The Korean national treasure #1, Soong Re Moon, was burnt down by a 70 year old man. People in Korea are angry and mad. My initial reaction to this is, what's a big deal? Nobody died. It's only an artifact that happened to remain for so many years. I mean, it is just an artifact that just burns down like that by a 70 year old man. It is surely heartbreaking to see something so beautiful to turn into ashes. Also, not only the aesthetics we adore, but also the historical meaning that the artifact imposes is what we did not want to lose. Yet, historical meaning is abstract. How can it disappear? Is the tie between abstract value and artifact that tight so that if the artifact burns down, the historical value will burn down too? Say that the historical value burnt down. So what? Why are we grieving so much over something so abstract when we also live in a world where money controls everything? I guess having been dominated by Japan for so many years we (yes, of course I am in it) cannot bear to see any more cultural heritage being burnt down or replaced by something unfamiliar and something that is not "ours". It is as if the society developed a trauma over losing identity and losing 'ours'. We are too afraid of losing anything. It is interesting to compare this to the Chinese cultural revolution. Anyways, many generations have passed since the war. Why do we still grieve so much? I would say that it's not just a traumatic reaction. I am reminded again how much an artifact can mean so much to people. Little erasers or pen may impose certain value in our lives, but some artifacts give much more value -- for example, family heirlooms or your beloved Apple Newton. Yes, your personal belongings give much value, but when the value is shared by more than an individual whatever entity that bears the value will be more important than any man's life. But wait, is it the value or the artifact that has the power? As you saw from Soong Re Moon, the gate is like a body and the cultural historical value is like a soul of a person. We mourn over dead because we loved their soul and our relationships to them was so tight. We cannot bear to not see such abstract meanings being enacted by their body. Well, I guess it is time to put a small tombstone that will somehow comfort sad souls and for us to mourn if we want to for the absence of the gate.