Listen for those Voices

August 3, 2021 Off By Noah Victoria

 

“The righteous cry and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.”- Psalm 34:17

Yet again I have something to say about another Korean drama called Voice 4 which is the 4th season in Voice series.  I would like to start on my thoughts on the title of this drama Voice, it may be only one word, but it has so much pain and depth just in that one word.

Here is a quick summary: The main character of this story is Kang Kwon-Joo who is the head of the Golden Time team call center who has an enhanced hearing ability Team up with Derek Cho from LAPD to catch this unknown serial killer called Circus Man.  It all starts with these brutal crimes towards different family’s committed by the family’s own children and grandchildren. All because a gaming website states if they do this, they can help take away all their troubles and agony.

That is one of the hardships about being humans. We have so much deep pain and sorrow that lives inside us that we want to take it away, at times it leads us down the wrong path in order to stop our suffering.

All the characters have so many traits and nuisances that I could go in depth about, but my focus character is Dong Bang-Min played by my favorite Korean actor Lee Kyu-Hyung.   

Dong Bang-Min was a special affects artist makeup etc.…  living a normal day to day life, but everyone has a past. Some have good memories of their past others like Dong Bang- Min does not.

Dong Bang-Min’s character is an extreme look into someone who felt abandoned and abused by the ones that should have loved him and kept him safe. He is the example with what can happen to when you have lived a life without love and care.  He created these other personalities in a way to hide his trauma and pain.

How many times can I relate to that, not to the extreme level that is shown in this series. I have felt abandoned and alone. I have sat in my traumatic memories alone many times. The only difference is that I have amazing parents and have my strong faith in God.

What happens to those like Dong Bang-Min’s case that has nowhere to go. We were created to love one another. Man was not meant to live alone. We are a species of animal that can’t be alone, even in those moments we tell ourselves that we don’t need anyone those are the moments we need others the most. I feel in many ways I could feel and understand his pain. I am not at all agreeing with the actions that he takes to revenge the pain and suffering caused by others, but I can relate to that darkness of wanting to take back what they took away. It eats at me at times. There are times that I want others to feel my same pain. In hopes that maybe if they did, they would finally listen to my cries with more sincerity, but I know that is not the way to love, or to God.

   I felt that within those multiple personalities that he developed that was his way to cry out for help, the worst part of watching this show was that he was just too far gone in his hatred and anger for anyone to listen to those cries sincerely.  I think that is why in some way I wanted to be by his side because no one else would. That just shows me how amazing this drama is, because it took me into the heart of who Dong Bang-Min was, even though he was not able to see it himself. To me he was a broken-down misunderstood person that couldn’t love, but takes others lives away to save his, because he thought that was his only way out of his suffering.

He may have been the villain of this drama, but to me he was a lost soul that needed love.

What is love? What is the meaning of love? What is our duty when it comes to love?

The answer is this: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” – 1 Corinthians 13 4:7

How are we to accomplish this when we are all broken filled with pride, envy, anger, hate, etc.…  Only through the love of God can we work hard to reach that true and honest love. People will always fail in love, but God does not.

So, what have I got out of watching this drama? It is a reminder of my human failings and my strengths. No matter how painful my trauma was or still is to come, I chose to love life more than stay in the bitter darkness of anger and self-pity. Also, I hope to listen carefully to the voices of others that cry out in pain and give them the one thing we all need and that is love.

So, let’s listen for those voices.