Category: Korean History

Why it’s okay for children to learn about difficult subjects.

In the journey of our book, we have ran into many different people and opinions. Some have even felt that our book “HANA Crosses the Freedom Bridge” should not be shared with children, because of its portrayal of some hard truths that take place in North Korea.

We believe that it is the right and responsibility of every parent to determine what subject matter their child can and can not handle.

Though it is important not to put the entire weight of the world on your child’s shoulders, we do believe that children are capable of learning to carry smaller weights, as long as it is lifted with the the wings of hope.

“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship so is prayer to the soul”

Corrie Ten Boone , Author of the “Hiding Place”

Corrie Ten Boone {1892-1983} was an inspiring activist and women of faith, whose courageous acts during WWII, continue to inspire human rights activist today.

She lived in Haarlem, Netherlands with her family during the Nazi occupation. Her family had a strong faith in Jesus and a deep respect for their Jewish community. This caused her family to help Jews escape from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. They were betrayed by a neighbor and her whole family was imprisoned in a concentration camp. She alone survived. She wrote an inspiring account of her experience in her book, “The Hiding Place.”

In her book, Corrie Ten Boone recalls a conversation she had with her Father when she was a child. She asked her father a question that he considered an adult question, to big of a question for a child to know the answer to. He answered her question with a word picture:

“I was sitting in a train car with my Father and asked him a question about sex.
He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case off the floor and set it on the floor.
Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?” he said.
I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
It’s too heavy,” I said.
“Yes,” he said, “and it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.”

― Corrie Ten Boone, The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten

I would like to believe he handed her a smaller carry on bag that she could carry.

When I first heard about the “Holocaust” I must have been about 12 years old. When I learned about slavery, the Civil War, and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, I was in 2nd grade.

Our history books showed drawn pictures of John Wilkes Booth with a gun pointed at President Abraham Lincoln’s head. I am sure I was shown pictures of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross much younger. These are subjects that contain highly sensitive material.

They were presented to me as if they were placed in a “small book bag” that I could carry.

I appreciate being able to learn about valuable sacrifices as a child, as they created within me a passion to do what was right for others, which may require a certain amount of sacrifice on my part.

This is true of “HANA Crosses The Freedom Bridge”. We don’t want our young readers carrying a “ suitcase” full of the weight of the world, much to heavy for a child to carry. But we do hand them a smaller “book bag’’ that is easier to carry, and still teaches them about the hardships that others in the world face, while still empowering them to do something about it.

When we ask a child to handle sensitive subject matter, we place within this smaller bookbag the truth; but also hope, a bright future, and an impossible dream that could change the world, if grown in the hearts of children.  

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) : (American author, painter, and illustrator} illustrated this brave little African American girl carrying her books in hand, her head held high ,and dressed in a crisp white dress walking to school. She is surrounded by four US Marshall agents. Right behind her is red tomatoes smashed on the white wall, barely missing her.They are escorting her to school. This is an incredible illustration depicting a highly sensitive subject.

Though this image had a great impact on me as a child, it was a small burden of the civil rights movement that I was able to tuck away and carry in my child sized emotional book bag. She on the other hand walked into an all white school and changed the course of our nation. A child. A true story that she actually lived. She didn’t read about it. She lived it as a small child.

Please, take this imagery into consideration when reading or informing your child of a sensitive subject matter or image concerning the children in North Korea, such as some of the pictures depicted in our book.

The children in North Korea are not shown the images of their life as if it were a horror scene from another generation. They are living out their lives in a highly oppressive country, and a large number of of them are living in prison camps. They are born, live and die, with ongoing pictures of heart break playing in their mind as they try to survive in the most notorious country for human rights violations in the world. The North Korean Children are born carrying a heavy suitcase.

This is not a bedtime story for them. “Hana Crosses The Freedom Bridge“ is not a bedtime story. But we do believe that it is a light enough story that, with guidance, can be carried in your childs back pack. We pray that this book will move your child with compassion and inspire them to help make the world a better place.

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s Love is not deeper still”

 Corrie Ten Boone author of the “Hiding Place”

      https://hana-onefreekorea.com/product/hana-crosses-the-freedom-bridge/