These days, even the good days are pretty bad. This past week, by all objective accounts, I had a great week. Two comic books that I created got picked up to be developed as television shows. I was advised to expect an “offer” on another idea I have been working on as a television show. I actually got multiple offers on a new non-fiction book I am writing. And I pitched a non-scripted travel show to a bunch of tv networks, all of which received it very very well. Boys and girls, forget a great week, that’s an f’ing awesome week…
But these days, no matter the achievements, I can’t really manage to get too up because deeply rooted in my consciousness is an agonizing despair over the unresolved fate of my friend Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee, now detained for over 4 months in the black box that is North Korea. To be honest, after a litany of blogs, articles, Op Ed pieces, and the like, I am almost all out of words to express my sense of frustration, agony, anger, desperation, resentment, hopelessness, and sorrow. Every time a new Google Alert pops up in my inbox, I pray it carries with it the miraculous news that Laura and Euna may have been released and on their way back home. Last week, there was a blitz of optimism when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US officials formally requested amnesty for Laura and Euna and clearly expressed their regret for whatever crimes the two women may have committed while reporting on a news story back in March when they were initially arrested by NK border guards. News reports quickly followed that quiet backroom talks were underway focused on the girls’ imminent release. Hope knew no bounds…
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Gotham Chopra regularly blogs at www.intent.com
Please Sign the Petition for Amnesty for Laura Ling and Euna Lee
For more information about Laura and Euna and how you can help please go to - http://www.lauraandeuna.com
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I wanted to share a story about Euna Lee, who along with Laura Ling, has been held in N. Korea for 4 months. As a mother, the story has been haunting me since I heard it. It haunts me because I can totally relate to Euna's actions.
Several weeks ago, we had Euna’s husband, Michael, over for dinner. I have never met Euna, and it was the first time I met Michael. Because of my brother’s close friendship with Laura Ling, it seemed natural to connect with Euna’s family, as well.
Michael is wonderful – vivacious, smart, funny. It was the first day, since this ordeal started, that he had left their 4 year old daughter, Hana. She was spending a night with his father. It was also the first time– at that time, the girls had been in captivity for about 3 months – that he was alone and could process his feelings. As other parents will relate, we often put aside our own emotions to focus on our children’s emotions.
Michael chuckled as he told us about an urgent message he had received from Euna.
Euna had asked her guards if she could pass her message onto the Swedish Ambassador, who has been the girls only source of contact and information. (The Swedish ambassador has met Laura and Euna - separately - only 4 times in their 4 months of captivity. The girls are not being held together.)
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Mallika Chopra is the founder of Intent.com, a site focused on personal, social and global wellness
The last time I spoke to my friend Michael Jackson was about a month ago, 3 weeks before his shocking death. He had called me late one night to ask about another of my close friends who he had read about in the news. Laura Ling, a former colleague and friend, was detained originally by North Korean border guards along with her colleague Euna Lee on March 17th. Since then, they have been imprisoned, had very little contact with their families or western officials, and endured a secretive trial at which they were sentenced to twelve years hard labor. At this present moment, it is unclear where Laura and Euna are – whether they remain in a government guesthouse where they were originally held, in a hospital (due to medical problems for both of them), or moved to the infamous North Korean labor camps that many do not survive.
Michael had read some of the details regarding Laura and Euna’s predicament. As was often the case with him and global events he read about – from famine in Africa to victims of natural disasters in far off countries, to orphans created by wars – he felt a deep sense of empathy for Laura and Euna. When I shared with him that Euna had a four-year-old daughter, he was even more anguished.
He asked me whether I had had any contact with Laura. I told him I had written her a few letters and had been assured they were getting through. Outside of that, her own family had only heard from her twice – brief monitored phonecalls – in the over three months they had been imprisoned. When I told him that, Michael paused.
“Do you think,” he said hesitantly, “that the leader of North Korea could be a fan of mine?”
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- Gotham Chopra
Please Sign the Petition for Amnesty for Laura Ling and Euna Lee
For more information about Laura and Euna and how you can help please go to - http://www.lauraandeuna.com
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