Higher Learning

I can now proudly say that I know what it is like to be a graduate from Harvard University. Not just any graduate, but a graduate of Harvard Law School, one of the oldest and most recognized institutions of higher learning in the world. It is the gold standard to which all other institutions are compared. As a good friend once pointed out to me, no one ever refers to a school as being "the Yale of the Midwest." So it is with great delight that I can now claim this knowledge for myself.

However, before your opinion of me starts to inflate too much (or perhaps deflate with my boasting), let me explain further. My knowledge has come not from personal experiences as a Harvard student and then graduate, but rather from meeting with and following around 6 Harvard grads last week. Last week six students (4 graduates and 2 rising 3Ls) from Harvard Law School visited Seoul in order to participate in our English camp for middle and high school students. They were all Christian men whom I believe were genuine and good-hearted. Not that they didn't have the confidence, or maybe we should say satisfaction, that one would expect to find in a person who has such a prestigious line in his resume. This was certainly present in varying degrees with each of them. But this attitude is one that flows from confidence rather than over-confidence and hardly seemed out of place in any of them. It was a genuine pleasure to be with each of them.

In addition to their participation in our English camp ministry, they also had an interest in issues involving North Korea (refugees, human rights, nuclear programs, etc.). This is where the cache that goes with the title "J.D., Harvard Law School" comes into play. Although living nearly 7,000 miles away from Seoul, these men were able to make more contacts in the months leading up to their visit than we have made in the nearly 6 months we have been here. And these contact were not only with those working in trenches, people with people at the tops of very accomplished organizations, to include at least one U.S. Senator. Very graciously, we were invited to participate in several of their meetings and it was both wonderful and enlightening.

One of the activities was meeting with NK refugees on Wednesday. We had the opportunity to speak with these refugees for several hours as they described their situations and living conditions in NK and how their lives have changed, for better or worse, while living in South Korea. These refugees, all of them who were college students, also had the opportunity to ask us questions. This is when I truly realized my status as an interloper. When the refugees learned that I was not a Harvard grad, but merely another person working as a missionary in South Korea, my stock plummeted faster than Enron. One student, who showed up late, expressed several times his desire to get our contact information in order to chat online with us. As he began to go about the room collecting our data, I was his first stop. I was providing the requested info, when he asked me about my experiences at Harvard Law. Upon learning that I wasn't a Harvard graduate, I suddenly became the invisible man as he rapidly pushed past me in order to accomplish his previously stated mission. I can honestly say I was not offended by this gesture. I know his struggle and plight and that his life will probably be an uphill struggle for the next 50 years. Although I might be able to give him a little push right now to assist him in his climb, he is more concerned with his long term goals, goals that someday might require the type of pull a person holding the title "J.D., Harvard Law School" can provide.

The real blessing for me is that I have been able to take the shortest possible route to learning what it means to be a Harvard grad. It didn't take me 3 years or $90,000. I was able to discover it in just a few days.

Praise be to God!