Tracking the Tiger
The Story of Harkjoon Paik
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
When I was a young boy my friends and I would go out in the hills hunting for tigers. That's what I tell everyone, No one believes me. I don't understand why. It's an established fact that there were once tigers in Korea. But without fail every person to whom I mention this childhood feat laughs at me. Perhaps they may think I couldn't have done it. Perhaps they don't understand. They may think that to hunt tigers you have to actually find tigers. I never say I found tigers. Just that I was hunting for them. That's what you do in life if you really want to make something happen. You have to go hunting for it. You don't necessarily have to actually find it. The adventure comes from the hunting. That's what this story is all about. The adventures I found while I was hunting. I'm still hunting. You never can tell what you'll end up finding. The thought can keep you going, though, for all of your life. Now that I've hung up my robe after more than twenty years as a judge in California and am finding time to think about it, I realize that I have already had some pretty good adventures over the past years, even though I'm still on the lookout for that tiger. Some of my friends know something of these events and they often ask me to tell them more. What really happened. How I made it happen. Well, I'm not sure how much was my own doing. A lot of persons helped me along the way and I've had some pretty good luck as well. To begin I'll have to take you back with me to the Korea of the 1930's.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Harkjoon Paik left his native Korea in the midst of war. His home destroyed and his educational opportunities lost, he left everything and everyone behind in search of a way to accomplish his life goals. He arrived in the United States as an ambitious and optimistic teenager, knowing no one and without resources.
Tracking the Tiger is the story of how he survived in the chaos of battle and immigration. He created a new life for himself, making his way with hard work, and went on to earn degrees from Stanford University and Stanford Law School. He began to practice law and, at the age of thirty-eight,became the first native-born Korean to sit on the Superior Court bench in not only California but also the United States.
Judge Paik finds joy in life wherever he goes. He has raised three children of great accomplishment, and he shares many lifelong friendships and some great adventures along the way.
His wife, Beverly Paik, tells the story of her husband's life and career in his voice. They met more than fifty years ago as students at Stanford University. When he granted her access to his diaries, she knew his was a story that needed to be shared with a much bigger audience.
This is their story, one of love and triumph over adversity--and of the undeniable power of hope.
About the Author
Beverly Paik met her husband more than fifty years ago when they were both students at Stanford University. Shortly after that, they married and have lived in the Carmel Valley of California. Together, they have raised two sons and a daughter, and have shared many travel adventures along the way.