Now every time I write my own name, tears come.
— Bok-sun Jeong (Ulsan Nambu Library)
TODAY’S PRACTICE
Do not erase your own name to keep the world comfortable. Write it out clearly on a page today.
SOURCE
National Literacy Education Center · 2024 National Adult Literacy Poetry Exhibition, Grand Prize · Bok-sun Jeong, Ulsan Nambu Library
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