Korean Generation Gap

In a current drama on Korean TV The Light in Your Eyes is a fantasy romantic comedy about a 70 year  old woman dealing with Akzheimer's and a young man who doesn't appreciate  time and finds life meaningless. They get involved with each other and the story follows. In a Catholic Peace Weekly column a professor uses the drama to introduce the problem with the old and young in Korean society.

The drama showed the possibility of coexistence of youth without jobs and old age without support. The drama was a fantasy in which a clock the older woman possessed was able to give her time but that is not life. We see co-existence of the youth and the aged and a beautiful companionship in the here and now.

Today, the tension between the younger generation and the older generation is deepening. These conflicts are seen often by the use of the words: 'has been', old fogey, bossy, curmudgeon. They also add the word from the Chinese character meaning insect to the word old which again shows the feeling towards the old by some of the younger.

Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhoration Amor Laetitia mentions the alienation of the elderly that has come from disordered industrialization and urbanization of society. The elderly have both in the past and in the  present been set aside in unacceptable ways.

#191 'Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent' (Ps 71:9). This is the plea of the elderly, who fear being forgotten and rejected. Just as God asks us to be his means of hearing the cry of the poor, so too he wants us to hear the cry of the elderly.

#192 Very often it is grandparents who ensure that the most important values are passed down to their grandchildren, and 'many people can testify that they owe their initiation into the Christian life to their grandparents'. Their words, their affection or simply their presence help children to realize that history did not begin with them, that they are now part of an age-old pilgrimage and that they need to respect all that came before them. Those who would break all ties with the past will surely find it difficult to build stable relationships and to realize that reality is bigger than they are. Attention to the elderly makes the difference in society. Does a society show concern for the elderly? Does it make room for the elderly? Such a society will move forward if it respects the wisdom of the elderly.

How are the young and old to live together?  How can the  young  accompany the old? In the final scene when the heroine was  about to die she humbly recites:  "Even if a day is not great and tomorrow  will not be much different, life is worth living. Do not ruin the 'now' because of a past filled with regrets and an uneasy future. Live today. You deserve it. Someone was your mother, someone a brother,  and someone will follow you.
  
We have the old filled  with regrets from the past and the  young facing an unknown future. Would it not  be wonderful to have the old remember and respect the young in their rememberances of the past and the young remember the old in looking forward to the future. They can grow to respect each other.

We hear these days of the trip to Emmaus and wallking together with Jesus. With the grace of God the writer would like to see this day come when the  old and young are living a  new resurrected life in the here and now.

Serotonin: Conductor of the Hormone Orchestra

Grace builds on nature or perfects nature but we need to remember that nature also comes from God. A doctor writing in the Catholic Digest tells the readers that our negative emotions do us harm and the happy ones give us health. He continues with the place of the hormones in our lives. The external stimulation seems to be the reason for the emotion but we are responsible for the response to the stimulant. The Creator prepared the hormones as the key to our human response.

Pleasure, postive feelings, appetite, sex and the like releases from the brain cells the hormone dopamine. When we accomplish successfully something difficult we are overcome with joy which is the result of dopamine. This is also the reason a glass of liquor, tobacco, gambling, success, drugs, releases dopamine and the reason one can get addicted to the good feeling that follows.

Norepinephrine hormone is vital to the 'flight or fight' response by which the body prepares to respond or retreat from a threat. Endophins produced, relieve pain and stress, are more powerful than morphine. When in stress the arousal of the norepinephrine hormone fights against the stress and endophines treat the after effects. When there is harmony between the hormones that increase happiness and those overcoming stress: we have a wonderful healthy body condition. Harmony is necessary, too much and too little of the secretions bring about problems in the body and a reason for health difficulties.

Serotonin is called the conductor of the the hormone orchestra. When we have too little, depression, obsession, lack of judgement, indigestion....However there is an acute situation when too much brings about serious difficulties but this does not happen to those living a normal life.

With secretions of serotonin we can live a good life and the doctor gives us some of the ways to achieve this. First he recommends receiving at least 30  minutes of exposure to the sun every day. Secondly, walk at least 30 minutes a day. Those with depression have found that walking for about 7 weeks had a greater effect than medicine. Thirdly is time spent meditating. Walking in the sun and meditating you have three in the one act of walking.

Fourthly, to chew food well. 5% of the serotonin comes from the cells of the brain the other 95% comes from the gut, and goes  to the brain to give us joy. Fifth, is to  eat  food that raises the serotonin levels: nuts,  beans, bean curd, sesame, milk, eggs, unpolished rice and whole wheat, the less refined the more of tryptophan (least plentiful of all 22 amino acids and an essential amino acid in humans provided by food), refined food is the enemy of serotonin. Sixth, to have many happy memories to look back on, which will trigger the serotonin. Seventh, be interested in others. When we are sharing with others and acting in a loving way, we release serotonin.

The creator has given us two hormones to give us joy. There operation and effectiveness are at different times. At the New Years when we are greeted with "Happy New Year's Blessing" this gives rise to the secretions of dopamine but the returning of the greeting gives us the serotonin secretions. Yes, altruism's love is the trigger to release of serotonin.

God in creation gave us the key to the release of serotonin. When our daily life is filled with love, mercy, sharing, the cup of serotonin is overflowing and leaves us filled with joy.

Seeing the North Korean Refugees as Family

"Have you ever eaten a banana?" "Have you seen anything like this before?" Those who have defected from the North have heard similar questions at least once since coming to the South. Are you on the right or left? Do you hate the North Korean regime? Direct questions asking them to make a choice.

A recent article in the Catholic Peace Weekly is asking the readers to get rid of their jaundiced view of the North Korean refugees. In the South there are now about 32,000 who have come from the North. They are often called new settlers, in a diplomatic attempt not to upset the North. 

These new arrivals felt oppression both in mind and daily life, and came to the South hoping for a new life. Many are here for economic reasons rather than political or ideological reasons. However, life is difficult, they receive pity but discrimination is always present. They often hear the word Communist, Red.  The National Human Rights Commission of Korea reported that 45 percent of North Koreans felt  discrimination in  the South because of birthplace.
   
Young North Koreans the writer met  told  her they hide their hometowns and try to get rid of their North Korean manner of speaking. One North Korean said he felt depressed by people's gaze for being 'helped' even though he was living independently. Many succeeded in overcoming these prejudices and have become self-reliant, and sucessful  but many  still conceal their identities.

The Republic of Korea is clearly a unification-oriented country. We want to be one country again. Reasons  and time for reunification may be different, but everyone dreams for the end of the War. What is the cost of unification, and what order do we follow  to   make  peace?  The controversy that remains among the citizens is necessary and healthy.
 
Eforts to overcome the discrimination towards North Korean defectors is a sign of what will be necessary for unification to work.  It is natural to help them settle into a different culture, but what is not necessary is to add to the prejudice by questioning looks. These are not passive beings, but citizens who are self-reliant and contributing to society. 

Most flee via China, which has the longest border with North Korea and is easier to cross than the heavily protected Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. However, the tighter border controls and the money necessary has increased which has decreased the  numbers going to China and eventually South Korea. China regards the defectors as illegals and often sends them back to North Korea.

There are many who have left South Korea for other parts of the world but  since they are South Korean citizens they are no longer considered refugees when  they go to another country.  A few  of them  found it difficult to adapt to a capitalist way of life and have returned to the North but we have those who had no difficulty and thrived so there are no one easy overview of what is happening with the refugees.  


What does remain are the South Korean efforts to make the refugees entrance into Korean society as easy as possible. They are the test that will show the ability of the South to envision a one Korea and in harmony sitting down at the same table to eat.

Transformation of 'Gap' into Love

'Gapjil' a new word, thanks to the internet, is on the lips of many. Supporting evidence, we are dealing with something common in society—abuse of power by someone towards a person in a weaker position. Not only a present reality but one that goes back into our history, wherever we had inequality and discrimination. A diocesan priest in justice and peace work writes about the issue in the Bible And Life.
 
Do you know what ‘Gap-Eul relations’ are? 'Gap' and 'Eul' refer to people who are in contractual situations. Gap (or A) means someone who is dominant in a contract and Eul (or B), who is subordinate. 'Gapjil' is the verb formed, a neologism, which because of the structure of society is seen often and becomes newsworthy.
 
Put simply: a person with authority mistreating a subordinate. A person who has, towards a person who doesn't, a person with power treating a subordinate with violence. It's violence from above that continues to others. One who has experienced this violence from a superior can continue this with others under them. Those who are in the lower substrate of society can abuse others who they consider even lower. The writer considers this looking for some reward in a relationship and not finding it, resorting to the opposite in a revengeful action—psychological compensation.
 
A common soldier who was often treated abusively when he becomes an officer will, in turn, treat others in the way he was treated.  A daughter-in-law mistreated by her mother-in-law when she becomes the mother-in-law will act in the same way with her daughter-in-law. A vicious circle of abuse, what was experienced is what is done. This type of abuse is not only present in higher society for it permeates all of society.
 
How do we break from this violence in society? We need to first examine ourselves on the reason for violence and our own understanding of inequality and discrimination. Why don't we see the disappearance of this inequality and discrimination? Is it not that we want the situation we have. We don't want to be discriminated against, but do we really want a society with everybody equal? If we examine the situation we see that we want to be treated well. We like to be treated like the 'Gap'. Consequently, we close our eyes to inequality and discrimination  and support the society we have.
 
The writer calls this situation antinomy: a seeming contradiction between two principles or conclusion both which seem justified, a paradox. His way of overcoming the ever-present situation is by love.
 
Jesus invites us all to be family, the Gap and Eul, master and slave disappear, we are called to be friends: even to love our enemies. "You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other's feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you (Jn 13:14-15).
 
Rather than alone from the heights looking down on others; on level ground joined with others in simplicity and sharing the ordinary is what will make 'Gap' love.

Hope In the Resurrection Stronger Than Death

Kierkegaard the 19th-century Danish philosopher, called the Father of Existentialism, said: "anxiety is a disease that leads to death."
 
Uneasiness comes from humanity thinking themselves masters of the world. Strong in their belief they can solve the problems of this age but in the process give rise to obsessions, delusions and a myriad of psychopathological problems for many to carry.
 
Heidegger asserts that death is the terminus of our thinking. In one way, the fundamental reason we think, worry and become anxious is to avoid death. So begins the article in the Catholic Times in the Eyes of the Believer column by a Jesuit college professor.
 
We experience life dying in us when we feel we are in a muddy bog, unable to move and life is leaving us. When I have worked hard and in all sincerity and no recognition and reward follow, there is no courage to stand up against the present reality because of fear of failure. I feel that no one understands me. The righteous in the world are ignored and the worldly and selfish get the high seats, we become frustrated and lose hope.

In Zen Buddhism, however, it is said enlightenment comes when we die. The bigger the death the greater the life (大死大覺).  Catholic spirituality also experiences the present renewal, regeneration, resurrection, only when we fully accept the existential meaning of death. The journey to an adult butterfly begins with the egg, larva, pupa. We are on a similar journey.

The journey we are on means poverty, shamefulness, difficulties, but when we face them head on, hope in the resurrection appears. Jesus' death shows the state of misery that can't be beautified. Loneliness and anguish in Gethsemane, betrayal of the disciples, rejection by the people, mockery, death on the cross... Jesus always lived with the dream he was given by God and endured all that came.

The Pascal Mystery is the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus to give life to all of us. Jesus taught us that new life can come from death. Meaning can always be found in our lives. Light can be found in darkness. Jesus has given us a new way of living. Death does not have the last word and no longer an object of fear. Hope is always present and helps us to give hope to others. Resurrection faith invites us to do battle to pursue the truth for God will win in the end.
 
Korea has faced many problems and many have fought courageously with their lives. The March 1st Movement and the military dictatorship opposition, and many others who fought for truth and justice have always been opposed by those who lived comfortably with the injustices and in many ways benefited. Consequently a desire to distort history and truth.
 
But the resurrection does not just mean worldly success and victory! The hope of the resurrection is not the fulfillment of desire, but the mystery of God that fills our lives! Resurrection faith is in a heart that can see the truth that no amount of darkness can overcome—the light, hope, and trust that we have in God. We are called to live as 'witnesses of the resurrection' so that 'God's dream and love' will go beyond the boundaries of life and death here in this world.

Misunderstanding the Value of Diligence

"There is no happiness for man but to eat and drink and to be content with his work" (Qoheleth 2:24). So begins an article by a specialist in the science of the mind in the Kyeongyang magazine on confusion surrounding the word diligence.

Honesty and diligence are considered desirable traits, an advisable strategy for life. Those living in this way will enjoy life more than the lazy and listless. A natural law of life that all accept. However, is that the reality? 

In Korea we use a lot of Konglish and recently a new word appeared which in English would be: 'Work+ Life+Balance'. In Korean they have taken the first syllable of the three words and made the word  "Wolabal"(Finding a suitable balance between work and daily living)—not always realized.

Koreans are not lazy and presently have either the first or second place in the hours worked among nations of the world. Speed is also one of the traits recognized both by Koreans and others. But is being busy the same as being diligent? Not having time to look around at our surroundings but always ready to move on to our next spot is that considered healthy and human? Laziness is not the opposite of diligence. Thomas Aquinas considered sadness a part of laziness. The world of pyschology also sees laziness containing spiritlessness. Laziness is one of the capital sins and the distinction in our tradition was not always clear distinquishing between sloth and  melancholia.

Moderns have all their time filled up. They are  busy with many things. Who can call the present age lazy? But they are not present to the moment. At work they worry about the home. At a meeting they are cocerned about other things. Climbing a mountain they talk about their work and miss the beauty of the mountain. In the subway they are busy with their smartphones and even in the bathroom, relieving nature, are not present to what they are about.

Heavy-heartedness and laziness lead to a lack of desire and joy in life. We are busy being busy and forget what the important things in life are and should be. If time is taken away from our own growth, those we love, the family what is gained? It's 'busy laziness'.

We can imagine we were born with a silver spoon in our mouths. What would we do? We would resign from our work we don't enjoy, get rid of the harnesses that prevent us from living the full life,  spend more time with family. But we are faced with something strange, for if we compare ourselves with  our ancestors, we are all born with a silver spoon?

To live a happy life the minimum condition is not  so demanding. To satisfy our expectations we need the leisure of wisdom to enjoy life that we have been given. The most valuable resource that we have is time. When diligence exceeds the degree necessary we are actually wasting valuble time.

In ancent times those that achieved great wealth and power were not always seen by those who went to bed hungry and lacked clothing as people to imitate. But those who are busy about much have much to learn from this. In the past precious time was sold to buy possessions which we mistook as diligence; today with wisdom gained we are diligent in making time to enjoy life. "Vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For all his toil, under the sun, what does man gain by it?" (Ecc. 1:3)

Getting Rid of Narrow-Mindedness

A priest writes in a bulletin on his experience meeting someone from the past. They shook hands but the priest noticed from the facial expression, not all was well. No words on leaving the encounter brought memories from the past.

He remembered planting a lot of trees on the parish grounds and this individual was opposed. Since the priest thought he was in the right, he was angry at the opposition. No reconciliation or forgiveness, even after a long absence no healing. His facial expression remained with the priest and he felt deep sorrow for failure to reconcile

One day working in the parish grounds a man in his fifties joined him. Working together he asked him where he was from. He was from another parish but he was coming out to the priest's parish. The priest found this strange so he asked why.  The man was not too keen on speaking but because the priest kept on asking he told him the whole story.
 
He was a member of the nearby parish but the pastor liked to drink and was often late for morning Mass. One morning he was later than usual and the parishioners more than usually upset at the situation. After Mass, he told the priest to drink less. The priest gave no answer and quickly left the spot.
 
A few days later, a member of the pastoral council told him: "Why did you lose your patience with the pastor?  He doesn't even want to see your face again." The individual knew that these words came from  anger but they were hard to accept. His first thoughts were to leave completely but then decided to move his registration to the nearby church.
 
This made the writer think long about his own lack of forgiveness and made a new resolve. God always forgives, we don't have that kind of freedom. He goes on to quote some words from spiritual books that have helped.
 
* We must accept people with big hearts full of love. People have to live with the basic consciousness of 'It's okay.' In community we are dealing with all kinds of individuals they are all members of the same body why am I so narrow-minded, intolerant, ungenerous with the family community? When a person crosses me I am quick to respond. Why is that so often the case?
 
* Do not make demands. What I desire is that the other persons be different. I expect my demands to be what is. If what I expect is not realized, I'm upset.

* I must also forgive myself. You have to forgive others, but you also have to forgive yourself. This is the most important point in a forgiving heart. Sins in life often darken and leave wounds. Through deep repentance and forgiveness, we must remove the unpleasant feelings and accusations against ourselves for then we can forgive people with humble, healthy hearts.

Creatures Die Because of Human Trash

A university professor with a doctorate in education writes in the Catholic Peace Weekly on the death of an ocean sunfish, found on the Australian coast. (They belong to the Molidae family a jelly-eating giant and the world's heaviest bony fish) It mistook a plastic bag floating in the sea for a jellyfish and died.
 
The professor sees often in the news how sea creatures are dying because of human trash. Seals found on a beach in England had plastic nets wrapped around their necks and oozing blood.The seals in a photograph were gazing at the readers as if appealing for help in their suffering. Seals had fishing lines around their throats, nets, and even bikini swimsuits.

In Pakistan, a sea turtle drowned in a burlap bag. He remembers birds dying in the tidal flats struggling for life in oil slime. Recently he saw a very shocking picture.  A mother bird feeding her young chicks on the island of the Midway, not food, but plastic chunks. Human trash is killing creatures on earth.

As we already know, there is a huge garbage island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Garbage that is abandoned all over the world ride the ocean currents to form the garbage dump. Its area is seven times that of the Korean peninsula and estimated in the near future to become "continental".

He read an article on the domestic garbage mountain in Korea, a story written by a reporter looking for garbage sites. There are 235 garbage mountains with trash over one 1 ton in the country. The scale is huge at 1.2 million tons. Half of these are in Gyeonggi Province. The reporter reported that the Uijeongbu mountain was not a mountain, but a mountain range. Construction waste, such as aluminum, plywood,  stainless steel bars, form the structure of the mountain. We live in an era where garbage is a disaster.

In order to fundamentally solve the garbage problem, we need to eat and possess less. Appetites are one of our biggest desires. The appetite should be enough to maintain the human body, but when we eat more than enough, there is a lot of food waste. Excessive appetite is producing waste. In addition, endless possessions have caused massive amounts of products to come from our factories. The produced products soon become waste. With the desire to have a house, and a bigger house, architectural waste forms a trash mountain. In order to fundamentally solve such garbage problems, it's necessary to control human needs. We need to eat and possess in moderation.
 
Naturalist thinker Henry David Thoreau said in Walden that humans spend too much on their daily necessities.  "For many creatures, there is in this sense but one necessity of life, Food. To the bison of the prairie it is a few inches of palatable grass, with water to drink; unless he seeks the shelter of the forest or the mountain's shadow." God found his creation extremely good, after creation, we are breaking down this beautiful creation with our trash.

Erasmus Vs Luther— Personality Difference

Study—what is it? Koreans have great respect for learning, an article in the Bible & Life by a  neuropsychologist, teaching professor, gives the readers a look at a well-known master in learning: Prince of the Humanists.
 
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was born in the Netherlands, the illegitimate son of a priest. His parents died of the plague but made sure, until their deaths,  that he received a superb education.  His moral education was fitting for both a religious and scholar. He entered the Augustinian religious order at 21, mastered  French,  German, English, Greek, Latin, etc. and with this easy command of languages translated the Scriptures into language that the Europeans found easy to understand.
 
His capabilities were acknowledged by many and influenced much of society. He was born in Rotterdam of the Netherlands but was an influence at the Louvain in Belgium, Paris in France, Oxford in England and Basil in Switzerland. His book The Praise of Folly was well read during his time and extremely popular. He was busy publishing and editing books. He did leave the Augustinians but his faith in Catholicism never wavered. Often compared with Martin Luther (1483-1546) who was born a few years later.

Luther did not believe in free will while Erasmus did. One of the reasons for the clash between them. We still have the conflict within Christianity. Erasmus was brought up by loving parents. He did become a priest but left and felt that freedom of the will was a rather obvious reality. On the other hand, Luther was brought up with fear under a strict patriarchal father who wanted him to be a lawyer. He entered the Augustinians and came in contact with the corruption within the church. Indulgences, one of the reasons for his fight against the church got him excommunicated 3 times. Life was hectic.
 
Erasmus' life was less dramatic. When he criticized the corruption of the times, unlike Luther, he used humor and satire.  He was for the traditional teaching of the Church but also for the reformation of the Church in ridding itself of the immorality and corruption. Different from the extreme, humorless opposition of Luther who was not only against the church but the Jews, the Muslims and the uprising of the serfs.
 
The writer gives the readers his understanding of the way Luther's upbringing influenced his thinking.  Both Luther and Erasmus wanted to see a change in the church but  Luther found it difficult to understand the extremes he found in society. Erasmus didn't have the drama in his life that Luther had but was grounded in the humanities and with his own deep examination of life was more balanced in his approach.
 
He goes on to show that because of the place of the humanities in society Erasmus was able to give a human face to the reformation that was beginning. The writer gives credit to the humanities of the West for the progress over Asia at that time. In the West, with the help of Erasmus and Luther, there was a return to the  Scriptures which he says was followed later also in the East with their return to ancient scholars. Confucian scholars. Yi Ik (1681-1763) and Jeong Yakyong (1762 1836) were  Renaissance men like Erasmus who wanted to return to learning but their concern for the rights of the individual and equality was limited by the subjectivity of the Confucian structures.

In conclusion, the professor points out that we have not come far from the middle ages in our appreciation of the individual and his dignity. He introduces us to the Collective Unconsciousness of Carl Jung. It's a mental complex that affects us: racism, discrimination, aversion, war, etc.  giving rise to violence. Luther was never able to rid himself of his opposition to the freedom of the will. Was it not the Collective Unconsciousness?
 
Erasmus, on the other hand, was involved with reading, reflection, and developing his personality, and wonders whether this was not a reason he was able to overcome, in a relative way, the influence of the Collective Unconscious. We have come a long way today in our technological advancements, but have not matched the maturity of those in the Middle Ages according to our writer. Is it not that we lack some of the wisdom that comes from the study of the humanities?  Especially in the way modern society has in recent years gone after the extremes.

We need a return to humanism to interpret it again and give it shape for our society. Sneers, denunciations, lethargy, hatred are the red lights of mental illness that should awake us to our reality. Erasmus is a good role model in accepting the virtues of humanism and to learn from the wisdom of our ancestors.

Dementia and the Elderly

Recently in Korea, dementia has emerged as a social issue. In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a commentator on social issues gives the readers the problems of an aging society.  

It's a known fact the government has no clear solution to the problem. Family members face extreme decisions, at times abuses of those placed in private sanatoriums, even death at the hands of the caregiver.
 
One of five are senior citizens and we have family members taking care of the aged for long periods, this becomes a burden and we have the killing of the person with dementia and at times followed by suicide. This is no longer only a problem of the sick but of society. Last year the number of cases of dementia was 750 thousand and by 2024 it will reach one million. As the percentage of long-term care for dementia patients increases—over half of the medical cost for the aged are for dementia—the cost of medical care will increase both for the families and government.
 
After the government proclamation that dementia will be a government responsibility to reduce the burden on families, prevention of dementia centers, peace of mind centers and villages were established. As of now, the short term care centers are decreasing for they are not making money; the care of the elderly in nursing homes for the seriously sick is becoming more of a problem.
 
In the past, dementia tended to be neglected considered a natural phenomenon of aging, but dementia requires profound and multifaceted care. Generally, dementia is regarded as a disease; care is needed to understand the demented elderly to mitigate or cope with behavioral problems through medication. In addition, alleviating symptoms of behavior, helping them live as a respected member of society.
 
In Japan and some advanced countries, where we have already entered into a super-aged society and 'killing caregivers' has become a social issue, we need to recognize the need for an interdisciplinary approach to dementia. It is worth noting that they also provide various welfare benefits to the families of demented elderly people who are also called "hidden patients". It is a policy that expects to continue the role of caring by recognizing the economic constraints and many difficulties in caring for the demented.
 
Until now, most of the dementia patients are cared for by their families. Pope Francis emphasizes "care for the elderly" requires a holistic medical, spiritual, and psychological approach in the home, society, and church. This is because it is something only human beings can do: caring for the enhancement of human worth and dignity of demented elderly people.
 
Currently, the 'Third Dementia Management Plan' is in operation, hoping to reduce the burden of dementia by a continuous support system with wide community coverage. However, we still have division and competition within areas of health and welfare. Limitation in selection and care are noted. There needs to be mutual complementarity but at present only an awkward connection.
 
The many facets in the care of patients with dementia, at the beginning stage, does not allow for any pause in the care. Due to the nature of the chronic progression of the disease, prevention and management should be done together. It should be ensured that the country and the citizens actively assist in the care, always concerned with the human dignity of the sick.

Antidote for Listlessness

One of the capital sins is sloat—laziness. Catholic University rector, whose field is psychology, in his article in the Kyeongyang magazine shows the readers how close the early desert fathers were to the thinking of our present-day psychologists. Many are the reasons for lack of energy, listlessness, which have little to do with attitude: genes, environment, psychology, physical and spiritual conditions all play a part in much of our lack of energy and 'quiet desperation' felt by many.
 
The second type is a compulsion that enters into our lives. This can be an improper understanding of what we are about, coming from society or religion—an incorrect attitude about life. Burnt out and depression are signs of this condition. The writer mentions there are those in the field of psychology who recommend a person with these problems to do nothing—be lazy. This is not to make light of the situation but showing that many in society do not understand the difference between laziness and leisure/rest.
 
Psychologically laziness has much to do with anxiety. The habit of procrastination, and not doing what we know we should, brings lethargy and depression. The habitual delay caused by anxiety can cause depression and a variety of non-wanted behaviors. We have work for work's sake, addiction to work, and little energy for anything else. This is not necessarily depression.
 
The antidote to sloat from the Christian tradition is very much like the advice coming from the psychology of today. He mentions the Praktikos of Evagrius Ponticus and the teaching of John Cassian, they both recommend working with the hands. Work, prayer, reading, and fasting influencing their daily life. In our present knowledge of depression, we are recommended to move the body as an important healing procedure. Since the motive power to move is missing, more than trusting their feelings and thoughts, they need to move the body.
 
This is not only true of the depressed but of many others who find movement difficult, requiring forceful effort on their part. The teachers of Christian spirituality have considered the awakening of the body as the awakening of the soul. This brings about the awakening of one's ardent desire and in search of the good.
 
In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus tells us to stop before those who are in need of help. In our present world environment of individualism and narcissism, this is not something easily achieved. To listen to others and be concerned is annoying but is a great help in overcoming our laziness.
 
The desert fathers considered sloat a disease of the soul: "When we are oppressed by the demon of listlessness, we should tearfully divide our soul in two, making one part encourage the other, showing good hopes in ourselves and singing David's  words, ' Why are you depressed  my soul, why do you disturb me? Hope in God, because I will praise him, the Savior of my person my God. Ps 41:6... we should persevere and valiantly tackle all comers,  particularly the demon of listlessness, which is the most oppressive of them all, and so particularly bring out the quality of the soul. Running away from such conflicts and trying to evade, this teaches the mind to be helpless, cowardly and fugitive... The monk ought always to be ready as if he were to die tomorrow, but at the same time, he should use his body as if he were going to live with it for many years to come. The first approach cuts back the thoughts of acedia and makes the monk zealous, while the second preserves the body and keeps its self-control balanced." (Praktikos 27-29)
  
Carl Jung the Swiss Psychiatrist, said after 35 all our emotional problems are spiritual problems about the meaning of life. The Austrian doctor Victor Frankl, said one of the big problems in mental health is the loss of meaning. Finding meaning is the return to health.
 
The 'why of life' is the important question in overcoming listlessness. According to Evagrius tears of repentance are necessary to return to values and the meaning of life. This is the beginning of a new life.

Living in a Messy World

Everywhere news is titillating; makes turning on the TV and reading the newspapers embarrassing. Money and power clash, greed and pleasure embrace. Truth and falsehood, rumor and speculation are all in the air. Sexuality is beautiful and precious. In the arms of love bright and warm, connected with money it gives birth to degradation and crime. With power, it will produce corruption and lawlessness. Catholic Peace Weekly in Word and Silence gives us these thoughts for Lent.
 
Money, Sex and Power meet at the table with liquor. Drugs and violence meet together with the clanging of glasses. Hospitality, bribes, gifts, entertainment, appeasement, and concealment appear. Famous entertainers, police officers, high ranking officials and business people present. Although there are many different situations they are essentially the same: pursuance of money, covetous of power, meeting under dark lighting. Desire and pleasure come together in hesitation.

"Look at him, pregnant with wickedness, conceiving Spite, he gives birth to Mishap"  (Ps 7:14).
 
Rumors abound, truth is drowned, distrust drives the Internet, suspicion seeps into the cell phone, lists appear and videos make the rounds. I'd rather look away. I want to block my eyes and ears. Embarrassed, flustered, I still can not take my eyes away. It stimulates curiosity and voyeurism—disgusting and ugly.

The world is muddy but we can't leave it. We live in it. Sodom and Gomorrah are not mythical cities. Present in the brilliant lights of the city and in our desires. Easy to scold others; difficult to do what we should. We often blame the world but the world is me and we are many. Stepping back a few steps we can see ourselves as we are, in need of sympathy and mercy. We make the turmoil and clamor grow by our attention and consumption.

Coming to the end of Lent we meditate on the Passion and Death of Jesus. I recall the ashes on my forehead and my return to dust. I fast and abstain going through Lent with repentance, prayer, and temperance.

Fasting is necessary. I want to cut myself off from sundry world news. I want to shake off my thoughts, words, and actions that conceive sin. I want to step away from pleasure and desire, run from wealth and power.

It's not aversion or escape or indifference to the absurdities of the world. It's not that I don't want to see what is unlawful, unjust, but rather to help in some little way to bring light and beauty to the world.

Silence is the answer when the world is noisy. It is no use crying out. The sound becomes another noise with echoes. It's  rather silence we need. Silence creates silence and the world becomes calm.

The world becomes joyous when we become joyous. You can brighten the world by becoming light. As we become light the world becomes brighter. The more I change and become concerned, darkness will decrease. As I become warm, the world will be filled with gentleness, peace, and warmth.
 
During Lent, I want to live the life of silence more intensely. I want to pray for a world that is floundering and staggering. I want to believe that the power to save the world is not in shouting but in the humble prayers of the silent ones.

Great Need for Humility

A college professor working in quantum science writes in the Kyeongyang magazine an article titled: Humility. He recalls reading a few years ago that half of the Catholics who leave their religion, mentioned science as the reason. During the 20th century, the results of science and technology are overwhelming. Religious belief made little sense with this new reality, it was close to superstition.
 
Talking about science in a religious context seems to be dangerous and in the world of science, silence or opposition to religion is expected. Einstein said religion without science is blind and science without religion is crippled. Einstein was a Deist and did not believe in the afterlife. Pope St. John Paul II said faith and science are two wings in search of truth.
 
In the Bible, according to the writer we have the word wisdom appearing 522 times in the OT and 67 times in the NT.  The word love appears 285 times in the OT and 296 times in the NT. In the OT times until the appearance of science, we had the search for God in nature. Ecclesiasticus 1-1, " All wisdom is from the Lord, and it is his own forever." They believed that the laws that govern nature were made by the creator. Today, no need to go to God, does that mean that God does not exist?
 
We contrast intelligence and faith, science and religion, both in search of truth. Intelligence and science are looking for the 'how' and faith and religion are looking for the more basic 'why'.
 
Over half of the scientists consider themselves atheists. Richard Dawkins is one of the militant ones and is hostile to all religions they are all leading us to evil and gives the example of the tragedy of  9-11. Many are Deist: accepting a creator God but after creation is not interested in the creation and lets it run according to natural laws of evolution and life.
 
Many Protestant churches oppose evolution and insist on creation. Many accept the creation story literally and deny what the scientists propose. People like Dawkins think they bring ridicule on themselves.  According to our writer, 'creation science' has changed the packaging and call it 'intelligent design' but he considers this pseudoscience. Catholicism has no problem with evolution.
 
Francis Collins a director of the Human Genome Project in his book: The Language of God, creation science and intelligent design are both not science. Like Pope St. John Paul II, there is the acceptance of evolution and at the same time the providence of God in Biologos (God instigated evolution). Dependence on intelligent design is dangerous for when that fails our faith also will be harmed.
 
For a Catholic, God created the world and no matter how much science learns it will never destroy this belief. In faith, with great peace, the church desires the search for scientific truth with all eagerness, only in its application is there a need to consider God and morality.
 
Quantum physics, indeterministic unpredictability (chaos),  Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, are some of the ways in which science shows its limitations.

In society, politics, and finances we have Arrow's impossibility theorem that operates in social choices when there are three choices or more to chose from. It's impossible to make a rational and fair choice. We can be overly credulous. Science has given us much but limitations are there, consequently, the need for humility.
 
This is also true with those of faith and religion, humility is necessary. It's an important part of our faith life.

Paschal Mystery—Facing Pain—

Are you still wearing that yellow ribbon? A question from a person who saw the yellow ribbon pinned to the clothes of the writer— remembering the Sewol ferry tragedy in which over 300 drowned. The priest writer is working in peace and justice issues and writes in Bible And Life on the need to see pain face on.
 
People don't like to have painful thoughts come to mind; they have to face the original pain again. But strangely this kind of acute painful memories are often brought to mind and deliberately so. The yellow ribbon for the Sewol tragedy, the yellow butterfly for the comfort women, and the dates that are the signs of pain: 4.3 (Jeju Massacre) 6.25 (Korean War) 5.18 (Gwangju Uprising) 4.16 ( Sewol Ferry Disaster). Why do we want to remember these incidents? Why do we insist on remembering?
 
We do it to stay healthy. Carl Jung is quoted as saying: "the foundation of all mental illness is the avoidance of true suffering."  When we avoid facing the terrible memory of pain and we cover it over, close our eyes to its existence, pretend otherwise, it will just give rise to bigger pain.  Don't we say  those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it? As believers, we know this from our tradition. The Israelites journey in the desert and Jesus' passion show us how facing pain, examining and reflecting on its meaning for us, we participate in our own resurrection.
 
Moses required the snakebite victims to gaze on the bronze serpent for some time. The Korean proverb: the person startled by a terrapin is also startled by a kettle lid.—Once bitten twice shy—  What scared us in the past continues to scare us in the present. When they gazed on the bronze image of the snake that bit them they remembered their lack of trust in God, their murmuring, ingratitude and the love of God reentered their thinking and gave them strength and healing.
 
When we gaze at length at what gives pain as Christians we remember the meaning of life. We see beyond pain and suffering beyond death to God's love, and find the answer in the paschal mystery. Death is the unavoidable memory of pain: social, mental and spiritual.
 
Gazing on the cross of Jesus we see the pain and suffering that Christ endured. Suffering and pain is a great obstacle to belief in God and attempts at answers are many but few speak to the heart and to those in pain. We need to gaze at the pain and as Christians remember that life has meaning and in silence allow God to speak to us.

Behavior Determined By Happiness

The movie "Schindler's List" (1993) is the story of a Nazi businessman, far from exemplary, a member of the Nazi party, but rescued 1100 Jews from the Holocaust. He hired Jewish prisoners from the concentration camps as employees of his military plant. Though he had to give his whole fortune to accomplish this he became a lifesaver for many. A professor of spirituality in a Catholic University writes on the subject for the Catholic Times.
 
A survivor who did not go to the gas chambers because of Schindler, made a ring from the gold of one of his teeth inscribed with a phrase from the Talmud: "Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world"  and gave it to Schindler in gratitude. But Schindler said he didn't deserve the ring. He laments that he spent so much money on pleasure and was not able to save more people. If he had sold his car he would have saved ten more. The gold in his Nazi badge would have saved two more he said with tears in his eyes.

Schindler believed that it was greater happiness to save a person's life than to keep his property. Human behavior is determined by what we believe brings happiness. And we invest everything for that belief. Schindler believed saving lives would make him happier.

Jesus said giving, brings greater happiness than receiving (Acts 20:35). So when you believe in Jesus, you will "act in love" (Gal 5,6). However, do I  think I am becoming a fool in this world because of love? These are the trials of faith. They come when we think other things make us happier than the practice of love. Living in this world, our faith will always be in crisis.
 
 It's happiness for the farmer to see seeds scattered in the fields germinate, develop stalks, and fruit. This joy keeps him going out to the field daily. Our faith is the same. The fruit of faith is seen at the end but the joy comes daily in seeing the growth.
 
The church says: Faith allows us to anticipate the joy and light of the beatific vision, the goal of our pilgrimage on earth. The evidence comes when we become a  bit happier because of faith.
 
In order to live and grow in faith, and come to our end we must raise our faith in God's word and in the Lord. Faith needs to grow. When a seed falls onto a field, the field not only keeps the seed but helps it grow. Likewise, faith must grow.
 
The Church says, "Faith allows us to anticipate the joy and light of the beatific vision the goal of our pilgrimage on this earth. The evidence that faith grows can be found in my feelings that I am becoming happier because of faith. Schindler was able to devote all of his money because of the joy that came from saving one person from the gas chamber. Faith can grow with happiness as we grow closer to our goal.