Anecdote

Infinity

The following happened to an ordinary family in Korea.

When the youngest son, a first-year pupil at primary school, got up one morning, he turned the pages of a calendar hanging on the wall. However, he stopped on the page for July. Tears welled up in his eyes. The eighth day was framed in black.

He took a knife out of his bag and started to scratch the black frame away.

Surprised, his father asked him what was the matter. The son answered in a tearful voice, “Something is wrong with this calendar. The eighth day is framed in black, although Generalissimo Kim Il Sung isn’t dead. There should be only the day of his birth, but not the day of his death.”

Kim Jong Il, when he was told about this, thought deeply for a while before saying in a husky voice that the people sincerely wished President Kim Il Sung to be immortal and that July 8 should no longer be framed in black.

Some days later Kim Jong Il commented that he figure 8, if written sideways, becomes ∞, the sign of infinity.

Everyone who heard him was filled with admiration.

Ever since the death of the President, eight had been regarded in Korea as a sign of grief. But now it had suddenly become the sign of infinity.

Presently, he said that he was determined to ensure that the revolutionary career of the President would continue for all eternity.