Hate Speech

The Catholic News Weekly had an article on hate speech and the problems that arise. The Weekly had an interview with professor Hong who has made a study of the issue in society and records his thoughts on the subject. Like Jesus, who first came to those who were marginalized and excluded from society, you have to push your hands out first with love.

With the development of the media and the Internet, our society is full of hatred. Aversion is no longer an emotion of disliking an object but changing words into knives.  Preaching disgust against those who are marginalized in society affects society as a whole.  With the direct and terrible violence of 'hate crime', we have a  serious social problem.

In this situation, the professor is gaining sympathy from the public on hate speech in Korea. "Christians need to be sensitive to hate speech, discrimination, and work aggressively against them."

The professor became interested in the subject and worried about what was the limit to our freedom of expression. There has been much debate in Europe on hate speech and is not recognized under freedom of expression. While he was studying whether this discussion would be necessary for Korea, the expression of dislike in our society started to become an issue and decided to research it.

Expressing disgust is a phenomenon that has always been with us but has intensified recently. The main reason is that people do not fight against the real problems of society but create scapegoats. Expressions of abhorrence and discrimination spread at a faster pace due to the influence of the Internet and the media environment.

Hate speech undermines human dignity. Harm is done to the personality and the mental health of those discriminated.  It does not stop here, but it hampers their social life in general. Another problem is that it causes direct harm to society. Most of the objects of abhorrence are already socially discriminated against. In particular, people with disabilities, migrants, women, sexual minorities are becoming victims of direct and wide-ranging aversion.

As a member of the Catholic Human Rights Commission, and a member of a sub-committee of Justice and Peace Committee he was asked what role should the church play in the problem with hate speech. The spirit of the church is to love and embrace. Jesus' actions have always approached those who are alienated and excluded from society. We Christians must live according to His life. I think the church should be most sensitive to hate and discrimination, and the most aggressive in its removal. For example, I think it was important to have an active role in the diocese of Jeju when refugees became a hot topic in our society. When many people showed negative attitudes, the first thing they did was to mention the role of religion in Korean society.
 
The church has always been interested in groups alienated in society. I think that the attitude of listening first and reaching out to them is an important role of the church today. Also, if the church is an open place where everyone is welcomed, and there is no discrimination in the church, it will be a good sign in preventing hatred and discrimination in society.

Can the Anti-Discrimination Act prevent discrimination and exclusion? Although the Constitution declares that discrimination is prohibited, there are no laws that specify the meaning at present. The Anti-Discrimination Act is meaningful in that it is an official declaration that discrimination is prohibited in our society.

If the media did not do its job hate speech would be flagrant in society. Consequently, it is difficult to say that the media itself is blatantly promoting hatred. However, there are quite a few cases where not enough attention was given to details. For example, in the case of crime reports from people with mental illness, the content of the article may tell you the truth, but it can have a tremendous impact, such as driving the public opinion that mentally challenged people are potential criminals and that they need to be in prison. Journalists have a responsibility to pay some attention to whether discrimination or dislike is encouraged.

Professor Hong believes the problem of hate and discrimination in Korean society will be one of the most serious social problems. The church has a history of always welcoming groups that are discriminated and excluded with love and acceptance. The Catholic Church, in particular, embraces the person as a child of God even if they did something that did not conform to the teaching of the Church. We reach out to listen to their stories and hope for a change in their lives.

Use of Things that Seem Useless

"When the wind blows, leaves fall. When the leaves fall, the soil becomes fertile. When the soil is fertile, the fruit ripens—slowly, carefully." 
 
These words like a repeated mantra were heard by those watching the Japanese movie Life is Fruity. A professor at a Seoul university in an article in the Catholic Peace Weekly introduces us to the movie and its teaching. He recalls a Japanese word he heard over and over again during the movie and understood it as going slow, doing thinks meticulously, carefully.  

The movie was released in Korea in the winter of 2018 and received much love. It is a documentary of the life of an old couple living 65 years in a small house 40 years ago in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. They grew 50 kinds of fruits and 70 kinds of vegetables and lived at a slow-pace with the work of their hands.
 
Grandfather S was an architect and urban designer, who in his first assignments saw his ideas repudiated and work done in a completely different way from his vision. He gave up the architect's path. Instead, with his wife began to live the 'slow life' by raising plants with their own hands.
 
For 90 minutes the movie goes on leaving one with scenes that continue to remain with one. One such scene is the collecting of fallen leaves and putting them in burlap bags. It was the last action performed by grandfather S before retiring from the work of the day. After her husband's death, you would also see her collecting the leaves.
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Why would they so religiously spend time gathering the leaves which to the professor seemed rather unimportant? To spread on the field is the reason. Leaves fall from the tree, rot and make the earth fertile. The core of farming is the land. The earth in order to give life for a long period of time needs to be fertile and leaves perform that task. 

The grandmother on one occasion planted some lettuce seeds in a plastic container. The first year the harvest was plentiful the second year she planted the seeds in the same container, nothing grew she learned a great lesson. Without a fertile earth, nothing will grow. Leaves which can be seen as useless are of great benefit to farming and of great use. Let's listen to her.

"I can not hand over money to the next generation, but if we leave them with good soil, anyone can have plentiful crops. You should give your grandchildren's generation good soil."
 
Not only are we talking about fallen leaves? Many happenings in life are not what they seem.

When I realized that my second child had a developmental disorder at the age of five, I thought the heavens would fall. I grumbled against God. I was late to know that my child, who had a little less than other children, had in other areas more, and saw the child as a very special gift, not a trial. Discovering the usefulness of what seems useless and reviving it, is a topic for this age. Let's discover with clear eyes the use of subjects that seem useless to many.

Balance Between Work and Rest

 In the Russian novel by Dostoevsky, the Karamazov Brothers the second son of Fedor is Ivan an atheist, the writer of the Peace Column of the Catholic Peace Weekly brings to the readers' attention the words this cold reasoning, proud individual, confides to his brother Alyosha.
 
"I want to live. I want to live even though it's against my logic. Even though I do not believe in the order of things— in the spring, the sticky leaves that sprout are precious, the blue sky is precious, and sometimes without any reason, people are seen by me as precious."

When we finish this pilgrimage on earth what will we consider the most valuable? It is hard to assert anything because life is the first experience for all of us. However, it seems that it is not riches, honor, and power that we struggle to achieve like swarms of insects flying towards the light on a  summer night.

I have never seen anyone who was dying ever lament on not making more money or for not receiving sufficient honors. But rather missing the small moments of everyday life with the family, a pleasant trip, spending time with friends. Even Ivan, with his intellectual vanity, says that a person who can see the leaves and the sky and the preciousness of life doesn't want to die.

However, nowadays people are buried in work not able to see what is precious. It's not working to live, but living to work; one forgets what comes first. The meaning of life is nothing more than a hollow philosophy to people who spend their lives dying in the work. Labor is not a blessing but a curse. Such workaholics do not enjoy the freedom of a holiday.  Freedom is just an uncomfortable waste.

Ivan's confession tells what is most valuable in life. Falling leaves, bright blue sky, and good people can not be measured numerically. These precious things are not included in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GNP (Gross National Product). Happiness in soaking a watermelon in the valley water, happiness to hear a child's chattering, the warm gaze of a loved one, and enjoyment of play are not captured with words.

The summer vacation season has begun. Life is difficult we hear often but at no time throughout human history do we have the abundance that we now experience. So we can take a break from work. We are invited to taste the simple pleasures of life that come to us daily without a price tag. Persons who discover these joys in life have no anxious worries that keep them from sleep or become frustrated in life.
 
How about asking 'Wisdom on how to count' (Psalm 90,12)."Teach us to count how few days we have and so gain wisdom of the heart." What will I miss on the day when the expiration date for my life approaches? With this wisdom, the happiness we taste during the holidays will be doubled.

Ozone and Fine Dust Problem in Korea

The warnings about health seem to be increasing.  Water, air, food all the natural gifts have become tainted with pollutants known and unknown. A member of the Bishops' Committee on the environment writes in the Catholic Peace Weekly on the Ozone problem we face.
 
The past few days have been like a picture card with the beautiful blue sky and white clouds introducing us to a beautiful sunset. But the cell phone sent us a warning message: be careful about your health—the sun is hot and temperature high—drink plenty of water and avoid outdoor activities.
 
Ozone (O3) which occurs mainly from late spring to early autumn is harmful to health, along with fine dust and heat. How much do we know about ozone?

Naturally occurring ozone functions like a net that blocks the sun's ultraviolet rays so that life on Earth is possible. On the other hand, there is ozone that is a by-product of air pollution, and this ozone is harmful to the human body. Harmful ozone generated by industrialization is not produced directly by the combustion of fossil fuels. Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds generated during combustion are generated by strong sunlight reacting with ultraviolet rays. The toxic concentration increases between late spring and early autumn.

Ozone is a substance that combines with air pollution and fine dust increasing the mortality rate. The concentration of ozone has been steadily increasing, and the ozone warning has also increased more than twice from 241 times in 2016 to 489 times in 2018.

The ozone warning is issued when the average ozone concentration is over a certain standard for 1 hour. If this condition persists for 3 ~ 4 hours, you will feel cough, eye irritation, and breathing symptoms. If it lasts for about 2 weeks, headache, shortness of breath, visual impairment, and respiratory disease are aggravated, resulting in asthma and chronic lung disease. Although ozone is known to affect only the lungs, one doctor has reported that ozone affects blood sugar, insulin, and insulin resistance and hurts diabetics.

Also, the inflammation caused by ozone affects not only the inflammation of various organs but also the neurotransmitter, which is also associated with the development of depression; the health effect is less than fine dust.

The problem is that ozone is not well known and only a few systematic studies on the origin, generation, inflow, and extermination have been made, and countermeasures are also insufficient.

The government considers ozone to be a serious problem along with fine dust, and the need to study it fully and prepare countermeasures. The standards for forecasting also need maintenance.

We need to know about ozone so we can call for measures and policies. We can reduce ozone generation when efforts are made to practice eco-life and reduce the production of fine dust.

Paris Foreign Missions and Young People

A diocesan priest waiting to go to Africa on a mission assignment writes about his experience living with over a hundred priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He writes about his stay at the Society House in France in the recent Kyeongyang magazine. In the past, he was involved working with the young.

Walking around the property he noticed the many memories of the young bishops and priests who over 170-180 years ago came to Korea to die. They came to a small country in the Far East in their 20 and 30s in the springtime of their lives to help build the Christian community among Koreans. He fixes his hands in prayer and gratitude. Many of them died a martyrs' death.

Not too long ago he ate his meals with over 30 young people who from early morning to late at night were learning about life on the missions, giving him great joy. They were filled with enthusiasm. He was curious about their presence and asked one of the priests. They were there from all over France to learn and share.

The Society began a program about 15 years ago for the youth of France following the mission objectives of the society from the beginning. They have about 150 selected for the program, conducted 4 times during the year. They are sent to Madagascar and the countries of Asia to work with their priests for 3 months to 2 years.

He met a young woman who was just recently married and was attending the mission school. She and her husband will be going to the Philippines for 2 years. He was under the impression that the Church in France was in decline this news gave him a new way of seeing the French Church.

This movement within the society naturally helps to discover vocations to the religious life. Even now there are those at a young age working on a mission who go on to become seminarians and missioners. But the first objective of the school is not the development of vocations but to form missioners to work in different countries with their members. During the program, they give the volunteers an understanding of vocation to many different ways of life. 

He would like to see this also develop within the Korean church. What the Church has been trying to do in recent meetings with representatives from the different countries, the Paris Foreign Missions has been doing for some time.

The young people will always be an important element within the church. Recently Pope Francis in a talk to the young people of a diocese in France recommended three values he hopes they will pursue.

First, he called on them to always be “builders of bridges between people, seeking to advance a culture of encounter and dialogue, to contribute to the coming of an authentic human fraternity.”

Secondly, caring for the smallest and poorest amongst us, the Pope told them, “you can light stars in the night for the many who are tried in various ways”.

Thirdly, "God takes us to where humanity is most wounded, where men and women, beneath the appearance of a shallow conformity, continues to seek an answer to the question of life's meaning." Rejoice and Be Glad Apostolic EXhortation #135.

Is a Ruined Life a Possibility?

 "This life is ruined." The present craze of many of the young people: I don't have a good head, not pretty or handsome, don't have parents with lots of money or status in society... The world is tightly centered around vested interests, no dreams for the future. My life is ruined. So begins an article in the Catholic Times by a lawyer.
 
Is there any guarantee that the next life will be any better? The word 'next life' has its many meanings. This person that I am, this me, depends on my parents' genes and everything is decided on their looks and abilities. Even if there is a next time, I will be born with genes of different parents. I will be a different person.

It is only this one life for us. So even if you think you are not going to have an easy time and live well in this life, don't lift your hands in surrender but make the most of what you have been given, don't say you have been ruined but work to change the odds.

The writer has given much thought to the lives that people have lived. His father came alone to the South at the time of the Korean War. He did not earn big money nor did he have a name in society. But every morning, in his later years he would shine his son's shoes and left the son with some bottles of  'soju' that he was not able to drink. When I was a child, the flower garden that he cultivated with his father went along with him even though he moved a few times.

During the Korean War, a lieutenant in the so-called North Korea's  Army was imprisoned by South Korea for 36 years refusing to give up his beliefs.  After he had finished his prison term he went to an island in the South and hanged himself on a pine tree. "I am leaving the world on November 24, 1990, at 4:10 am. I have made countless mistakes hurting my party and my country, and I have to make amends for my life. I have tried to be sincere in life but left nothing but a blurry trace." We in the South can see his position as wrong but he was a communist to the marrow and gave his life to bring about what he believed was a just society. We can't say he ruined his life for he was true to himself and his beliefs for a better world.
 
We have the life of my friend from our school days. After he passed the government exams, he became a public prosecutor. Shortly after he was diagnosed with liver cancer from overwork and died.  My friend before he died was quoted as saying: "I didn't know what life had in store for me when I became a prosecutor if I had the opportunity to live my life over again, I would be a lawyer defending the weak and the poor in need."

A few years ago, a grandmother in her old age came from her nursing home to see the writer. Both parents and siblings held high positions both in the  South and North. She was able to earn a great deal of money from her business skills. She became the second wife of a college professor and raised her husband's children from the previous wife for 50 years. But now the children are asking for all her money. It developed into a great sadness. She gave all her money to the unification movement of the North and South which was her dream from an early age.  As a woman, her life was not happy but neither was it ruined.
 
Karl Rahner says that the resurrection of Jesus does not mean that a person's soul and body will be raised again with this world's history, but that your "personality and interests" in pursuing the Kingdom of God will be developed and see fruition in the resurrected life. We should not just eat well and live well in this life, but we must consider what are our interests in this life and what we are doing to pursue the kingdom of God as a follower of Jesus. With this way of looking at life, it will never be a ruined life.

Peaceful Coexistence in the World Village

In the globalization era, we live in a global village. The internet and social media are bringing us closer than ever before but the unstable international situation and the trade wars are establishing barriers between countries. In the meantime the meeting of the South and North and the US president in Panmunjom gives us hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula and the world. So begins the article in the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Weekly.
 
Since the colonial struggle' and the 'Cold War'  in the 20th century, society is undergoing tremendous changes with fierce resistance of people to obstacles against the sovereign independence of the nation. Instead of 'political and military domination', which seeks to take the land of another nation and rule it directly, as the Japanese imperialism made Korea their colony, it now takes the initiative in 'economic and strategic hegemony'. For example, the trade war between Trump and Beijing, China's economic sanctions against the missile deployment on the Korean peninsula, and the economic retaliation against Japan, all reveal complicated hegemony conflicts in political, military, diplomatic and economic relations.

On the other hand, today's neoliberal economic systems led by WTO (International Trade Organization), IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank have been promoting FTA (Free Trade Agreement). In particular, when foreign reserves are scarce and the country becomes bankrupt, the rescue has forced the domestic market to open up to foreign investors and even enforced surveillance.
 
With Korea, the IMF asked for more than 100 requirements for a large-scale restructuring of the labor market. Korea was incorporated into the international (financial) market, the discrimination clause for growth and employment-related to large companies was strengthened to attract foreign capital.

The common national strategy to cope with the rapid globalization in the global village seems to be the proliferation of populism and support for transnational corporations. Politicians in the grip of populism tend to attract by their extreme expressions the  'popularity' and 'approval' of their fans to win elections. Politicians who ignore the values of the common good and cultivate their positions are 'false agitators' who are not interested in the citizens. Prime Minister Abe, who is ahead in the general election, his strategy to boost the approval rate is to stimulate the right-wing nationalism. In Korea, politicians who are opposed to social integration and the common good are criticized by healthy citizens.

Second, individual nations gain enormous lobbying and political backing from their transnational corporations and support companies that have grown up like mushrooms after the rain.  Also, large companies in Korea have been striving for short-term profits by sending certain functions outside the company instead of handling them in house. More and more companies have long neglected long-term investment in technology.

In the course of globalization, competition and peace among nations and peoples, conflicts and cooperation, exclusion and inclusion are all mixed;  we have to study the word  'peace' to coexist. The Second Vatican Council proclaims the essence of peace as follows: "Peace is not merely the absence of war. Nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies. Nor is it brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called 'an enterprise of justice'.  Peace results from the harmony build into human society by its divine Founder, and actualized by men as they thirst after ever greater justice." (Pastoral Constitution, Article 78)

We must pursue peace with coexistence beyond the logic of competition and power!  Peace does not justify unilateral domination, factions, bullying business practices, and does not exclude the poor and the weak, coexistence of mankind and the development of all peoples. It is a way of pilgrimage pursuing the "common good" and just relationships.

Expectations Turning Into Betrayal

In the column 'Learning by Living in the Peace Weekly, a religious sister recalls a man, without a wife, who was raising his son alone. He was a good obedient son, graduated from college, had a good job; the father was proud of his son and proud of himself because of his son. Everything seemed to be going along smoothly.
 
One day, however, the father appeared as if the world had collapsed. His son came home late, drunk, wobbled around and the father without thought expressed anger at the son's behavior. His son, in turn, looking directly at the father: "What have you done for me that justifies your anger" screamed the son. "Tell me?"
 
The father was shocked by the gleam in his son's eyes, his anger, he was out of breath, his whole body seemed paralyzed. "It seems that the years I have spent raising you have all disappeared into the darkness. How did I raise you?" Shaking, he wondered whether this was a betrayal. All the love and trust that was once there all in a moment, disappeared. 
 
The words of Neil Postman came to mind. "When  expectations are too clear and vivid they are the only things seen. Nothing else is on the horizon." The father in this situation was confined by his expectations. They were reflected back to him from the mirror into which he continually looked.
 
Betrayal is an emotion that can only be felt by a loved one. When the person I believed in turns against me in gossip, when siblings fight over property given by parents at death, when a lover turns against the one loved for another, this we see as a betrayal.
 
Expectations for the son turns into a betrayal moment. "What did the father ever do for me?" In these words, the father's world fell apart. Fortunately, the father was able to open his heart and talked with his son.

His son missed his mother. He endured all the troubles for his father who raised him. When he was a child, he remembered the mothers of his friends waiting at the gate of the school, and running to the arms of their mothers. Or when he saw mothers walking in the streets with their sons he had to swallow tears for there was no way to suppress his memories of long ago.

In the end, longing became sorrow, anger, and returned as a grudge against his father. The son may have wanted to ask about his responsibilities: Why was he born? The repression and the resentment that piled up poured out due to the liquor.
 
The father found it difficult to understand the son with his head but in his heart, he realized that it was not a head problem but one of the heart. It may take time for the grudge and suffering of the son to go down to his father's heart. He knew, however, the day would come when his expectations would retreat to the background.

Often heard is keep your expectations low and be an overachiever. There is truth in this saying but better still is to hope even when our expectations are not realized for hope is a desire in a future good difficult to attain that is not possessed but wanted and for a Christian trust in God.

Cool Trend In Shopping

A few years back we began hearing the phrase 'Dangjin Jam' (use up, spend) meaning the fun that comes from shopping and wasting money on small things. This seems to be a consumer trend. According to a survey of workers, 70 percent of respondents said they enjoyed doing just that. A professor in the field of consumer science in the Peace Weekly gives the readers some ideas on the topic.
 
Areas where the money is spent are clothing, shoes, cosmetics, restaurants, entertainment, and liquor. Consumption of  'Dangjin' is mainly focused on items that are not expensive, and since it helps to relieve stress, becomes a compensating gift to oneself, many people fall into the habit without guilt.

This trend relieves the stress of the unemployed and the young workers attempting to solve their many stresses. This trend spread rapidly because people who do not have the finances to buy what they want can shop at Daiso, (Japanese discount store) and similar stores forgetting the drudgery of daily life.
 
However, this small rebellion by small people against society began to change the values of consumption. If consumers are more or less focused on getting fun through shopping, chances are they will become addicted to shopping. Consumers gain two important psychological rewards: respect from others and perceived control over spending. Consumers who do not have a way to satisfy it elsewhere are likely to be attracted to 'Dangjin Jam'.
 
Consumers regardless of the size of their wallets, have an absolute position in the market today, and suppliers and salespeople reward consumers for their purchases and show appreciation and respect. Also, by choosing what to buy in a market with many alternatives, consumers have a sense of perceived control over their actions difficult to get elsewhere.

Besides the danger of addiction, we have other problems that may arise from shopping. The first is the possibility of excessive shopping. 'Many a little makes a mickle' this is not limited to saving. The monthly consumption of those who indulge in 'Dangjin Jam' spend a little over 200 dollars a month.
 
Secondly, it's another stress. Fortunately, 42.3% of the workers say it improves their feelings, but 40.3% answered the stress recurred immediately. The effect of stress relief through shopping is very temporary. On the other hand, the credit card statement for 'Dangjin Jam' is another long-lasting source of stress.

The third problem is the distortion of consumption values. It is undeniable that shopping expresses self and brings emotional satisfaction. However, there are other ways to grow, enjoy emotional abundance, develop oneself—through good human relationships, and find happiness doing meaningful work for society.
 
We should be concerned with this trend towards 'Dangjin Jam' which is spreading in the market. According to the statistics, 40% of respondents in their 50s  enjoy 'Dangjin', it's no longer the problem of young people.

Nonsense and the Internet

A retired journalist writes in the Eyes of the Believers column of the Catholic Times on the nonsense that comes from the mouths of politicians. They fear to be unproductive in the eyes of the citizens so the continuance of the nonsense, one type of nonsense gives birth to another and it becomes a parade.
 
This nonsense talk just flows without much thought. Words in politics can give life and can also kill. That has been the case both in the East and West, past and present, and it is just the way things are.
 
What is the reason for this kind of talk on the part of politicians? Low-level thoughts in the minds of politicians come out of the mouths without checks. Thoughts are the house from which our words come forth. Of course, there are a lot of cases in which politicians with the slip of the tongue cause consternation. But such statements also come from a lack of refinement in speech.
 
Secondly, they often intentionally speak nonsense. Politicians have to gain access to the minds of the citizens. In polls, "popularity" (support) and "awareness" are clearly different in character, but this comes first before the work. It's necessary to make themselves known to the public, be seen and heard.
 
Intentionally calling attention to oneself with nonsense often comes after the start of new political programs or before important events such as the general election or the presidential election. This is because it not only increases the awareness of politicians and political forces but also is effective in the mobilization of support groups.
 
The third is due to the problems arising in human society recently based on the above two causes. It is a rapidly changing media environment. Social media as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. (as well as SNS in Korea) are all subject to more subjective 'customized' approaches than traditional media such as newspapers and broadcasts. Tastes and beliefs are more important than objective facts or truths.

The writer has mentioned a number of times in this column a fact we may tend to forget and that is those who are presenting us with the information are often more interested in getting clicks for that means more profits. And digital media users more than facts and truth are looking for what pleases them and looking for what will confirm them in their bias. England's Oxford dictionary calls this period as the era of post-truth.
 
YouTube is subjectively customized and global users will be focusing on YouTube in the future since it is the strongest of the internet giants. With the expansion of digital media, we will have more abuse of the media with false news and hate news
 
Digital media, a representative model of digital capitalism, brought new worlds to mankind with creativity and technology, but side effects came along with the expansion, fake news, and hate news. The adverse effects of digital expressionism surrounding race, religion, ideology, generation, and sexuality have already caused many conflicts,  violence, and polarization in many parts of the world.
 
Politicians' nonsense talk grows like poisonous mushrooms. In the past, we used to say people made books and the books made the people. We can change it today: we make the digital media and the media makes us. Today we make some efforts to complement and control the adverse effects of digital media, among which the consensus among experts is the need for media literacy, especially for the users. It corresponds to efforts working for world peace. And the writer concludes with the hope that the church sees the need for media literacy and gets involved with programs in churches.

Life of the Poor in Society

A few days ago a column was used on this blog to give the thoughts of a journalist on the movie Parasite; this time in the Catholic Peace Weekly a critic on welfare policy gives her thoughts on the same movie on the current situation in Korea.

The movie without any filters shows the breakdown of the middle class and the contradictions of society and the anxiety that follows and difficulties of coexistence because of systems that have developed. Both the wealthy and the poor are living together but a lack of understanding and even the existence of the other is hidden. The poor do not have any status in society, they lack the education, the competence the capitalist society demands and consequently 'losers', not helpful to society.
 
The poorest people in society are forced to live in the poorest sections if the city we call them the slums. These neighborhoods have one room accommodations without toilet facilities for about 200 dollars a month without deposit. One study showed that from 2005 to 2015  the number of those living in unsafe housing has increased 7 fold.
 
Of course, the municipal government has policies to reduce poverty, such as environmental improvement policies and rental support projects but they don't always end up helping all that need it. The owners of these rentals in most cases are not sensitive to the inhabitants of these neighborhoods and are only looking for profits.
 
Human dignity, the fundamental right of everyone, depends on socioeconomic conditions in society. Some classes monopolize profits, while others have to deal with the inequalities in society. This situation is readily seen by those who want to see it. More. then ever the government has to take measures to guarantee that all have an opportunity to live like human beings. One of the surprises is that you have Christians who see this kind of talk as unChristian, a mystery of the highest order— little sympathy for efforts to help the poor.
 
Pope Francis has criticized the neoliberal financial system of society. He would have great difficulty with the so-called trickle-down economics, which excludes others with indifference and without knowing it we end up being incapable of feeling compassion for the poor. He considers capitalism another form of dictatorship where the poor are not seen only profits.

Everything is competition and the weak become the food of the strong. They take away hope from the poor. What has to change is more than possessions but sharing, win-win instead of competition, a new economic approach.

In conclusion, she wants a change in the way we look upon the poor. We need a culture with an emphasis on solidarity, cooperation, and subsidiarity. In addition to housing welfare policies, the government needs to play a role in changing the way we think about the poor. We need a culture where all are respected and the weak feel like members of society and helped to live as human beings.
 

Spirituality of the Elderly

A diocesan priest writes about the spirituality of the elderly in the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times. He begins by telling the readers of a 92-year-old man who was a member of a pilgrimage abroad.  At the start, all were concerned about the grandfather but amazed when they saw he was able to keep up with the young people in all that was scheduled.

A growing number of elderly people live to an advanced old age: "Not when their legs tremble, but when their hearts tremble."  A professor emeritus at one of the universities is living a busy healthy life at the age of 100 and is still giving lectures. He has said: "The golden age of my life was as a 65 to 75 year old." Would not this be a  word of hope for people in this age group?
 
In the ritual for the funeral Mass it's comforting to say a person who passed away at 70 died too early. More elders are conscious in living their lives positively and actively.
 
Quality of life in old age will depend on consciousness and attitude. Desiring to enjoy eternal youth, life will be immature and empty, when we can put everything aside and be more concerned with being than doing we will begin to enjoy life fully.
 
Fr. Anselm Gruen the author of Twilight of Aesthetics (?) 2015, says in ceasing doing the 'what' then we have entered the world of spirituality. He also emphasizes in another book the spirituality of old age should be oriented to freeing oneself from wealth, honor, power and health, and furthermore, from the obsession of anger and vengeance.

Especially interesting that a Korean writer mentions in his book the novel Count of Monte Cristo written by Alexandre Dumas, and he points out the hero failed to win the heart of the woman he loved because it was filled with hate, although successful in revenge against those who framed him. The attitudes of old age should be reconciliation, forgiveness, generosity, and mellowness.
 
In the twilight years and the way death will be faced will depend greatly on the way life was lived. The writer of the article mentions during the diaconate year he had an experience of working in a hospital as a chaplain. He was in a ward in which most of the patients were at death's door.
 
He was present at the death of a number of patients. Some patients died calmly and at peace. On the other hand, some patients moving their whole bodies refused to die. One man refusing to die, he threw the crucifix away and was filled with complaints and grudges against others. The writer meditated on what he saw and thought a lot about what people should do to meet death with peace.
 
We can before death actively welcome death. We are not just waiting for death but we have entered the kingdom of God at baptism with faith and now looking for the completion of our journey.
 
Death completes life and is in search of meaning to the present life. One who realizes deeply the meaning of the present experiences the eternity of God and is always being born again. Therefore, aging is accepted with a calm heart, gratitude, and vitality. The elderly person experiences the closeness of life to death and living more fully the life of the spirit and the resurrected life. Is this not the spirituality of old age?

Let Emotions Flow

Writing in the Kyeongyang magazine a scenarist brings to the reader's attention the place of emotions in life from her experience. Recently with a friend, she went to a  place for some drinks. In the basement, she thought there would be fewer people which was not the case. Because of the drinks, it seems the sounds coming from here and there were loud.
 
With great enthusiasm, cheers were being shouted out, bang bang sounds were heard in all directions. She turned towards the sounds and with great surprise saw a young woman coming down from the upper floor with a piece of iron in her hands striking the handrail. Glaring at all without compromise.
 
She said nothing but her eyes said everything—its noisy shut up if you don't I will do something— The writer approached the woman to apologize for the noise. The young woman said nothing just glared at her with her big beautiful eyes.
 
Even after leaving the place, on the way home and lying in bed she couldn't shake off the incident she had experienced. Couldn't forget the look in the woman's eyes. Focus without a soul, coming from great sadness, filled with anger, pupils of the eyes filled with loneliness.
 
She remembered her own past situations which were similar. 'Go home and kick the dog' would be a good translation of the Korean proverb she used to express her idea. You don't get angry at the one who causes you the grief but on others. You repress the anger which finally explodes one day, in a certain moment, on some person who is around.
 
Many are the times she has been upset, angered, and not let those emotions flow on. When these emotions are bottled up they will break out in unwanted ways. We need to do what is first in importance: management of our emotions.
 
Sadness, frustration,  anger needs to flow on for they will break out in ways not wanted. She has met many like the woman she mentions above with a grudge, expressed with bodily mannerisms and angered tone of voice, understands but finds sad.
 
The world is full of anger and sadness. She recommends sharing your emotions with others and let them flow and they will not change into harmful actions. Otherwise, we will take it out on others and vent our feelings inappropriately.

In conclusion, she wants us to express our emotions. If we don't have others with whom to share we have the mirror in the home. "I am lonely, it's difficult, it's unfair." I need to cry.  Emotions need to fly off. It's when we make the empty space in ourselves that joy finds a spot to enter and don't we now have a  place for love?

Problems with Gluttony

The early Church Fathers and religious knew the danger of eating food and drinking liquor but they didn't look upon the eating and drinking itself as the problem. They knew the place of food and drink in the Scriptures and with temperance followed God's will and controlled their desires.

Early Desert Fathers passed on their teaching to the future church on gluttony. In an article in the Kyeongyang magazine a rector of a Catholic University treats the vice of gluttony as seen by Evagrius Ponticus (345-399) an influential theologian of the times. In his book Antirrhetikos he treats the eight patterns of evil thoughts and the first was gluttony. Later reduced to seven became our seven capital sins. His treatment of the subject would be for the monks.

John Cassian (360-435?)  was influenced by Evagrius and took note of Jesus' temptation in the desert with food. He placed gluttony first not because it was the most serious or the most important but because it influenced and was the beginning of other vices.

Early church fathers saw the relation between gluttony and sexual impurity. Cassian also made much of the connection with lust, greed, anger, sadness, and sloth. He stressed: when gluttony is overcome one is not tempted with sexual vice." In the Divine Comedy, Dante put those in purgatory for sexual sins next to those who fell into sins of gluttony. 

Gluttony was divided into different types: eating before meals to satisfy the palate, eating rapidly, eating greedily, eating to satiety, picky about food, and eating too high class. Mentioned also was the fact that the way you eat is going to affect others, those at table with you and those preparing the meals. St.Thomas had his similar lists of incorrect table manners.

Christianity considered gluttony as one of the important capital sins because it extinguished the flame of desire for God and the joy of life we should have in him. Cassian told the monks not to find their joy and pleasure in food or drink. He did not think the problem was the food or drink as much as the bodily pleasure that would take your mind off the joy and pleasure that God wanted to give.  

Cassian explains in detail how gluttony influences the life of a monk. First, it give rise to hate within the community, followed by fear that can not be overcome and they leave the monastery. Secondly, it give rise to sexual  and evil desires. Thirdly, gluttony makes us prisoners of avarice, a yoke very difficult to abandon and makes emptying of ourselves to receive what God wants to give difficult.

He concludes the article with St. Benedict's rule for the monks. He followed  the traditional  teaching of the past with some easing because of the changing  times, following basically the traditions of the past.  Grams of food determined, but the abbot  because of the work load would make changes. Drink was also determined—one hemina  (ancient liquid measure equal to about a half pint), not to drink to excess or intoxication. 

Knowing the weakness of human nature the church fathers and monks by these measures gave reasons for practicing the virtue of temperance.

Parasitic, Symbiotic or Both?

In the current Catholic Times, Word and Silence column, a member of the editorial staff uses the Korean movie Parasite to reflect on life. The movie took the top prize at this year's Cannes. The title is ironic. Two families come on stage. One is rich and the other poor. The movie asks a question: are the rich and the poor in a host and parasitic relationship? Are they dlifferent?

Biologically, parasitism and symbiosis are distinguished. Parasitism is one-sided profit and symbiosis both receive a mutual benefit. However, life is complicated and doesn't follow human classification or standards. Parasitism and symbiosis are not easily distinguished. Difficult to gauge the impact of each on profit or loss.
 
Parasitism and symbiosis are a common phenomenon in nature. Microorganisms such as germs and viruses also live in other creatures. There are molds and mushrooms that live on old trees. Plants and animals also depend on each other for survival and reproduction.
 
The human body consists of approximately 30 trillion human cells. More are the microorganisms in our bodies. At this point, the boundary between parasitism and symbiosis is broken down. If all microbes are removed, the human body will die.
 
All living things, in one sense, parasitic and symbiotic cannot survive alone. They seem to act unilaterally, but bite and are bitten in an entangled ecosystem. All life can be seen as parasitic on earth. In that sense, humans are also parasitic creatures.
 
What is parasitic and what is symbiotic loses meaning when speaking about the essence of life. Life is parasitic and symbiotic with each other. In a narrow sense, it looks like a parasite, but in a larger sense a symbiotic relation. The host is parasitic in some fashion and becomes the host to other parasites. The host is not superior nor is the parasite inferior. The higher you go on the food chain of life more dependence on the lower part. Humans are at the top of their need for dependence.
 
The movie asks: do we have parasites in human society? Are the poor and weak parasites of society?  Are the rich taking the blood and stealing the nutrients from the poor? Can the wealthy and the poor distinguish good from evil? The strong often come across as doing illegal and abusive things, and the weak searching for justice. The film rejects such a simple view. Poor father says. "Son, I am proud of you." The son replies: "Dad, I do not think this is a crime."
 
We search for answers; the correct answer is ambiguous. Difficult to apply the answers of the natural world to human society. But we have the answer we prefer. There are no parasites in society. Only neighbors to get along with.

Pope  Francis called the earth a 'common home'. All life lives in the same house all dependent on our common home. No creature can claim exclusive rights before the Creator.

No one in is alone in human society only coexistence. Both rich and poor live leaning on each other. Both the strong and weak need each other. We live together with each other. It's a symbiosis, a win-win situation, coexistence, at least that is what it is supposed to be.