편견에 사로 잡혀 Captivated by Prejudice

편견에 사로 잡혀 Captivated by Prejudice 코끼리를 한번도 본적이 없는 맹인 네 사람이 코끼리를 설명하는 우화가 있다. 몸통을 만진 사람은 코끼리는 벽과 같다 하고 다리를 만진 사람은 기둥과 같다, 코를 만진 사람은 큰 뱀과 같다, 귀를 만진 사람은 아니야 코끼리는 큰 부채와 같다고 주장한다. 전체를 보지 못하고 한 부분만으로 전체라고 주장하는 편견이다. 80년대 초반 공학 박사 학위를 받은 사람에게 한국에 돌아가면 일자리가 많을텐데! 하였더니 그는 정색을 하며 내 나라에 돌아가 차별 받는 것보다 여기 사는 것이 더 낫다고 한다. 그는 전라도 출신으로 내가 경험하지 못한 아픔을 가지고 있다. 고려를 세운 왕건은 풍수지리설을 따라 전라도 사람은 반역하는 일이 많으니 등용하지 말라는 구절을 십훈요에 넣은 것이 아마 도화선이 된 것 같다. 전라도 지방은 옛날 조정 파당싸움에 밀린 사람들이 귀양 간 곳이라 인품과 머리 좋은 인물이 많고 일찍 일본으로 건너가 일본 문화 형성의 근간이 되었다는 것은 생각하지 못하고 한가지 편견에 사로잡히는 경우가 있다. 이는 선지자 요나에게도 해당한다. 하나님은 요나를 악한 도성 니느웨로 보내며 40일이면 망한다고 전하라 하신다. 요나는 니느웨와 반대 방향의 다시스로 배를 타고 도망한다. 왜? 니느웨에 심판을 선포하면 그들이 회개하며 돌아설 것이고 그러면 하나님은 은혜와 자비가 많고 노하기를 더디하며 인애가 크시기에 그들을 용서할 것으로 알았기 때문이리라. 니느웨가 이스라엘을 침공하고 잔인하게 하였기에 그들은 멸망 받는 것이 당연하다고 믿었다. 요나가 탄 배가 풀랑을 당하자 그는 하나님의 진노임을 알고 책임을 진다. 결국 그는 니느웨로 가서 심판을 선포하고는 그들의 멸망을 기다린다. 왕과 백성이 어떤 반응을 하더라도 그들은 멸망해야 한다고 믿으며 멀리서 바라보고 기다린다. 40일이 지나도 망하지 않자 그는 하나님을 대항하고 죽고 싶어 한다. 하나님의 말씀이 이루어지지 않는다는 것이 아니라 마땅히 없어져야 할 악한 도시가 남아 있는 것이 그에게는 죽을 정도로 못마땅하다. 뜨거운 태양아래 혼곤하는 요나를 위하여 하나님이 박 넝쿨을 주시자 좋아하더니 박 넝쿨을 마르게 하니 그는 다시 저주하듯 죽고 싶어한다. 하나님이나 다른 사람보다는 자기만 생각하는 모습이다. 요나에게 하나님은 질문하신다. 네가 심거나 키우지 않은 넝쿨을 아낀다면 전후 좌우를 모르는 니느웨의 십 이만 사람과 많은 가축을 아끼는 것은 어떠한가 하신다. 자기에게 해를 끼친다고 원수로 판정하여 멀리하고 제거하려고 한다면 세상에 남을 사람이 얼마나 되겠나! 그들도 모두 하나님의 계획하라 생명을 누리고 있으니 그들을 돌보고 용납하는 것이 하나님을 기쁘게 하는 일이 아넸나? 나아가 그들을 돌이켜 하나님을 알고 하나님의 백성이 되게 하는 것은 하나님이 주신 사명이 아니겠나! 지금이야 말로 나를 사로잡고 있는 어떤 편견에서 벗어나 크신 하나님의 마음을 따라 세계 전체를 바라보며 품을 수 있어야 하지 않겠나! Captivated by Prejudice There is a familiar parable about four blind men who had never seen an elephant and were asked to describe one. The man who touched its body said that an elephant was like a wall. The one who touched its leg said it was like a pillar. The one who touched its trunk said it was like a large snake. The one who touched its ear insisted, “No, an elephant is like a large fan!” Each claimed that the part he had touched represented the whole elephant. This is the prejudice that arises when we see only one part of something and insist that it is the whole. In the early 1980s, I met a man who had earned a doctorate in engineering. I remarked to him, “There must be many job opportunities for you if you return to Korea!” He looked at me sternly and replied that he would rather stay here than return to his own country and suffer discrimination. He was from Jeolla Province and had experienced a pain that I had never known. Perhaps the root of this prejudice can be traced to a passage in the Ten Injunctions attributed to Wang Geon, the founder of the Goryeo dynasty. Following the principles of geomancy, he reportedly included a warning that people from Jeolla Province were prone to rebellion and should not be appointed to government positions. We often fail to consider that Jeolla Province was once a place of exile for people who had lost in the political factional struggles of the royal court, and that many of those who lived there were people of great character and intelligence. We may also overlook the historical view that people from this region who went to Japan at an early date contributed to the foundations of Japanese culture. Instead, we become captive to a single prejudice. The prophet Jonah was also captive to such a prejudice. God sent Jonah to the wicked city of Nineveh, commanding him to proclaim that it would be destroyed in forty days. But Jonah boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, in the opposite direction, and fled. Why? Perhaps he knew that if he proclaimed judgment against Nineveh, its people might repent and turn back to God. Then God, who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, might forgive them. Jonah believed that Nineveh deserved destruction because its people had invaded Israel and treated its people cruelly. When a violent storm struck the ship Jonah was traveling on, he recognized it as God's judgment and accepted responsibility. Eventually, he went to Nineveh and proclaimed its coming destruction. Then he waited for the city to fall. No matter how the king and the people responded, Jonah believed that they deserved to perish. He sat at a distance, watching and waiting. When forty days passed and Nineveh had not been destroyed, Jonah became angry with God and wanted to die. It was not simply that God's word had failed to come true. What Jonah found intolerable was that a wicked city, which he believed ought to have been wiped out, was still standing. As Jonah lay exhausted beneath the scorching sun, God provided a leafy plant to give him shade. Jonah was delighted. But when God caused the plant to wither, Jonah again became so distressed that he wished to die. His concern was for himself rather than for God or other people. God then asked Jonah: If you care so much about a plant that you neither planted nor nurtured, should I not care about the 120,000 people of Nineveh, who do not know their right hand from their left, and about their many animals? If we judge others to be our enemies because they have harmed us, and then distance ourselves from them or seek to eliminate them, how many people would be left in this world? They, too, are living beings within God's plan. Would it not please God for us to care for them and accept them? Moreover, is it not a mission entrusted to us by God to help them turn back, come to know Him, and become His people? Is this not precisely the time for us to break free from whatever prejudice has captivated us, to look upon the whole world through the eyes of our great and compassionate God, and to embrace it with His love?