어제는 어린이날이었습니다. 그리고 오늘은 어린이주일입니다. 아이들을 어린이라고 부르게 된 것이나 어린이날이 이 땅에 제정된 것은 모두 소파 방정환 선생님의 공로입니다. 소파 방정환 선생님은 1923년 5월1 일 우리나라에서 처음으로 치러진 어린이날 기념식에서 ‘어른에게 드리는 글’을 발표하여 “어린이를 내려다보지 마시고, 쳐다보아 주십시오.”라고 호소하며 “어린이에게 경어를 쓰되, 보드랍게 해주십시오.”라는 간곡한 당부도 곁들였다고 합니다. 이 호소는 최초의 국제 어린이권리 선언인 ‘아동의 권리에 관한 제네바선언’ 채택 1년 전에 나왔다는 사실을 기억하면 정말 시대를 뛰어넘는 선각자였습니다.
방정환 선생님은 항상 이조 오백년의 유교 도덕은 남존 여비의 폐습을 조장했을 뿐 아니라 남자 중에서도 오직 성인만이 사람 노릇을 할 수가 있는 사회가 되고 말았다고 주장하셨습니다. 어른들은 어린이들을 자기네의 노리개인 것처럼 귀여워 할 줄은 알면서도 그네들의 인격은 존중은 커녕 인정하려 하지도 않았기 때문입니다. 어린이들은 인간이면서도 인간다운 대접을 받지 못했고 일 년 365일은 하루하루가 모두 어른만을 위해서 존재하던 때였습니다. 그런 상황을 타개하기 위해서 선생님이 주도한 색동회를 중심으로 어린이날 운동을 시작했습니다.
80여년이 지난 오늘의 상황은 어떠할까요? 요즈음 우리 어린이들은 과연 우러름의 대상과 과존중의 대상은 그만두고 인격적인 대우를 받고 있을까요? 어린이기에 어른들의 따뜻한 보살핌의 대상이 되고 있을까요? 1957년 ‘어린이헌장’이 선포되고 75년에는 어린이날이 법정 공휴일로 지정되는 등 어린이를 위한 법적·제도적 배려가 확대돼 왔지만 아직도 대부분의 어린이는 어른들의 가치관과 욕심의 감옥에서 벗어나지 못하고 있습니다. 물질만능주의에 물든 어른들의 가치관은 ‘자녀 교육’이라는 명분으로 어린이에게 고스란히 전승되고 있는 실정입니다.
그러기에 혹자는 세상이 바뀌어서 집집마다 어린이가 1년 365일이 어린이날인데 뭐 하러 따로 공휴일을 정해서 기념해야 하느냐고 주장하지만 아직도 어린이를 창조주 하나님의 시각으로 바라보고 대우해야 하는 세상이 되기 위해서 어린이 주일도 필요하다고 믿습니다. 1856년 미국에서 시작된 어린이주일이 우리나라에서는 1956년부터는 5월 첫 주일에 “꽃주일”이란 이름으로 지켜지고 있습니다. 어린이들이 사랑받는 대상이 되기 위해서 우리가 좋은 신앙의 가치관을 가지고 오늘부터 하나님의 형상으로 지음 받은 어린이로서 바라보아야 하겠습니다.
Yesterday was Children's Day, and today is Children's Sunday. The fact that we refer to young ones with the respectful term eorini (children) and that Children's Day was instituted in this land is entirely due to the contributions of Teacher Bang Jeong-hwan (pen name Sopa). At Korea's very first Children's Day commemoration on May 1, 1923, he presented "A Message to Adults," pleading: "Do not look down upon children, but look up to them." He added an earnest plea: "Please use honorific and gentle speech when addressing children." When we remember that this heartfelt plea came a whole year before the adoption of the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child—the world's first international charter of children's rights—he was truly a visionary far ahead of his time.
Teacher Bang always maintained that the five centuries of Joseon's Confucian morality not only fostered the pernicious convention of elevating men above women, but also resulted in a society where only adult men were treated as full human beings. Adults knew how to dote on children as though they were mere playthings, yet far from respecting their personhood, they refused even to acknowledge it. Children were human, yet they were denied humane treatment; it was an era when every single one of the 365 days of the year seemed to exist solely for adults. To overcome such dire conditions, he led the Saekdonghoe (Colored-Sleeve Society) and spearheaded the Children's Day movement.
What is the reality today, more than eighty years later? Are our children truly treated with dignity as human beings, let alone looked up to or deeply revered? Are they the recipients of adults' warm and tender care simply because they are children? Although legal and institutional provisions for children have expanded—such as the proclamation of the Children's Charter in 1957 and the designation of Children's Day as an official public holiday in 1975—most children still cannot escape the prison of adults' values and selfish ambitions. Adults' worldview, tainted by rampant materialism, is being passed down entirely to our children under the noble pretext of "education."
For this reason, some may argue that times have changed, that for households today all 365 days are practically Children's Day, and question why we even need a designated public holiday to commemorate it. Yet I believe Children's Sunday remains profoundly necessary so that our world may learn to perceive and treat children through the eyes of God the Creator. Children's Sunday, which originated in the United States in 1856, has been observed in our country since 1956 on the first Sunday of May under the name "Flower Sunday." So that our children may truly be cherished, let us embrace sound values of faith and, starting today, gaze upon every child as one created in the glorious image of God.
Gister was dit Kinderdag, en vandag is dit Kindersondag. Dat kinders in ons taal met die eerbiedige benaming eorini aangespreek word en dat Kinderdag in ons land ingestel is, is geheel en al te danke aan die toewyding van leermeester Bang Jeong-hwan (skuilnaam Sopa). Tydens Korea se heel eerste Kinderdag-plegtigheid op 1 Mei 1923 het hy "'n Boodskap aan Volwassenes" bekendgemaak waarin hy gepleit het: "Moenie op kinders neersien nie, maar kyk met eerbied na hulle op." Hy het ook 'n dringende versoek bygevoeg: "Praat asseblief met hoflikheid en sagtheid teenoor kinders." As 'n mens dink dat hierdie oproep 'n volle jaar voor die aanvaarding van die Genève-verklaring oor die Regte van die Kind—die heel eerste internasionale verklaring van kinderregte—verskyn het, besef 'n mens dat hy voorwaar 'n visioenêr was wat sy tyd ver vooruit was.
Leermeester Bang het altyd volgehou dat die vyfhonderd jaar van Joseon se Konfusiaanse etiek nie net die skadelike gewoonte versterk het om mans bo vroue te verhef nie, maar 'n samelewing geskep het waarin slegs volwasse mans as volwaardige mense gereken is. Volwassenes het geweet hoe om kinders te vertroetel asof hulle speelgoed was, maar van respek vir hul menswaardigheid was daar geen sprake nie; hulle wou dit nie eens erken nie. Kinders was mense, maar hulle het geen menswaardige behandeling ontvang nie; elke enkele dag van die 365 dae in 'n jaar het oënskynlik net vir volwassenes bestaan. Om hierdie situasie te bowe te kom, het hy die Saekdonghoe-vereniging gelei en die Kinderdag-beweging begin.
Hoe lyk die stand van sake vandag, meer as tagtig jaar later? Word ons kinders deesdae werklik met persoonlike waardigheid behandel—om van verering en diepe eerbied maar nie eens te praat nie? Ontvang hulle vandag die warm, sorgsame aandag van volwassenes bloot omdat hulle kinders is? Hoewel wetlike en institusionele voorsiening vir kinders uitgebrei is—soos die afkondiging van die Kinderhandves in 1957 en die aanwysing van Kinderdag as 'n openbare vakansiedag in 1975—sit die meeste kinders steeds vasgevang in die tronk van volwassenes se waardes en selfsugtige ambisies. Volwassenes se lewensbeskouing, besmet deur materialisme, word onder die dekmantel van "opvoeding" net so op die kinders oorgedra.
Daarom beweer sommige mense dat die wêreld verander het, dat elke huis vandag 365 dae per jaar 'n Kinderdag beleef, en vra hulle waarom dit nog nodig is om 'n spesiale vakansiedag af te sonder. Tog glo ek dat Kindersondag steeds broodnodig is sodat ons wêreld kinders deur die oë van God die Skepper kan leer sien en behandel. Kindersondag, wat in 1856 in die Verenigde State ontstaan het, word sedert 1956 in ons land op die eerste Sondag van Mei onder die naam "Blomsondag" gevier. Sodat kinders werklik voorwerpe van liefde kan wees, moet ons vanuit 'n gesonde geloofswaardestelsel van vandag af na hulle kyk as wesens wat na die beeld van God geskape is.