Crossing Heaven's Border

Crossing Heaven's Border is a documentary on PBS about a group of North Korean risking their lives crossed a cold icy river from North Korea to China, and then smuggled across the Chinese border to Laos and finally into Thailand where they can get asylum in South Korea.

The film follows a group of North Korean consists of a young boy, teenager girl, 60 year old grandma, and a mom whose son is sick with cerebral palsy, and documents their journey to freedom. In any moment if they get caught in China and Laos, they will be sent back to North Korea where they can lose their lives. Some of them carry the deadly poison to kill themselves in the event if they get caught.

What touches me the most during this film is during the grueling 24+ hours of hike through the juggle from China to Laos, the only person who passed out is not the little boy nor the 60 year old grandma, it is the young, fit male South Korean journalist who was filming the group. This is because escaping to freedom is probably the only choice for the little boy and the old grandma. They had no other choice and this is the motivation for them.

Other touching moment is where the mom with the sick child was forced to risk her life to escape from China to Thailand using the fake passport and leave her child behind until she could safely reach South Korea, work and save some money and get her child out of China. She is only doing this because her sick child needs medical care where he can't get it in China as they were defectors escaped from North Korea. Truly, the mother's love is the most unconditional and unselfish of all.

This is really a heartbreaking touching film. It puts tears in my eyes.

So, for those of us who complains
we have to work hard,
live in a small place,
not making enough money,
having a boring job/life,

perhaps instead we should be grateful that we are some of few who
can afford 3 meals a day,
get to breathe fresh air in a free country,
live in a more civilized place,
get to travel to any(most) places we desire,
have the freedom of speech,
lucky enough to live with our loved ones and friends.

and be appreciative of what we have and what life has to offer.