The priest recalls not seeing a woman for some time, a daily Mass goer. Upon inquiry, he found out that an old man living alone, just below her apartment, had died and the body left unattended for several months, the smell had entered her apartment.
She searched for the source of the disgusting smell for a long time and eventually found out that it came from the person who died alone downstairs. Knowing the source of the smell, the woman was afraid to stay in her house alone after her husband went to work and went to live with her daughter. A few months later she returned to her apartment, after redecorating and refurbishing the interior.
Smell sharply divides the two different levels of society in the movie 'Parasite'. Some families live in basements without even knowing they have a musty smell about them while others live with the scent of perfumes. The difference in scent becomes a sign that separates the 'haves' from the 'have-nots'.
However, there is no class distinction or discrimination from the scent of corpses left unattended after dying alone. This is because the death from loneliness is revealed in every class without exception. They had to live alone without being cared for by those around them, cut off from their family and neighbors, living without human relationships.
Dying alone is a sign of social isolation. In Korea, since 2013, society began to see dying alone and the loneliness attached with it, not as a problem for others but a social problem that concerns all of us. In the past, death alone was an issue with the elderly. but recently, it occurs regardless of low-income or high-income, among the young and old and is due to the increase of people living alone.
In particular, there are many people who live in a non-face-to-face situation due to COVID-19, and have decreased interaction with people, and are depressed. Now, beyond the melancholy of 'corona blue', the 'corona black' phenomenon, a feeling of frustration, despair, and gloom, is spreading and is increasing the number of deaths from loneliness which takes a higher toll on the economically vulnerable.
According to the Population and Housing Census of the National Statistical Office, the estimate for single-person households in 2020 was 31.7%, the highest among households, and the death toll among this group, dying without relations, has risen from 1,820 in 2016 to 2,880 last year.
The death from loneliness is an indicator that our society is moving in the wrong direction. The prevention of a lonely death has been accepted as a problem by the government with the ‘Lone Death Prevention and Management Act’ that took effect in April of this year, but as the number of single-person households rapidly increases, the number of deaths alone without care will continue to increase. The government policy to prevent and manage the risk of loneliness is important, but the church is also required to pay attention to the phenomenon of loneliness and to take an active pastoral response.
Although artificial intelligence caregiver services for the prevention of loneliness have recently increased, they cannot provide what is necessary— the human touch. Of course, it is necessary to make good use of the convenience of digital culture, but the fundamental relationship lies in the exchange of trust, friendship, and love.
The church must establish and practice a diverse and continuous care system for those who are in the blind areas of our welfare system. This is especially the case with small community gatherings and Legion of Mary activities in parishes. In order to revitalize the parish community, which has been greatly reduced due to COVID-19, it is necessary to jump into the welfare field of the local community and play the role of a 'field hospital'.
