Children's Day, Republic of Korea

May 5th is Children's Day!
Can you believe it? Children get their own day off, actually they had a four day weekend in some schools. I am sitting in my favorite Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, in the shopping center at GoSeok Bus Terminal, Seoul. I always meet students here and get a discount 'mileage card', but you wouldn't believe the people running around. Well, if you live in Korea you would.
I am trying a new thing here, I downloaded something that allows me to use MS Word 2007 easily (I hope) without learning all that HTML, XML, etc. This Old Guy Adoptee just cannot handle too many tricks. I will be attending several events for the real big one for us Adoptees, May 11 is sorta kinda officially Adoption Day. I will show my support for both adoption agencies, such as my own beloved Holt International Children's Services, and groups like KoRoot, ASK (Adoptee's Solidarity for Koreans), and TRACK (Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea).
You may wonder why I will support seemingly opposite groups, and nine months ago I was, well, truth be known I thought those who are against InterCountry Adoptions were the 'enemy'! I was the so called 'Happy to be Adopted' group and though the others were 'angry adoptees'. In the 10th Anniversary of GOA'L, 2008, I attended ASK's seminar entitled 'The myth of the Angry Adoptee' and was 'shocked, just shocked' to hear that the members were not Angry! OMG, I met Jane Jeong Trenka, author and editor, have since studied the positions of many who oppose InterCountry Adoptions and tried to understand their reasoning. Most importand I have found these young women and men to be responsible and caring people with well researched and reasoned out beliefs on this complex issue of ICA adoptions. Hey, they were not the 'enemy' anymore. I determined to learn everything, every argument from all sides, from every part of the Triad of adoption. Wow, the more I studied the more complex it was to see the 'big picture'.
The more I read, and I have read 15 books (highlighting, taking notes), looked at about 50 'adoption blogs' regularly, websites of every Korean group of the Adoption Triad, downloaded hundreds of Korean newspaper articles, news sites, adoption agency, and believe based on the current situation in Korea...Are you ready for this? There must be a Middle Road Map, we must all listen to each other, respect each other's views, realize that no matter what-We are all in this together.
This is the purpose of my simple blog, (and the two people who are reading it) it shall be my 'Mission in Life' before I go to the Heavenly Father (sorry for that anyone who is anti-religion/God but sometimes I will speak about my Higher Power). I believe that as I learned the actual facts 'on the ground' about what is currently happening in Korea, that it is even more important for all of us, 'to just get along'. Can anyone with a logical mind say no to that? Can we not listen to each other without name calling ('Damn those '#&@!!' guys), using all inclusive language instead of Qualifiers such as 'there have been "some" cases of abuse, even kidnapping rather than blanket statements?
Yes, we can! (You don't know how hard it is for me to say that phrase) We can work together, and those who can not...well, then I might bust some heads. Oh,sorry God, keep forgetting to keep it real, and peacefully persuade folks. I am trying, should we not all try to do the same? Hopefully, we can!