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Aug. 30, 2005 What is love? The topic seems old, yet we never grow tired of exploring the subject. We often read about it in books and watch it coming to life on the big screen. Living with the idea of true love shall last forever and the fairy tale ending in real life nowadays have become fantasies rather. Such a simple word, sometimes it takes a lifetime to understand it and appreciate it. And through this touching S. Korean TV drama - Winter Sonata, the viewers not only enjoy twenty hours beautiful music and scenery, most of all, they go on an unforgettable love journey with the lead characters, feel their grief and joy, regret and sorrow, passion and loss. It is a tale about two people, who are parted by misunderstanding and a terrible tragedy. After long years they meet again and fall in love all over. The sense of first love, pure and innocent is perfectly portrayed in this drama. And long after the series ends, the story still lingers in mind like the aftertaste of a good bottle of aging wine, delicious and bittersweet. The story line of Winter Sonata is rather simple. It tells two high school students fall in love, but a car accident takes the life of the hero. Ten years later, a young man looks exactly like the dead hero shows up before the heroine; of course they fall in love. Later, they find out that the hero did not die, only loses his memory. The heroine breaks the engagement with her fiancé in order to be with him, only to discover that they may be brother and sister (not true as they learn later). Heartbroken, she decides to leave the country unknowing that the hero is suffering from a life threatening illness. Three years pass, she returns to her homeland and all the misunderstandings are resolved. She meets again with the hero who is now blind and they rekindle their romance. It is hard to explain a twenty-hour drama with a few sentences, and it is even harder to express how great those actors are while handling the difficult emotional scenes. Their sorrow and joy, pain and despair are real. For they allow their body and soul to feel, not just simply relay on the acting techniques, but actually become the person that they portray. It is perfectionism working at the best. And everywhere the drama airs, doors and hearts are wide open to greet it. Tourism in S. Korea increases tremendously, thanks to the drama, and the leading actor Bae Yong Joon becomes a huge star overnight. His popularity in Asia even raises above Hollywood top stars such as Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and in the western world, people are becoming aware of this talented young actor. The drama was first aired in year 2002, and until this day, I have yet to see anything that could match the brilliance of this series. It is that powerful, that incomparable and that memorable. One of the reasons that make the drama so outstanding is the lead actor, Bae Yong Joon. He is young, very talented, polite, sincere and mature in real life, and he portrays each character that he plays with such accuracy and perfectionism. And when he decides to do something, he would do it with the best effort he could possibly put out, give it all. He is a person who is not only beautiful on the outside, but with a kind and loving heart to match. When he is asked how will he spend his fortune? He replies - donate to various worthy charities and causes, and share with the people that he loves. He uses his popularity as a tool waking others to help the weak and needy, and to build bridge between countries that have not been on friendly terms with each other. He could melt ice with his warmth and caring nature and everywhere he goes, people follows him and greets him as if he is their son or brother. He is a gifted being who could reach your soul without even trying and his bright smile could wipe the sorrow off the faces of those sick and dying.
I admire him for his humanity and sincerity, so rarely we see public figures like that nowadays. August 29th is his birthday, so I take this opportunity to wish him a very happy birthday. And I sincerely hope that his three wishes come true, which are: have a good health, have a successful and long lasting career and the last but not the least, do as much charity work as he can. An old saying has that God puts each one of us on this earth for a purpose. I think this world can be a much better place if there are more people like him and think the way he does.
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