Parents’ old age tells truth

Choi In-ho, a writer who passed away on Wednesday, said his mother began to do her make up when she got old (Cho In-ho’s “Inyeon” published by RH Korea). After visiting the U.S. where his sister lived, Choi`s mother began to wear lipstick everyday, saying, “All American women wear lipsticks.” She even did nail polish. When his mother came to his school wearing a gray durumagi (a Korean traditional coat), his friends took her as his grandmother. His mother gave birth to him at 37. Choi confessed that he was embarrassed about his mother without any makeup when young but he was embarrassed about her mother with makeup when he got older.

“With father, I and Hongmae,” a play starring actor Shin Gu and actress Sohn Sook, describes a period where a family spends together before the father dies of liver cancer. When the first son got into the prestigious Seoul National University, the father moves from Seoul to Gangwon Province and sends his second child (“I”) to an agriculture high school. “I” always felt bad about his father, who is now delirious. His mother tells “me”, “He did so to keep you beside him.” “I” piggyback my father who is tired of 40 years of labor, and go down memory lane with him watching the Hongmae tree and the moon.

Buddhist monk Seongcheol drove away his 13-year-old daughter (later Buddhist monk Bulpil), the only family member he had before he became a monk, as soon as he saw her. (“From Eternity to Eternity” published by Gimmyoung Publishers) Several years later, he met his daughter again and asked her why she lives. She says “For the sake of happiness.” He asks again, “There are eternal happiness and temporary happiness. Which one do you prefer?” His daughter said as soon as she heard this, she decided to become a monk. Although he cut a worldly tie, he led his daughter to the path to happiness.

Parents and children might know least about each other. Choi In-ho said he learned that his mother lived as a woman only before she devoted her youth for the sake of her children and passed away. Choi now must have met his mother in heaven again. Would he now be making up her mother’s face as he wished?

Economics Reporter Son Hyo-lim (aryssong@donga.com)