Son Ji-hye (Seoul Woman’s University, Business Administration)
This month the College Scholastic Ability Test was held. High school seniors get ready to leave high school and go on to university. Honestly speaking, I think that today’s educational system has an impact on students’ thinking. Although they are young and have malleable brains, they have received a standardized education, so they cannot think creatively enough. They always think about the answers to the repeated somewhat similar math questions, worry about how they can get a good score on school’s exam, and try to imitate a model answer on essay tests! I hope that university students should think differently and creatively. Our society asks us the question whether we are creative or not. When seeking a job, taking courses in the university, and writing an essay, we should be creative! Even though you have trouble thinking creatively, you should not have a narrow viewpoint. You should be free from your same tiring thinking. In fact, we usually have the same idea when reading a short story. The flow of our thinking is similar to that of others. Read this short story, and see what I mean.
Tick…tock…tick…tock… three hours ago, I woke up in a strange room. Tick…tock…and I could not see anything in this dark room, but only the chunky sound resonated throughout the dim room. Tick… It was quite and solemn except that annoying noise of sound! Then, suddenly the sound stopped instantly after I thought this. "Phew! Thanks God." I heaved a sigh of relief. That time, I did not care about what the sound was and how it stopped by itself. I was too hectic to refreshing my memory because I did not remember what happened to me last night. I was exercising outside of my house but then…I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was lying on the squishy floor. What happened to me…? After I was lying there for a while, I decided to go outside from this strange room. However, escaping from the room was not easy because first of all, it was too dark. I could see barely but it was not enough. So, I tried to search an electric switch with my hands. First time, I touched damp and sticky liquid. The smell of the liquid was not bad. Since I was thirsty and hungry, I decided to drink those deliciously smelled liquid. At that time, the same kind of liquid fell down from the ceiling to the ground. What a nice room! I sipped this liquid. The taste of water was weird like a roasted egg but I started to feel warm inside. However, the temperature of my body was kept increasing and now it was hurting me. "What did I drink? Did I drink the poison?" I worried. Thus, I tried to figure out this unknown liquid. Then, I finally noticed it was acid! That meant the falling liquid from the ceiling is acid!! So, despite the pain inside of my stomach, I just ran away to avoid the acid. However, the rate of falling acids was constantly increasing. Fortunately, I found a tunnel that has a high slope. "Whew! This place is like a hell but I am sure that acids cannot reach this height." Now, I sat on the ground grabbing my painful stomach. Suddenly, all good recollections from my past came across my mind; my beautiful wife and my cute children smiled at me. I started to cry and wail while I was thinking about the good memories. Then, I settled myself down to escape from this room. "I can do it!" I shouted it. Now, I could see the room was filled with acids except the tunnel. So, I tried to break the wall from the room to go outside. When I hit the wall, the room started to shake with a loud noise. Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Then, the height of the tunnel suddenly decreased. Simultaneously, huge waves of acids poured over me. I was surprised, "How come the room can change their shape? It is impossible!" However, I realized, "Oh, this room is……"All of my body started to burn. Then, the mouse could not speak anymore. Outside of the room, the snake smiled and said, "What a delicious mouse for dinner!"
How do you think only in one direction? Most of people think the hero of the story is human, but it is a mouse. Although the story does not show the hero is human, you just assume the hero is human from words such as my wife, my children, or my house. Why don’t you think a mouse can have a wife, children, and house? The story is a sort of funny, but you can realize your unconscious prejudices and narrow thinking. Free yourself from a narrow viewpoint!