My Trip to Dokdo Island

An unexpected enlightenment struck me during my trip to Dokdo Island, a place at the heart of the recent diplomatic conflict between South Korea and Japan. While struggling with the seasickness and boredom in a small ship, I, being increasingly impatient, was constantly checking with a crew member about the arrival time and looking out through the window to see if there was any slightest glimpse of Dokdo. After three hours of arduous ride, I finally reached the island with a feeling of great expectancy. However, I was soon engulfed by great disappointment. Nothing was there. The scene with few policemen, a guard dog, uneven roads, and spinning radar on eroded cliffs did not impress me a bit, angering me with a sense of futility and discontent. Frustrated, I began to question, “Where lies that beauty people have been talking about? Am I missing out any scenes? Is the unattractiveness of the island coming from the island itself or my irrationally insatiable expectations?

Because of the policy to protect the island, tourists were only allowed to stay on the island for 20 minutes, duration that made my whole onerous ship ride unworthy. Reluctantly saying to myself “Whatever, I want to go home”, I got back on the ship, waiting for the ship to sail away from the island as soon as possible. The ship soon detached itself from the port and quickly sailed away from the island. I was still angrily swearing that I would never come back again and was even delighted to leave such remote, meaningless place alone. However, I, with a peculiar ambivalence, a sense that perhaps indicative of my lingering attachment to the island, ironically looked back at the waning shape of the island. And suddenly, I was thunderstruck by the scene: Dokdo standing firmly alone in the middle of the East Sea. Mesmerized by Dokdo’s bold solitude among vast and monotonous East Sea, I was pondering the similar image of trivial humans among the unfathomable wonder of nature. I laughed at my own ignorance for judging the island’s worth with my vain standard. Dokdo is not a meaningless and commercially exaggerated place as I once thought it was. The genuine beauty, which I have questioned earlier, is the island’s solo existence