Nowadays we live in a community where buildings called homes are mostly apartments with identical windows aligned. The sizes and shapes do not differ much from one building to another. It is not possible for everyone
living in different rooms to have the same yearning for the outside world, but the standardized residence culture today has made the people fit into their homes, instead of homes made fit in for people. We ourselves had made
our lives like this, volunteering to become the slaves of these home environments.

When you observe the windows in apartments, you will notice the simplicity of it. Simple is not bad. However the focus of the window on economically based facts such as how soundproof it is and how isolated it is from the
outside, and truly believing that these windows are good windows are not. Windows nowadays are no longer focused on the fact that they are made for communication. The most surprising thing is that some windows do not even open. It is not because it is kept close, but because it is designed to be kept closed. One of the most famous high class apartments in Seoul called Tower Palace haswindows that are designed to not open at all. From the outside it might look magnificent and luxurious, but in the inside it is completely severed with the outside world.

It is true that many think that whatever happens outside does not matter as long as it does not affect them. When looking for homes we tend to look for a place where it is cool in the summer and warm in the winter with sound
absorbing walls and windows. When the price of the apartment rises, it will be like adding luster to what is already beautiful. Nothing outside the windows seem to matter. What happens inside the room must be able to
communicate with the nature and the world outside, but the modern people live in between thick walls with no windows. Our ancestors did not build homes in such way. No wonder our lives are unhealthy today.

I remember the time when I first saw a giant shopping mall in the United States. I thought to myself, 'it must be a popular place for so many cars to be parked outside, but how can this grey concrete building be popular? It's
like a warehouse'. To my surprise the rectangular building with absolutely no scent of beauty at all was a shopping mall. It was a typical product of Western functional architecture to keep the room temperature constant during the four seasons of the year, and to keep the products away from UV light to prevent fading. At first it was peculiar, but now I am used to it as well.
Since then such buildings were constructed and now they are the most important part of our lives, providing us with benefit and convenience. My heartstrings are being submerged by the strong and efficient opportunities'
way of life based on economical logics.

Door(門) and window(窓) both have the common characteristic that they let the inside and outside meet. Where the physical movement happens is the door. Door can become a wall when the two doors close. However windows are where our hearts move to lead to one another.
This is why when you look at the Chinese character 'chang (窓)', there rests the Chinese character 'shim; xin, heart(心)' holding the others upright.

We often use the saying 'let's open our hearts' to promote living in harmony with each other, where we can give and receive. This means that we need a way to enter and exit, a way of communicating between hearts and hearts. Why don't you try to open your heart to someone first? In the modern lives of today's busy people, where privacy is considered the most important, we should start and try to smile and wave at our next door neighbor for a heart-to-heart communication. In order to do so, we need a windows. A window that lets fresh breeze run through your hair, a window that lets the sunshine kiss your cheeks, a window that plays the music of birds and the nature, and a window where you can empathize with your neighbors with their smiles and tears.

In the old Korean verse it said, 'is there light in the east yet, the skylark is singing'. Nature used to give a morning call. Nonetheless nowadays, we enclose ourselves in our little room, with windows sealed and curtains closed to create a barricade between morning and us. When needed we seek help from our alarm clocks to pretend to greet morning in our own isolated world.

People can only lead healthy lives when connected. We must be connected to the nature and to people. By living with a window that never opens, by living in between walls with no windows, we are imprisoning ourselves. When
the window cannot be opened, it is no longer a window, but a part of a wall.

A window is there so that when you want to open it, it can be opened as wide as you want it to be. For a moment, let's stop what we are doing now and look out the window. The picturesque view of Singapore comes in through the window with snow white clouds on the icy blue sky. Let's breathe in the soft breeze that brushed the palm leaves to across the Pacific to deliver us the scent of nature. Let's wear smiles in our eyes and wave to the little girl next door.

Windows are there to do so.

by Pastor Jeong In Soo