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Angels drink milk
Only work on top of human
capabilities helps a citizen of The
Republic of Korea achieve certain level of comfort and provide everything
necessary for their loved ones. They are working six days a week for ten-twelve
hours a day, four official vacation days a year, few holidays. Yes, this is
hard, but unfortunately it is necessary in the modern life oriented towards the
competition of technologies and progress. This factor alone has allowed Seoul
to grow from an average low-rise capital of a developing state to a huge,
high-rise, modern and technological metropolis «the capital of a developed
country. The standard of living of people has also become incomparably higher
than some 50 years ago. The industries of construction, mechanical engineering,
automobile manufacturing, robotics, and medical equipment manufacturing were
developing rapidly. The country had a very low unemployment rate among the
population, because it was, firstly, a shame not to work, and secondly, it was
simply impossible, given the prices for food and housing. It was very rare to
find a wanderer on the street with no fixed adobe, and even if this happened,
the social services of the city quickly would track down his relatives in the
country and try their best to help the person return to normal life. However,
all the benefits and achievements of technological progress do not pass without
sacrifice. An inhumane work schedule often pushes residents of Korea populated
only fifty million people to premature death. Sad statistics showed an average
of 44 people a day in the country who end their lives by suicide! Perhaps this
is an unavoidable price for progress and urbanization.
Any resident of Seoul may be compared with a small cell
of a large, round-the-clock functioning, cohesive organism. Each resident
worked both to ensure their own food, and for the benefit of the entire body
and society. After all, if you believe the property of emergence of the system,
and remove a group of cells from the body, it will be a completely different
organism, a different system. So in this city, everyone's work was important
and visible, beginning from a janitor who install watering systems on street
trees to a director of the world's largest electronics brand.
Therefore, Korean children from
childhood were accustomed to work, and it was everywhere: at school, at home,
in a public library, on a sports field. They had to do work hard in order to
earn a commendation! Our main character had been hardworking since childhood
and she was especially successful in her studies.
Despite the love of work, on
Sundays Kim's family sometimes went by car to visit Jin Ho's maternal
grandparents in the provinces Gangwon. In Korean villages it
feels completely different, comparing with the atmosphere of the bustling,
business-like, stingy with emotions capital. People here were kinder, closer to
each other, all the villagers knew the problems and joys of their neighbors and
were always ready to help out selflessly. Jin Ho's maternal grandparents were
always very happy to see their grandkids, gathering at a large table laid with
various kinds of dishes: kimchi, chotgal (salted clams, fish or
shrimp) and twengzhang (soy paste)delicious
soup "galbi-tang" with beef ribs, fried chicken in a spicy sauce.
Grandparents played and pampered them. The family often came to the
grandparents' village to celebrate Sollal and to participate in the
rite of Jongmyo Cherye, the commemoration of the
ancestors.
The ceremony was propitiatory
in nature, people believed that the closest ancestors continue to be patrons of
their family and influence all the processes and important family decisions. In
this way, the generations were connected. The ancestor cult is not only the
worship of the dead, but also unconditional respect and reverence for the older
generation instilled in young Koreans from childhood. The essence of the
ceremony consists in feeding the ancestors delicious food, treating them as if
they were alive.
"Grandma, are we going to
have dinner with our great-grandparents today? What will we feed them?" little
brother Hyeon Jae asked and looked at his grandmother with hungry, sly eyes.
"We're going to give them
galbi-tang and noodles put on their plates. Don't worry, my dear, I will never
forget to give you something finger-licking good!"
In childhood, everything seems
simple and ordinary. Food just appears on the table, just like new pencils, mom
and dad just plays with you all the time, and grandma and grandpa await you
with candy on the weekends. The car just starts and goes, things appear and
change, parents are always young. What a pity that this simplicity quickly ends
and every year the child understands more and more that everything was not that
simple at all…
