Last week, I watched the 2026 Class Day address delivered by Lee Min Jin, the world-renowned author of "Pachinko." Her reflections on the Korean diaspora, spanning from Japanese colonialism to the present, resonated deeply with me. Thanks to her celebrated novel, readers worldwide came to understand the hardships Koreans endured both in Japan and in Korea during those colonial years. Her speech centered on the theme: “Time is our teacher.” Drawing on Greek philosophical concepts — chronos (passing time) and kairos (the pivotal moment) — she urged us to value decisive moments over urgency. As I grow older, I have realized that life’s most enduring lessons are not found in rushing through tasks, but in recognizing the moments that truly shape who we become. For Lee, one such moment was attending a tea gathering at Yale, where she learned of a Korean Japanese boy who had taken his own life after relentless bullying. That tragedy became the turning point that inspired her to write "Pachinko." I admire her resilience — spending 38 years researching, interviewing and studying colo