Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring - 2nd Draft

In the film ‘Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring’, the monk tries to teach his young child by making him suffering from the same pains he inflicted on the fish, the frog, and the snake. The monk tied a heavy stone on the child’s back and said that he will not be released until he releases the animals. Unfortunately, the fish and the snake already died, which made the child fully regret for his wrongdoings. The method the monk used to discipline his child was to feel and suffer from pains in the viewpoints of others. Perhaps he wanted his child to learn that every single life, no matter how it is big or small, is valuable and it’s wrong to treat them violently.

I learned the very same truth when I was eight years old. At that time, I always wanted to have a pet. One day, my father came home and gave me a present – a pair of birds. He told me that I have to take good care of the birds. At first, I really liked them and enjoyed feeding them. However, as time went, I gradually didn’t pay much attention to them, because I lost interest in raising animals. A few weeks later, my father discovered that the birds were already dead, because I forgot to feed them for three days. Due to my laziness, valuable lives starved to death. My father was so upset that he didn’t give me dinner. From that experience, I learned that I have to take care of every single life, even though it is small and weak.

In this film, another major thing that the monk wanted to teach his child was perhaps the fact that everyone’s behavior is always followed by the responsibility. Through making him regret of his wrongdoings, he could teach his child that responsibility is important. Likewise, after killing my birds, I also learned that I have to keep ‘responsibility’ in my mind. My mother told me, “they were your pets and their death is your fault. If something wrong happens, it means there must be someone who has to responsible for. You must keep your responsibility.”

I believe the filmmaker also wanted to convey the message that life is valuable and responsibility is important. When I watched the movie, my old experience overlapped with the film’s theme. Life is indeed precious and everyone has to take his or her responsibility as much as possible: these simple, but valuable messages were emphasized again in my mind during watching this movie.