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We call upon you, compatriots! Every person—the noble and the humble, the officials and the commoners of all ranks, the rich and the poor, the aristocrats and the servants, men and women, the old and the young—must realize, as a constituent member of this nation of 20 million people, that he or she bears a certain portion of responsibility for what has happened to the country. There are those who have power and occupy government positions and whose crimes of selling out the country have been exposed. Many worked for these [traitorous] individuals and helped dismantle the edi- fice of the country. Many were high officials known to be men of dignity and principles, but they busied themselves with the issues of legitimacy and obligation, while uttering not a word as the edifice of the country was collapsing. Some were high officials with honorable reputations, but they reversed their position as the situation changed; on numerous occasions they merely sought self-enrichment. Many considered it an honor to have even humble lowly government positions, but they denied any responsibility [for the country’s problems], claiming they had no power even as they provided abundant assistance to the most wicked and evil. We need not speak of other law-breaking and unreliable individuals. As for the commoners, they may not have committed the crimes mentioned above but they, too, bear responsibility for having failed to prevent the fall of the edifice of the country, whether they are in the capital city or in the provinces. These words, when heard for the first time, may induce some people to question how the powerless commoners could ever be responsible for the country’s fortune or misfortune. Some others may also point to the 34 2. Everyone Should Awaken to Their Responsibility presence of a number of people who labored day and night throughout their lives for the sake of their country and the people and may question whether everyone should be held equally accountable. They may, therefore , protest that [what I have stated above] is unfair. Speaking objectively , I must say nevertheless that even these [seemingly patriotic] people have failed in discharging their duties. They would have fulfilled their duties only by either building a firm foundation for the independence of the country or by sacrificing their own lives for the [country’s] independence . Anyone who failed [in fulfilling their duties] would have to share the blame, no matter how much effort one might have exerted, so long as the country’s fortune has not been restored. We have to distinguish, however, different types of dying. Some die due to divine retribution or statutory punishment for crimes committed when they mishandled the affairs of state and became the target of hatred among the people. Some manage to die in their own beds although their crimes could not have been tolerated at all. In these cases, has death exonerated the miscreants? Never. There would be eternal punishment awaiting them in hell and they would not be free of the odium for tens of thousands of years. No one would deem them innocent or pity them only because they have died. Death, therefore, does not allow them to escape. There are others who are not guilty of serious crimes, who conduct themselves with caution, avoiding controversy, and end their last years in peace or die of diseases or natural disaster. Some others live their entire lives without raising their voices or taking a stand, preoccupied with getting enough to eat and wear, and rot away like trees and grass. Are these types of death a way to avoid responsibility? Again, no. Life spans may vary, but death is inevitable for everyone; even a dreamlike life lasting a hundred years will end one day. To be captured by the desire to prolong this transitory life even by a single day, to acquiesce in indignity and give in to injustice, to lose an opportunity for an honorable death, to let home and the nation go astray, and to ultimately succumb to the inevitable death without having lived tens of thousands of years after all, who would not pity such a shameful and contemptible life? What would future generations say? They [posterity] would certainly blame and deplore [the fact] that their ancestors were concerned, when timely opportunities were still available, only about their own lives without any thought for future generations , who were left without any recourse for...

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