Speak To Me Event Highlight: Laura Ling's "Journey of Hope"

Getting married and having kids are life-changing events most of us are familiar with. Captured by an enemy government and sentenced to 12 years hard labor not as much. On March 19th, Laura Ling engrossed us with her harrowing story and touched us with her message of gratitude. An eloquent and insightful speaker, Laura shared with us her lessons learned about humanity and herself through her ordeal.

Laura’s work as a journalist covering world issues has made her a champion of people’s struggles for freedom. Not only external freedom but freedom from the internal battles we fight within ourselves that make us feel imprisoned. She never truly understood what a luxury our freedom was until she went out in the world and met people who had risked their lives for it and until she lost her own. One moment she was reporting on a human rights issue and the next she was living it.

Working on a story about human trafficking on the North Korean border, Laura found herself on the wrong side of a boundary line in hostile territory. She was brutally captured, taken into custody and faced an immediate future of complete unknowns. Scared and alone in prison she focused her spirit and energy on meditating, practicing yoga, gratitude and trying to engage her captors so she had some sense of connection. Small moments of human interaction lifted her spirits, made her feel more alive, and gave her a sense of peace and purpose. Her guards, who were cruel and cold to her when she first arrived, comforted her after her sentencing with “Always have hope.”

These small acts of compassion helped Laura get through 140 days in prison in a far-away land, cut off from all that was familiar to her. The evolution of the relationship with her guards was a testament to what can happen when “enemies” get a chance to relate as people. While the United States and North Korea have a difficult relationship and we don’t know for sure what was discussed behind closed doors between former President Clinton and Kim Jong-il, we do know that his unannounced visit to the “hermit kingdom” made freedom possible for Laura.

An audience member asked Laura if she was scarred from her ordeal and she responded that this “darkest part of her life” was her biggest test.  She recognizes how lucky she is to be home which everyday is a treasure. “Cherish the freedoms you have, and advocate for those who don’t have any.”

She dedicated her talk to the many people living as caged birds and closed off with Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.  Here is the final verse:

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

 Written by Meagan Grant

Resources Recommended by Laura Ling:

Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home by Laura Ling & Lisa Ling

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Best related relief organization:  Liberty in North Korea