LeAnne: "Who are you?"
Ha Na:
"Hi. I am a trembling heart in this amazing moment, when one person meets another person, and speaks from the heart. Standing before this community of people in this moment, you see me and I see you, face to face. A bond is formed, a sacred relation, countenanced by God.
I wonder whether you see me with particular perceptions, preconceptions, or questions -
A Korean woman, an ethnic woman, a racialized woman, a young woman. In the Korean Christian community, as the wife of a minister I am called Samonim. It is an honorary title for a ‘good’ supporting wife of an ordained husband, yet I see it as a repressive expectation toward a woman to be in the place where she’s expected to be the moon, the shadow. My faith journey has been a struggle to find my own path, my own true nature. The past seven years have shown me how to be the Sun again which reveals its own brilliance,
without depending on another.
I face my own fears: you may not see me for who I truly am, what I truly can contribute, what I truly hope to say to you, how truly I hope to be your neighbour.
Look past my surface, look past my youth, look past my race, strip off what you see on the surface, as I strip off my fears in the deepest part of myself. It is my hope, my affirmation that when we encounter one another, vulnerable and courageous, looking into each other's eyes, with all social labels and prestige stripped away, we will only see, we will only encounter the radiant core of our beings - the Divine Nature of you and me. I am Ha Na Park. I am your neighbour."
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