It was a man's brown leather wallet. I hurriedly looked up in time to see the owner speeding away, oblivious that the wallet had fallen.
I was late so, I cantered on believing that the other persons in the subway would give him the wallet. When I got to the subway, I looked back towards the direction of the wallet and observed that it was still on the ground. No one had taken it up. There were several persons around the wallet, a young man listening to an iPod, a woman chuckling and talking on her cell phone. They each looked at the wallet but did not attempt to return it to the owner. This infuriated me; I looked further down the station to see if I could see the man who dropped the wallet.
He was tearing though the station like a cheetah. I ran back, picked up the wallet chased him down and returned it to him. I shouted, "Stop!," "You dropped your wallet." The man halted instantly, his eyes focused on the wallet in my hand and a look of gratitude came over his face. He said "thank you so much" and bowed several times. I was a cacophony of emotions; unhappy that I was late, my make-up ruined and I was perspiring profusely. I was also delighted that I had done something for another human being. There was no personal gain nothing more than the delight of assisting someone in need. I looked at him and said, "You're welcome." His thank you was more than ample compensation for me.
It would be good to say that this was an isolated incident, but it is not. It demonstrates an alarming turn our...
As I got on the subway, I observed another example of indifference and a troubling apathy. A young man with a Filipino accent was attempting to secure directions from the passengers nearest to him. The passengers were completely unresponsive to his solicitations. The continued listening to their music, or read their magazines.
I felt compelled to get involved. I shuffled over to where the Filipino man was and answered his question for directions. As I suspected he was a migrant worker who had only been in the country three days and was struggling to get around. His story was touching, his wife was sick and he was attempting to get a job from the job institute in the Myung Dong station. Many of the persons who refused to assist this man glared at me and watched at me askance because I chose help him.
I got to work two hours late that day. I felt both delighted and disheartened. As I reflected on the days incidents, I wondered about the future of my country. Increased national wealth is not translating into a better country. As our fixation on the acquisition of material goods increases, it appears that basic humanity is diminishing. It is my hope that my acts of kindness can be the catalyst for wider social change. Korea is a beautiful country and we need to resist this rising tide of incivility that threatens to wash away the traditional values that have given this country its distinctive character.
