Dog Hide

There is a Korean saying, “A tiger leaves its skin(hide) after death; a man leaves his name(legacy).” Even the western culture might similar saying. Since my hobby is hunting, the time may come when I hunt a tiger and display its skin and show it off to people. As a matter of fact, I dried the skin of an elk I hunted last year at home, and it definitely a conversation piece among friends and guests. Just as no one would hang the skin of the dog he cared so much for on the wall and talk to it no matter how dearly he loved it, a souvenir like skin is not familiar to most people.

Unlike skin, leaving a name behind is universally familiar. Let’s look at San Jose where I live. There is the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital that was named after the wife of the founder of the HP Computer Company, and Stanford University named after Mr. Stanford who manages the hospital. In the middle of San Jose, Woz Way named after the founder of Apple Computer crosses the Tech museum. Besides that, there are roads and parks named after people like General McArthur who led the Incheon Landing operations are all over America. Likewise, nowadays in Korea, there are so many memorial halls or memorial days named after people’s names scattered throughout the year. Koreans who are living in America that have a culture of leaving one’s name behind have much higher expectations for education, religiosity, or making money than average Americans. Nevertheless, whether it’s because of its short history of immigration or because the Korean culture still prefers taking to giving, not many Mr. Kims are seen on donator’s lists in any foundation.

In fact, leaving one’s name behind can be showing off one’s wealth in some respects. Using this as an excuse, some people pretend to be very humble claiming that they do not want to show off, or that the Bible teaches us “Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand does.” Leaving one’s name behind is usually leaving a great fortune or making a big contribution to society or just applies to celebrities. Thus, for common people like us who are busy with making a daily living and leaving our children what little savings we have at the time of death when we leave this world, leaving a name behind for ourselves sounds like something distant and fancy.

Then, does this mean that the lives of most people including me were a waste that is not even worthy of a dog skin let alone a tiger’s skin? What about those who immigrated to this far away country for the sake of “children’s education,” but felt helpless about their kids’ future because of the need to make a living?

Leaving a name behind may sound like making a rise and becoming famous but it only applies to some privileged people. For commoners like us, it means leaving a legacy or a good memory behind instead of an inheritance. Even in this, it means not something great that will be widely known to others, but something people around me, like my family or at least my children can hold onto. After I die, when my children sit around and take turns talking about their memories of me and there’s nothing to talk about concerning my legacy or memory, my life is really like a dog’s life that does not leave even its skin behind.

If the dog I raised dies, there would be no incident of displaying its skin and making his death known to others because of its particular smartness or fame. The only things this dog can leave behind are memories. When I get home late after working hard in the office, the dog greets me jumping around as she sees the headlights of my car even from 50 meters away. As if she had been waiting all day for me, she never leaves my side, circles around me, brings his toys, branches, shoes and even dirt in front of me and wags her tail joyfully. When this dog is beside me, I feel like I’m the greatest dog owner in the world. It’s hard to tell whether the dog reads my mind, or I’m just exaggerating my description of it, but when I go out to the backyard feeling down sometimes she quietly comes to me and licks my hand. When I sit in a chair, she comes to my feet and instantly lies down putting her head over my leg. No jumping or barking, but just understanding my mood, she looks into my eyes as if she is ready to hear my whining. Such memories are much more valuable than the skin she can leave behind, or any profit I can gain directly through this dog.

Then, what name, legacy or memory can we ordinary people leave behind to our children, our family or our friends around us? First of all, what about using the Shema method in Deuteronomy 6 to our kids? There is the expression of “impress upon.” It implies “by force”, “forcefully”, or to “press down.” It doesn’t have to be understood negatively. In a positive sense, it simply means that leaving something to one’s kids should be done intentionally since it is not done naturally or easily. Another way is to impress it upon our kids by binding it to them for a long time. In other words, it is possible only when you invest lots of time and effort into it.

I do not want to express legacy as inheritance in Korean because it obscures its meaning. Maybe because of my poor Korean ability, inheritance in Korean sounds like it’s related to money or property without any special reason. The point I want to make here is that legacy actually has little to do with money or wealth. If we fail to arrange it properly, inheritance can only cause division among children and harm them. We need to think about what kind of helpful legacy we can leave to our children, or society in history.

“A tiger leaves its skin after death; a man leaves his name.”

A dog does not leave its skin after death, but leaves at least good memories. Then, what small legacy, let alone my name, can I leave at least to my children and my friends around me after I die?