Stories from the streets of Seoul

            One thing that frustrates us the most is the transportation. Since our home is too far away, there is only one train per hour that travels between our home and Seoul. I remember one day when we had to run to catch the train. As soon as we got to the train station, we saw the train leaving. When we realized that we had to wait for another hour, Andy suggested to take a homeless person out for dinner. We walked toward the main gate of Seoul Station and on our way, I found two homeless people seating on the floor. An old man wore grey clothes and another man wore a grey and red shirt. Andy and I approached to them and asked if they had dinner.

            “No. But I am fine.” One guy said as if he was suspicious of us.

I had to persuade him that we wanted to buy them something. After ten times of asking, finally, they came along. Since we did not want to take them to a restaurant where we wanted to go, I asked if they had any preferred place to eat.

            “People like us do not deserve to choose. We eat whatever. Just go wherever you want to.” The man in a grey and red shirt said as he was waiving his hands.

            “We had dinner already so it is your pick. Just tell us whatever you want to eat.” I replied.

            “Uhmmm… what I want to eat is quite expensive though… I want to eat… fried chicken.” The man in grey shirt finally opened his mouth tentatively.

            All of us walked to a nearby fried chicken place. The man in grey, Andy and I walked in and sat down inside the restaurant; however, the man in red and grey shirt stood outside. I went out to take him inside.

            “Why aren’t you coming in?” I asked in wonder.

            “I smell bad and I look really dirty and shabby. If I go in, it will make the people inside uncomfortable.” He said with a smile on his face and again, he waived his hands as a sign of mild refusal to go in. Then, I have noticed that he only had his thumb on his right hand.

I almost tried to drag him in telling him it is ok. He, finally, came in reluctantly and sat with us.

             The owner came to us and had to verify that the homeless people were our companion. When I said ‘yes,’ the owner did not seem pleasant but I tried not to care about him. We ordered fried chicken and French fries. As we were waiting for the food, Andy and I conversed with the homeless people.

            “I used to make $ 10,000 a month.” The man in grey started the conversation. Then he continued: “I owned a small construction office and made tons of money. But, when I became sick, my children put me in a monastery saying that I need some metal care and took all my money and ran away. I don’t know where they are.”

The story stunned me and literally, my month did not close for few seconds. I did not know what to say to him other than sorry to hear that. Really, I was sorry for him. While listening to the man in grey, the food we ordered came out. I put one piece on each of us’ plates. To follow the Korean table manner, I waited until the older people (homeless people in this case) to eat first. However, the guy in grey and red shirt did not start eating. I asked him if he does not like chicken.

                        “No, I like chicken. I am just waiting for you to eat first.” The man in grey and red shirt responded.

When he asked me to eat first, I have noticed that his self-esteem is extremely low. He was recognizing himself as a lower being than I am. This is a big humiliation in Korean culture. I could not believe that an older person like him would humble himself like that.

            Once we finished the chicken, we walked back to the station together and said good bye to each other. Those two homeless men did not stop saying ‘sorry’ to us. I did not understand why they had to be sorry to us but soon, I realized that they think they made us to waste our time.

After that day, we encountered the guy with red and grey shirt several times. Every time we met him, he said: “Sorry about the other day.” It seems like the homeless people here are completely dehumanized.

          

Issac Won