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By Lee Eung-tae
I always felt that Busan was a fantastic city, brilliantly filled with youthful festivals and attractions. The mammoth screen in the station square showing off a variety of tourist attractions surely enchants all visitors.
Sad to say, when I went into the underground shopping area leading to the gates of the subway trains, I saw no marvelous attractions, only fragile senior citizens and disabled people moving about with difficulty.
On the subway, I saw senior citizens standing precariously in the aisle holding the handrail with some difficulty and swaying uncomfortably. They looked concerned, fragile and anxious while the faces of the robust young passengers shone with happy laughter. Gloomily, I imagined I'd soon be standing in the old folks' shoes, yet I felt that it was not yet my time, even though I'm officially old enough to be counted among senior citizens.
However, I realize that I have to mentally prepare myself for the passage through the period of aging and bodily degeneration. I need to learn the virtue of emptying my soul of desire and greed before getting closer to the nature I came from. I should bear in mind that we are all destined to be physically disadvantaged and we will have to join the community of the challenged however hard we resist. Otherwise, I would feel sad to see my once-healthy body degenerating. I would be devastated to find myself too weak to play tennis anymore after enjoying it for over 30 years. I would hate myself for forgetting my wife's birthday or weep in frustration as I rummage around frantically for a phone that is always in my pocket.
Besides, the media is certainly not amicable to elderly people. Despite the fact that the population is aging rapidly thanks to the elevated standards of nutrition and well-being, most media programs are aimed only at young viewers and ignoring older ones. Most soap operas are about young love, perhaps not too interesting to the aged. How can we seniors be amused by scenes of young stars talking in slang and playing games which only young audiences understand?
Older people may well feel more and more alienated as they cannot understand every issue and interest that the young people share with each other on many subjects. And also, they might feel irritated to think that the young generation seems oblivious to their disabilities and the pains of aging.
There are very few elderly characters seen in any media programs. Those that appear are portrayed as too infirm to do anything except lie miserably in a hospital deathbed. Therefore, these programs convey to viewers the wrong idea that aging is only a sad and gloomy experience. And watching them, elderly viewers may well feel despondent to think that sooner or later they could face that miserable situation.
For this reason, I think most elderly people prefer to watch politics, gossip and provocative fake news which gives scope for them to sublimate their anger and stress. Consequently, our society may well become more and more polarized between the young and the old.
It seems to me that if the media focused more on programs which elderly viewers could empathize with or increase general awareness that disability is not an accident but a process of life, our society could be more integrated and harmonious.
Lee Eung-tae (eungtae@gmail.com) is a former high school teacher who taught English for 35 years.
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