Narrow-minded elderly?

An inscription on a 6,000-year-old Egyptian tomb reads, "Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient." The Greek oral poet Hesiod said in the Eighth Century B.C., "When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but youth today are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint." Conflict between generations has a long history. On the opposite side of disrespectful youth are the elderly, who boast of their experience and interfere annoyingly.

Many elderly people go to indoor swimming pools in the morning. South Korea has indeed turned into an aging society. There are lanes in swimming pools for walking, not swimming. Young people who swim in the lane cannot complain to elderly people for walking there. Senior citizens who finish swimming soak in a hot spring and chat. The presidential election is a hot topic nowadays, with most of the conversations conservative-oriented. Some ask how national affairs can be entrusted to a person like Ahn Cheol-soo, while others say the Korean federation proposal of Lee Jung-hee, the head of the minor opposition United Progressive Party who dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, is the same as North Korea`s plan for a confederation on the peninsula.

Wednesday`s election is increasingly turning into a clash of generations. Chung Dong-young, who badly lost the 2007 presidential election to Lee Myung-bak and is now adviser to the main opposition Democratic United Party, retweeted on his Twitter page, "The youth vote is what really matters. Our whole life depends on this election. Old votes should not be tolerated." While encouraging young people to vote is good, the word "old" seems to characterize the older generation as "ggondae (narrow-minded)." Members of the (South) Korea Senior Citizens Association visited the headquarters of the main opposition party office to protest. Chung blasted the elderly for the second time since the 2004 general elections. He received harsh criticism back then but apparently needs more time to reflect on himself.

A 70-something woman has never failed to vote in her life. She never says whom she will vote for and calls the act of voting in secret a right. The woman does not read newspapers and seldom watches TVs, but is an outstanding judge of character. Chung turns 60 next year, so he himself should be cautious not to judge the elderly and instead focus on his own aging.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)