Birthday

Hyo Jin Moon January 21, 2007 7:00 am Belvedere

Here are my notes from Hyo Jin nim’s speech Sunday 14 January 2007. My ability to convey what was actually said is limited. These, at most, convey some sense of what Hyo Jin nim said and are not a verbatim record. Hyo Jin nim’s website is: http://www.canaanstation.com/ To see two of the projects that Hyo Jin nim is working on log on to: http://definingmoment.tv/ and http://definingmoment.eu/

Joe Kinney

(Today is Hyo Jin nim’s birthday by lunar calendar. Also Hyo Jin nim’s wife gave birth to a son Shin Jin nim last Friday 19 Jan evening. Two cakes were prepared on a table next to the stage.

Rev. Andrew Compton is the MC. All welcome Hyo Jin nim and offer a bow.

Hyo Jin nim bows to the audience as he approaches the stage. He places a small notebook on the podium; Hyo Jin nim cuts the cakes and receives flowers and a present from National Interfaith Leadership Training Program, whose members attend every Sunday, and a card signed by most of those attending before he speaks. We all sang Happy Birthday twice.

Thank you.

Please sit down.

Thank you for the cake and the present and for the flowers.

This was unexpected. He came out a month early. I guess he wanted to come out.

He’ll be coming home today. He is healthy and my wife is OK.

So thank you.

So today ... I see some faces that I haven’t seen for a while. (One of Hyo Jin nim’s former band members and their family attended the speech today.)

Living in New York City is rather interesting.

Do you like big cities? When you see the people living in big cities they kind of have an attitude don’t they? I guess could say that it is kind of confident or to get right to the point, they’re a little cocky. This attitude is almost a prerequisite for survival in a dog-eat-dog world. You have to be arrogant; you have to have that kind of presence; you have to have that kind of pride and also project a strong sense of self importance just to get recognized.

It’s almost like the big city environment provokes you whether you want it or not to have and present that kind of attitude and personification. You have to ask yourself if that is healthy. What happens to people when they actually live in that kind of mode? What kind of transformation will happen because you will be transformed based on what you are, what you think, what you want to think, what you want to be whether you like it or not. You will process the growth and you will change into that whether you like it or not.