"The Old Man Slave"

Kim Kyung-a, Sophomore
Dept. of Archaic Sino-Korean Education

Have you ever heard about 'the old man slave' shown by the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS)? Most viewers must have been embarrassed or even shocked. I myself got very angry. The story is about an old man who has worked for many years like a slave. Of course, he is not a slave. He is a farm hand living in the house of his employee, who turned out to be a village chief. When the old man was young, he was brought to the village by his brother and sold to the head of the village. After that, he has been forced to work for 50 year without wages.
In fact, I didn't like this program which focuses only the bad side of the social issue. Some people said this program makes us awaken and gives a moral lesson. But that's not true. Aren't we indifferent to our neighbors? Civilians' reports of such a crime to the police are decreasing, but the crime rate is remarkably increasing year after year. Fortunately, it was told that the man returned to his home after the release of the television program.
A few days ago, I read an article about some retards who were forced to work in an isolated island like a slave. They went back home and returned to their working place again. Now, they can live under better circumstances than before. Their living conditions have been improved through negotiations with their boss. When they return, the boss promised that he will give them proper wages and that he will use no violence. Consequently, they returned to the island because they felt more comfortable in the island than living in the cities without families. How can we make the retards live safely in our society? I think our social welfare system should be improved drastically. Furthermore, the attitudes of the normal, healthy people towards the retards must change from hostility to friendliness or amicability. The government must reinforce the social welfare system under which any handicapped person can work pleasantly. My final suggestion is that there must be one guardian in a family who can keep a household safe from any outside violence or maltreatment.

Observer 다른기사 보기