Happy Cosmos flower from my backyard garden

Happy Cosmos Flower


Cosmos blossoms are my mom’s favorite. The word 'Cosmos' is from a Greek word meaning harmony or ordered universe. What a coincident that my mom's name is Hung-Soon, Park (meaning comply the universal order).

My mom believed that trees, vegetables, flowers, rocks, and all objects have their own spirits and desired to have a peaceful and happy coexistence. We as humankind need to respect them and learn from them all.

When my mom was young, Japanese forced her to dress like the Japanese and speak only Japanese, no more Korean. No more Korean clothes and no more Korean name. Like all others, she had a Japanese name. She suffered from starvation and almost died several times from the frequent bombing and gun-fire during wars. She fantasized to dream about eating one big bowl of rice, which she could not have in real life. She attended school for only a few months. She was forced to stop going to school and asked either to harvest wild potatoes and radishes or to take care of her younger siblings. She never had the opportunities of schooling. She was crying because she did not get the education that she had dreamed for. She cried from starvation.

As an adult, she married to her husband, who was an angel when he was not drinking, but was a monster when drunk. In his youth, during the Japanese occupation, her husband’s mother hid him for many months in a small hole dug underneath the kitchen to keep him taken away to be a human shield. It was common for Korean boys as young as 10 years of age to be used as human shields. However, he was eventually found by Japanese policemen who beat him until he was near death. In order to ease the pain from the beating, his mother made him fermented-rice wine, which he continued to drink after his body had healed. During the many months of recovery he drank more and more to forget the physical and psychological pain. When later he was married he would get drunk and brutally beat his wife and insulted her. When he was not drinking, he was a totally different person. When he drank, she would cry knowing that of the beating and of the humiliation. She had to work all day to make money to buy rice so that her children and family would not starve to death. She was exhausted from working all day in a neighbor’s house, washing and cleaning by hand; She felt her body and mind were burned-out. She learned to survive, but came home to a brutal beating that awaited her. She never understood the reason of beating. She sobbed because she was human.

My mom had 5 children; 2 sons and 3 daughters. She is not ordinary mother, but is Korean mother and superb mom because she had suffered the effects of post traumatic stress disorder during and after the wars. My mom was one of the war victims in different ways, suffering physically, emotionally, and financially. She was born  in Korea (Dae Han Min Kuk), which contains the syllable— ‘Han’ that translates as ‘heart-burnings’ ‘bitterness’ or ‘broken-heart’ of agony and lived in the crying land. Therefore, with a full of ‘Han’ with bitterness and broken-heart of agony, nobody, no one helped, no one helped my mom to cope. My mom had to survive within given limitations. Korean mothers had to learn not only to survive, but also to save their children during and after the wars. The hardship she encountered allowed to produce wisdom and creativity.

My mother did not have dreams for herself, but she did have dreams for her children. Children are her life. Children are her hope. Children are her dream. Children are her desire. She could do anything for her children. She could do anything if the child is in need of help. She could do if the child is in danger. Therefore, my mother was nameless, dreamless, selfless and hopeless for herself, but has huge dreams for her children.

My mom worked hard at various jobs. She cleaned, washed other houses, farmed, cooked, and washed other people’s clothing. Throughout her whole life she rarely had a break, rarely had holidays. She was exhausted all the time, but did not mind her hard works in order to provide education our siblings and I needed. She was owners of Korean traditional restaurants over 3 decades. She often said that love is the most important ingredient in both the cooking and sharing of food. She lived and breathed these words into me, and her generosity of feeding street people with hope of saving good karma for me and my sibling. She kindled us having good heart and honest.


I am very humbled about being a daughter of my mom.
Thank you for being my mom!
I love you!
I miss you!
Thank you for Happy Cosmos Flower to remind me of my mother!
Thank you for all mothers in the planet!