[Kim Jae-eun's Steady Happiness] Difference, the Beginning of a Life True...

[Korea Lecturer News Columnist Kim Jae-eun] There is something different.

The world always seems to speak of a single path, but beyond it, another path is always breathing. While most people walk in a familiar direction, someone pauses for a moment and asks,

“Is this really my path?”

While everyone else thinks similarly, there are those who harbor different thoughts. There are people who feel completely different emotions while looking at the same scenery, and who discover entirely different meanings while living the same day. They live differently not because they are special, but because they are true to themselves.

Perhaps 'difference' is not a special ability, but rather an attitude of never giving up on one's true self.

We often fear being different. Afraid that thinking differently will make us stand out, or that making different choices means we are going down the wrong path.

Therefore, many people give up on their own paths and cautiously step onto an already proven one. However, while that path may be safe, it does not necessarily make me happy. This is because happiness lies not in the correct answer, but in my own senses and choices.

Difference is not wrong. Difference is simply difference. However, at some point, we began to misunderstand difference as wrongness. We sometimes think that deviating from groundless standards makes something wrong, and that it is acceptable to criticize someone simply because they differ from the majority. At that moment, difference quietly diminishes, and the world gradually becomes colored by only one hue.

However, let us consider this. Look at nature. The reason a forest is beautiful is not because the trees are all the same, but because they are different from one another. The forest breathes because their sizes and shapes differ, and the colors and grains of their leaves vary. If all the trees were identical, what would be the difference between that place and a desolate desert rather than a forest?

Human life is no different. Only when countless differences come together does the world become beautiful and healthy.