Aim to understand that what you give to others is what you get back
Aim
* To understand that what you give to others is what you get back
Materials
* Older Brother, Younger Brother. A Korean Folktale, Retold by Nina Jaffe
* visual aids – diagram of give and take action
– give and take between teacher and children
* children’s worksheet
* music CD of “True Love”, sung by Bing Crosby
Lesson Outline
1. Review the previous lesson
2. Story – Older Brother, Younger Brother
3. Discussion
4. Activities – worksheet, listen to a song
5. Review the aims
6. Prayer
1) Introduction
* Review the previous lesson on subject and object pairs.
1) God created everything to exist through reciprocal relationships between subject & object pairs.
This is called give and take action. It is a giving and receiving relationship. Reciprocal means the relationship goes two ways.
2)When subject and object unite they reflect God’s nature
3) Unity comes when subject and object put priority on the common purpose
Example of teacher and children. The common purpose is the story. The teacher gives by telling a story. The children receive by listening. They give back by showing interest in the story. The
teacher receives their interest and continues to read the story
The problem between people, however, is that priority is not always on the common purpose. One or both people put priority on their own purpose. Then give and take breaks down, or there is
conflict or one person dominates the other.
Example of teacher and children. Are all the children listening and showing interest in the story?
As the term Give and Take Action implies, the action is first giving, and then receiving, not receiving, and then giving. Thus it is heavenly law that giving precedes receiving. However, fallen man fails to return even after he receives – and it is this way of life that gives rise to problems.
Today’s lesson we will study both good and bad give and take in more detail. We will learn about this by reading a Korean folk tale: Older Brother and Younger Brother
2) Story – Older Brother, Younger Brother
Summary – Goodness is rewarded and cruelty punished in this Korean folk tale. When their father dies, elder brother Nolbu, greedy and mean-spirited, inherits the family property and banishes bighearted younger brother Hungbu, his wife and three children. Hungbu’s poverty doesn’t change his generous nature, and when he shows kindness to a tiny injured swallow, he is magically rewarded with great prosperity.
Jealous Nolbu seeks out the same good fortune-and causes his own downfall.
Hungbu, forgiving, takes in Nolbu, who mends his ways
3) Discussion
Ask the children for examples of good and bad actions of the two brothers. Then discuss what we can learn from the story.
a) Good and Bad Actions
Older brother (Nolbu)
1. Destroyed nature
– pulled wings off butterfly, trampled vegetables (gave pain)
– broke bird’s wing, called it stupid (gave pain and complaint)
2. Greedy
– took food for himself (gave nothing)
– inherited father’s house (took for himself, gave nothing to his brother except pain)
– took bird seed only to get something for himself.
3. Lazy (gave nothing, while brother worked)
4. Jealous , accused brother of stealing, (gave complaint)
5. Received punishment for greed
– mud, manure, snakes, scorpions, spiders, evel spirits
– house was destroyed
6. Repented for bad beaviour and asked for forgiveness
Younger brother (Hungbu)
1. Cared for creation
– careful not to walk on caterpillars and beetles,
– cared for baby bird,
– planted seeds carefully (gave love)
2. Loved people
– gave food to a hungry child (gave love)
– respected his father
– respected his brother (received blame for brother’s mistake, didn’t give complaint)
3. Hard-worker (gave time and effort on the farm)
4. Received many gifts
– seeds, gourds, silk cloth, gold coins, rice , carpenters, house
5. Forgave his brother
– continued to respect him, gave his home for brother’s family
b) What can We Learn?
This story teaches us that what we give to others is what we get back. Good is rewarded and evil punished.
* The older brother only took for himself and gave pain to others. Eventually, everything he had was taken from him and he experienced pain himself. The suffering caused him to realize how
bad he had been. He repented and changed into a new person.
* The younger brother kept a good attitude, even though he had reason to accuse his brother and give back anger and complaint. Because he maintained a respectful heart towards his selfish
brother, he received many blessings, and even won the heart of his brother.
It also shows the attitude we should have when others treat us in the wrong way. When people do bad things to us, we should not do bad things back. This only makes things worse and conflict
grows. The only way to respond is to give something positive back, such as respect, patience and kindness. It is hard to do this but it is the only way to solve problems. As the younger brother
showed, if we give love to others we receive blessings. When both subject and object have a loving attitude of giving and receiving, there is harmony, as is meant to be. This is God’s way.
4) Activities
* children complete the worksheet – make a list of good and bad action of the two brothers and explain why they had good and bad fortune
* listen to music CD of “True Love”. The words show show the way of true love; to give without expecting anything back.
While I give to you and you give to me
True love, true love
So on and on it will always be
True love, true love
5) Review the aim
What you give to others is what you get back
– The older brother, was greedy and took for himself. Eventually everything was taken from him
– He destroyed creation. Later, creation destroyed his home.
– He gave pain to his younger brother’s heart. Eventually, he himself suffered in his heart
– The younger brother, respected his older brother, no matter how he was treated. He accepted his situation and never complained or felt resentful. His older brother later returned that respect
– He cared for the creation and the creation eventually gave him everything
– He worked hard and eventually became rich
This attitude will eventually change the wrong attitude of others and bring harmony. This is God’s way. It is the way of true love: to give without expecting anything in return.
6) End with a prayer
