South Korean Cultural Ecology - 1905 to 1990
Part 4 - Pollution and the Future -- Page 34

I. Modern Old Age

When families stayed close together in the rural communities, older people could live their days out happily with their children, visited and honored by their children and grandchildren. Grandmothers helped with the simple chores and grandfathers took walks with the children. Even on the street, people showed respect, giving the aged a sense of importance. Now with the families split with many having gone to the cities and living farther apart, things have changed. The young are not quite as willing to sacrifice their desires for the happiness of their parents. As a result, many older Koreans feel uncared for and unimportant. It is hardest for the current generation of elderly people, who have grown old in the expectation of being surrounded by a large family, when the reality is quite different. This can lead to the same situation we have in the U.S. where we abandon the old people.

J. Conclusions

Korea is at the crossroads of some momentous decisions. If the headlong race for industrial export-based economy is maintained, can the environment continue to suffer in silence? Will the farmers just fade away quietly, or will they bring things to a climax and force changes? The old adage "you go home with those who brought you" makes sense. The rural community has been the force that kept Korea alive and well for many years. Will they be abandoned for something newer and shiny?

Will the Korean family with its strong family ties bound together by Confucian ethics, rules, and morality continue to be a force that held a country that had been beset by destructive forces? Are modern life, rampant consumerism, pollution, crime, and destruction of the nation worth all that will be lost? Does anybody really care about those things? Are short cuts really short? I remember many years ago my brother suggested a short cut to get home. We spent over two hours getting out of the mess that short cut caused us, thorns punctured the bike tires, got into our feet, it was a mess. I have been leery of short cuts ever since.