Remembering Mr. Postman

The postman was renamed mailman in 2004, but both names are used in real life. Nowadays, the postman has all kinds of bills including tax bills and credit statements in his bag while carrying only a handful of handwritten letters, which have become hard to find. Still, many people in their 50s and 60s remember the postman of their time along with a children’s song Mr. Postman. The verses are as follows: “Mr. postman, postman, where are you going with your big bag? His huge bag is full of letters and letters. I like his nice round-brimmed hat. He says a letter for you, there is a letter for you. Finally, a letter from my sister who just got married. She’s coming home tomorrow.”

Like this song depicting a friendly postman, there is also the 1995 film “Il Postino (The Postman).” The movie is about a special encounter with a famous poet, Pablo Neruda, and a naïve postman Mario on a quiet island in Italy. Mario, who learned poetic metaphor and how to live a slow life from Neruda, records the beauty of the island one by one, such as the sound of the wind on the cliff, the sound of his father’s net, and the sound of breeze on tree branches.

In the past, the post office was the symbol of analog life that connects people. Now it offers financial instruments as well as postal services. As the global financial market fluctuates, advanced countries are preparing ways to separate postal and financial services for more efficient postal business. Germany, for instance, has already completed privatization in the postal, telecommunications, and financial sectors and Japan has begun selling off its shares to privatize postal sector from Thursday. It is the second privatization since the public offering in 2015. In Korea, on the other hand, one of the biggest obstacles is poor working environment in which many postmen are forced to work longer hours and some workers are reportedly working themselves to death. Korea Post revealed that its postmen worked overtime an average of 51 hours a month for the past five years.

The most welcoming guest to the elders in remote villages in the mountains and islands may be a postman. Thanks to the postman who travels through the mountain trail on his motorbike, old parents can hear news of their children who left for cities and sometimes they have nice chats with the elderly. On top of that, it is commonplace that many postmen often do miscellaneous work such as paying utility bills and bringing medicines from the pharmacy. For an extra-long Chuseok holiday this year, it would be meaningful to reminisce about the good old days when we were counting down to the postman’s visit.