[From readers] Bus driver`s remark stuns disabled veteran

I am not well due to a bullet wound suffered in the Vietnam War. Recently, after 30 years have passed, I was able to be recognized by the government as a man of merit to the country.

A few days ago, I took a bus to go to the Shintan Bohun Hospital in Taejon for treatment. Several persons took the bus in front of the Shintanjin Railroad Station. All of them were men of merit to the country, so they rode the bus free, showing a certificate of a disabled ex-serviceman. At the moment, the driver remarked coldly about how many people got on the bus.

The driver¡¯s remarks made me feel very unpleasantly. At that time, I felt sorry to other passengers for my slow boarding of the bus because of a crutch, so the driver¡¯s remarks made me feel much regret.

I served in a foreign country under the order of my mother country and returned home after suffering a bullet wound. But I have to feel nothingness because the government recognized me as a man of merit to the country belatedly after 30 years have passed, and ordinary people treat me in an unfriendly way.

Choi Kun-Joon (Munhwa 2-dong, Chung-gu, Taejon)