EXAMPLE PAGE - EBOOKS - THE PROMISE OF THE TEA GODS - Flipbook - Page 46
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H. K. O'HARA
“All I can tell you is that someone wrote an article about me a few
years ago and referred to me as a vision-writer. After that article was
published, other people started calling me that too. Apparently, they all
know what it means—but I don’t have a clue.”
He laughed. “Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t know
what it is. I guess that leaves us with poet and self-help author?”
“No, not entirely true. I’m not a self-help author. Again, someone
else’s definition of my work seems to have become my occupation. I
don’t even like using the word ‘help’—turns the whole world into a society of victims. What people need most is to be heard, to be valued,
and to be loved just as they are. Give them those three things and they’ll
always know who they are, where they’re going, and how to get there.”
Soo-kang grinned. “That kind of sounds like something a self-help
author would say.”
Her eyes sparkled with a lovely sort of mischief. “Would you like
me to throw you into the ocean right now, or shall I wait a bit?”
“Okay, self-help author is off the list—and it’s never going back on.
I do want to say though, that I agree with you on the three things everyone needs. To be heard. To be valued. And to be loved. Although, I
would probably add ‘to be respected’ to that list.”
“Spoken like a true Korean man,” she said, laughing softly.
“That’s true—endless respect is right up there with endless apologies. Looks like we’re now down to poet. Would that be you?”
“Yes, that would be me.”
“Finally, the poet with the one-letter name. An initial, would be my
guess—and it stands for?”
“Kate,” she said. “But no one ever calls me that. Just K—it’s how I
sign everything. Instead of my name becoming my signature, my signature has become my name.”
“I like the name Kate. Is it okay if I call you that?”
“I would prefer you didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not a name that belongs to me anymore. I only rented
it for a while.”
