In his monumental essay, “the American Scholar,” Emerson wrote, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Indeed, a truly great man can easily be misunderstood by his contemporaries. In English, there is a maxim, “Where everyone is one-eyed, having two eyes is a handicap.” There is a matching maxim in Korea, “How can a sparrow understand eagle’s eye-view?” Perhaps that is why a great man is always alone, surrounded by the people who do not and cannot understand him.

In today’s Korea, we urgently need great men in every sphere of our society. For example, we need open-minded teachers and professors who will do their best to foster global citizens, not parochial chauvinists. We need fair-minded educators who will not brainwash students with their own political ideology. We need highly-esteemed teachers who can be guiding constellations for their students.

Likewise, we need zealous students who are eager to learn instead of simply being interested in getting good scores at exams. We need students who seek knowledge with seriousness of purpose, explore the unknown, and delve into intellectual adventures. We also need sensible students who respect their teachers and professors. Regrettably, many of our students no longer seem to revere their teachers or value education at school.

We need trustworthy soldiers who can defend their nation and people in times of crisis. An army officer would not run for his life, leaving his men in danger, when a wayward, disturbed soldier went on a shooting spree. 

An Army general or a Navy admiral with glittering stars on his insignia would not accept kickbacks from arms dealers and manufacturers at the risk of soldiers’ lives. It would be disastrous if our soldiers had to rely on defective, malfunctioning weapons in war.

In our society, we need reliable captains whom we can trust and depend on. When shipwrecked, we need a sea captain who will rescue his passengers first before he escapes from the vessel. We need a school principal who, during an earthquake, evacuates the students before he flees. At our workplaces, we need decent bosses who will do his best to protect and promote their staff’s welfare, instead of sexually harassing them at company dinners, under the “influence” of alcohol. Such an indecent person does not deserve to become a boss or a leader in the first place.

We need respectable judges who are not swayed by political pressure and can sentence fairly according to the law. We wish we, too, could have admirable judges such as Chief Justice Earl Warren or Justice William Douglas who valiantly stood up even against the US president. We also need dependable journalists and opinion leaders who can dauntlessly criticize social and political maladies in our society and lead us in the right direction.

We also need truly brave men who do not hesitate to come out and save others in an emergency. A great man would never hurt women and children, or anyone who is weaker than him. A truly great man is the one who says, “No!” when all others shout, “Yes!” A great man would never hide in a crowd or stab others from behind. A courageous man is the one who stands up against bullies that threaten him. We tend to confuse manliness with bluffing or drinking heavily. In fact, however, bravery and manliness have nothing to do with such mundane things. Truly courageous men are those who are not lonely even when alone. A great man is the one who does not need a faction.

We also need great statesmen whose primary concern is not their political party’s gain, but the future of their nation. A truly great statesman is the one who has the capacity of embracing even his political dissidents and foes, who can reconcile the Left and the Right, and who is committed to “mending wall(s),” as Robert Frost puts it. 

In Game of Thrones, even the archenemy Queen Cersei and Dragon Queen Daenerys are united to defend their territories from the imminent invasion of the Army of the Dead. Why, then, can we not unite the progressives and the conservatives to overcome the unprecedented crisis we now face?

We also need great citizens who are mature enough to acknowledge that freedom entails responsibility and that democracy has nothing to do with demanding selfish benefits insolently. We may think that a revolution can be accomplished only through loud protests and clashes by huge crowds. 

However, in his celebrated poem, “Blue Sky,” the great poet Kim Su-young wrote, “One who has ever soared/ for the sake of freedom/ knows /why a revolution is lonely/Why revolution has to be lonely” (translated by Peter H. Lee). Even a revolution is and should be lonely if it is a great one. Likewise, all the great men are lonely because they are alone and misunderstood.

In times of crisis, we need truly great men who are not afraid of being alone or misunderstood. Where have all the great men gone?


By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. He can be reached at sukim@snu.ac.kr. -- Ed.