Overview

How can a tree grow without wounds? 

Our life proceeding toward an unknown destination. 

My twenties, built in moist earthy colors. 

“What should I do now?” 

How should we spend our youth?

Get a job with major companies, become a public sector worker, study for national exams, obtain hundreds of licenses… What should I do for a living, and how? Am I capable enough? People in their twenties run into one trouble after another, and there seems to be no way out of this period of confusion. “Oh whatever,” “Maybe I should settle for this,” “I can’t be a disappointment.” These cowardly, pathetic choices they make, leave them with regrets or even eat away their happiness. Young people do not wish to live a life that fits others’ standards but ends up by crumbling into unhappiness. The author, too, has strived to figure out her own path and desire, instead of simply applying others’ rules to her life. 

“The aim of my life is…”

This essay written by Yoo Jihyang at the end of her twenties, delivers vivid accounts of her time at Byeonsan Community School, an ecological community that teaches one how to look after oneself, along with her own unique life path that gives hope and courage to young people who are yet to take a step toward what they truly want. 

Part 1 “For True Independence” talks about her discouragement as a jobless person and her serious thoughts about how to live her life and why. It also deals with how to put aside the stereotype attached to her academic background, that is, her diploma from Korea’s No. 1 university. Like many others in that age group, the author went through license—interview—part-time—employment (forest interpreter), a process depicted in great detail using lively anecdotes. 

Part 2 “Byeonsan Community School, My Nourishment” illustrates how she changed at the community school which she visited upon graduation to learn about and practice an ecological way of living. She spent three years in Byeonsan, where she found food, clothing, shelter, job, and made a special bond with the neighbors. It offers a variety of interesting stories about how her experience in farming and ecology nourished her life. 

How rare is it for a person in his or her twenties to apply for a forest interpreter license? It is true that most applicants take it as a post-retirement hobby or a side job after moving to the countryside. It’s not exactly the most decent job that pays well. But what it gave to the author was a sense of pride that she had found what she really wanted. What she seeks is not a highway, as she believes that the path of life can be found from the small trails in the woods that exist for trees, birds, and little children.  

About author

Yoo Jihyang was born in June 1993, the month when holly hocks bloom. With the dream of saving the Earth, she studied forest environmental science at the Seoul National University and visited scores of forests. She had previously spent a period experiencing farming in a rural area, but she eventually returned to her forests as a forest interpreter. She currently engages in many activities such as animal activism and freelance writing. She loves how weather conditions and seasons change, as well as how she herself changes by not backing down in the face of many problems. She cannot wait to see where she will stand, and what story she will be telling in her late thirties.