Posted December. 22, 2006 03:28,
Good deeds and donations run deep in Korean society, warming our hearts and minds just as our blood does so for our bodies. Lee Soon-deok, an elder woman, donated her money to Konkuk University after selling cigarettes for 40 years. Hwang Hye-gyeong, a 40-year-old woman, gave 1 billion won--half of her compensation for a car accident--after an eight-year lawsuit in the U.K. She contributed the money for the establishment of a rehabilitation hospital for the disabled. As such, many contributions have been made this year, too.
However, Korea still has a long way to go in terms of individual donations. According to the Community Chest of Korea, individual donors accounted for 12.7% or 20.03 billion won of the 157.9 billion won the community had collected between Dec. 2005 and Jan. 2006. The rest of the money was given by businesses, government bodies and social organizations.
Individual donations do not go hand in hand with household income. The poor performance of individual donations is largely attributable to attitudes. Koreans are sometimes only concerned with their own and their family members issues and fail to take care of their neighbors. Such a selfish society makes property and organ donations all the more meaningful.
Arthur C. Brooks, professor of Syracuse Universitys Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said in his new book Who Really Cares? that people with an annual income below 20 thousand dollars make more contributions than those who earn more in terms of donation per income. Though worlds billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett make huge contributions, individual donors are the primary supporters of U.S. charities.
Small donations warm the hearts and minds of the socially marginalized and become a driving force behind a harmonious society where the poor and rich live side-by-side.