Whether it was the second grade or the first grade in elementary school, I can hardly remember. It's like you're taking a stroll around the park which is shrouded in fog. You can see the trees respectively, but you just can't point out where you are. However, I can see one friend clearly in that mist of remembrance like a pillar of fire. What I am about to tell you is a story about my friend, Mi-Gyung, whose drawing taught me the value of modesty and the love of art.
        Since Mi-Gyung had an introverted and reserved character, most of the students in our class didn't pay attention to her. On the other hand, I wasn't in the least like Mi-Gyung. I was extroverted and talkative. Thus, like other students, I, too, wasn't curious about her, till I found she was fond of drawing pictures like me. Soon I found myself talking to her, and we got close really fast.
        We really had almost opposite characters. Mi-Gyung was prudent, soft, and passive, and I was capricious, active, and aggressive. You might ask me what made us so close in spite of such a different personality. Perchance, at first our opposite characters gave a strong impression to each other, and then the same interest in drawings made a firm link between us. A link which was so strong and powerful that we began to like each other so fast.
        Because I had won a lot of prizes from many drawing contests at that time, and believed that I was the best drawer in our class, I thought no one could ever get ahead of or outdo me in this field. Therefore, though Mi-Gyung often praised me for my pictures, because of my vanity and self-satisfaction, I usually didn't care about her pictures. "How good can it be?" I thought. I thought my pictures were the best.
        One day our school teacher was teaching us how to draw a good picture with crayons. Then she let us draw by ourselves. The topic was our spring picnic. As I said before, I was quite proud of my drawings, or rather self-conceited about them at that time, so I tried really hard to create a masterpiece. I filled all the white paper with blue, red, yellow, purple and pink colors. "Yes! This is it!" I said to myself when the picture was done. "It's a masterpiece!"
        At that moment, while I was in a dreamy state of rapture, I saw some of the students gathering around Mi-Gyung. I had to stand up and find out what was going on, when Mi-Gyung's picture caught my sight. Shock, shudder and shame. Those were the feelings I had when I first saw her picture. Her picture was . . . it was what you would have to call . . . a masterpiece! A real one. If we could divide this world into an actual world where we live and an ideal world where perfection exists, her picture looked as if it had come from the latter which we can't describe in words. I was surprised at her picture not because it was merely minutely sketched like a photo, but because it was full of excitement, joy and the bustle of the picnic. The picture was replete with life and liveliness.
        I couldn't talk to her for a while. Perhaps, I tried not to, because I felt as if I had completely lost some sort of race. I must admit it was really silly behavior, but I couldn't help myself. However, Mi-Gyung seemed to understand me, and she complimented my picture. Young as she was, she was a very thoughtful person. She had this power that could look through and understand another person's mind like some psychic. She said that my picture had an exquisite combination of colors. Still, I couldn't help comparing my picture with hers, but at this praise she gave me, I felt really great like an apprentice who received a word of praise from her master. It was the best prize that I had ever received.
        Soon I was able to regain my pride and confidence in my drawings. However, I tried to be modest, because I realized that there was no such thing as first place in art. It was not a race. Before I met Mi-Gyung, I was in the strange world surrounded with all these competitions. My life was always running towards the first prize. Grades, time, friends, and even myself were my competitors, and they were chasing me all the time and made me paint and gasp. Instead of appreciating the beauty of the pictures, I was only drawing the pictures to win the first prize. I can't forget Mi-Gyung who saved me from that endless race.
        Whenever I get frustrated by some competitive situations around me, I recall the small drawings of Mi-Gyung which gave me this big lesson, and I feel peaceful again. Although I don't quite remember her face very well, because we haven't seen each other for about 10 years, I can still recall her picture--the masterpieces--clearly.