[INTERVIEW] Professor Lee Ji-sun awakens to life's beauty after tragedy

Some 23 years ago her life changed forever overnight when 55 percent of her body was burned in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. She was a 23-year-old college student majoring in early childhood education. Lee underwent more than 40 surgeries

Lee Ji-sun, a social welfare professor at Ewha Womans University, speaks in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at her office in Seodaemun District, western Seoul on April 6. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Nothing should be taken for granted, no matter how trivial it may seem, said Lee Ji-sun, a social welfare professor at Ewha Womans University.

The professor stressed that people should instead appreciate everything life has to offer.

“If we discover the value and meaning of life, we can feel bigger and more frequent amounts of happiness from the same things in our lives,” she said.

Lee recently made headlines when she became a professor at her alma mater in February.

Lee is widely known in Korea for overcoming a traumatic, nearly deadly accident. Some 23 years ago her life changed forever overnight when 55 percent of her body was burned in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

She was a 23-year-old college student majoring in early childhood education. Lee underwent more than 40 surgeries, which included the amputation of eight fingertips.

The most recent surgery was in February, which she hopes to be the last.

Yet she soldiered on, graduating from Ewha Womans University and going abroad to get a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling at Boston University and social welfare at Columbia University.

She then went on to get a Ph.D in social welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles.

After that, she taught at Handong Global University in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, before reuniting with her alma mater this year.

Her long journey as a victim of a life-altering accident has been an inspiration to many for her perseverance.

Lee said while her life has never been the same since the accident, she isn't wallowing in sadness or in pain.

Instead, she is grateful for every moment and hopes to dedicate herself in sharing the love she had received while becoming who she is today.

The following is an excerpt of a recent interview Lee had with the Korea JoongAng Daily at her office at Ewha Womans University.

Q. Congratulations on returning to your alma mater as a professor. How is your life at Ewha Womans University so far? A. I feel so grateful to be here. Days are still hectic, even though I expected the busy time would end in March. I am very thankful for the school for selecting me since becoming a professor at this school is very competitive. The best part is that I finally came back to where my family and friends are.

Which aftereffects of the accident are you still suffering? It has been a very long time since I “met” the accident. I can now say that I've said goodbye to the accident because those memories no longer traumatize me. I no longer feel sad or pain from looking at the scars on my body and face.

What made you not give up on treatment after the accident and become who you are right now? The biggest motivation was the power of faith. By faith, I mean a lot of things. I was able to discover the meaning of the new life I was given. I felt God was sending me the message that my life has a purpose when I kept asking myself whether my life is meaningful or worthy. I began to believe in this message and the value of life: the fact that I was able to breathe and live. I was suffering some sort of pain and stress because of my appearance at first, but I believed that there definitely will be something significant in my life. The people who loved me so much helped me to step up and live, too.

What was the biggest lesson you learned after the accident? How did you grow? I realized that nothing in this world should be taken for granted. Then I started to appreciate every day as a gift. It's like how we appreciate art pieces. We are able to understand and appreciate an art piece more deeply once someone explains it. Just like this, if we get to know the worth and meaning of life, we can feel a bigger and more frequent amount of happiness from the same things in life.

But if you had the chance to go back to the time before the accident, would you do so? I actually wrote about this in my first book. Then I said I would never go back although it might sound silly to others. I thought it was a loss for me to go back to the time before I learned of life's treasures and gifts, which I came to realize after the accident. But now it’s different. Now, when I think about the family members who went through such difficult times because of me, I feel like I should go back.

You studied early childhood education as an undergraduate but studied social welfare afterward. What made you choose social welfare? Continuing my study for early childhood education was not an option since kids would have been scared to see what I looked like at the time. The experiences that I had after the accident made me think that I should become someone who could help others since I had become an individual who could not live without the help of others. But there are people who have no families or friends who can assist them when they need help. So, I came to believe that society must help those in need, and I thought my second life would be really worthwhile if I could do so.

You went to the United States to pursue master's and doctoral degrees. How was your life there? It was very difficult. At first, I was just so excited about being able to go to a foreign country all by myself. I was happy to see how I'd become so healthy that I could go to school alone and sleep alone. I no longer needed the assistance of my parents. But my life there was very hard as I had to fight loneliness and the language barrier.

Do you have anything to say to those who are suffering from or overcoming tragic moments they unexpectedly encountered? I also went through such a difficult time, and I believe everybody experiences tough times at some point. But those times will not harm our lives. It may look like everything has fallen apart, but those broken pieces could be put together and become an entirely new whole. Don't pity yourself too much or become devastated, but try to think about what you can do to make a new whole. Life becomes painful when you cannot control your life. But that is life. Nobody can control their lives. So, I hope that people can come to realize that there are different forms of happiness.

What would be your next step as a professor and as an individual? As a professor, I hope I can adjust to school and do well in what the school expects from me. I did not choose this field because I wanted to become a professor but to help others, be a voice for those in need and make the world a better place to live in. I also want to live an exciting life. I have a lot of curiosity. I want to live happily, discovering new things every day. I am also thinking about opening a YouTube channel.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]