The debts

Having gone through the rough Japanese colonial era and the Korean War, it is more than just impressive how fast the Korean economy has grown. On the one hand, the Japanese colonial rule gave Korea an indelible scar, but on the other hand, it was the initial point from which Korea opened its door to the world. It adopted foreign cultures and learned how to trade. Thanks to President Jung Hi Park’s brilliant manipulation of the vestiges of Japanese imperialism, enthusiasm for education was higher than ever before, and people began to build their own businesses. As a result, Korea accomplished the greatest economic growth. As money came to people’s pockets, people became more extravagant and lived in ease. Consequently, not long after they had enjoyed their affluent lives, they found themselves with no fortune. Eventually, Korea borrowed money from the IMF, International Monetary Fund, and they had to suffer from paying back their debts for years. Unfortunately, my grandfather’s family couldn’t avoid paying its debts, and its effects have lingered on my family as a little abnormal feature.

            My grandfather was one of the people who started a business and made enviable profits, which eventually disappeared, by supplying automobile parts. He sent his three sons to universities without financial worries, and he was about to bolster his last child, my mother. However, once the economic situation had gone bad, his company had financial difficulties because of decreasing consumer demand and ended up with terrible bankruptcy. Since my uncles were still busy undergraduate students, and relatives were having hard time to survive in the horrible economic situation, there was no one to help my grandfather who was sitting on an enormous amount of debt. My mother could have gone to a prestigious school, but she had to go college which was not her plan to get a full scholarship. She never used new books or stationary. At the age of twenty, she even gave up pretty clothes and cosmetic products. During those years, my mother, who had been a pampered little girl, was reborn as a strong woman. Right after she graduated from college, she found a job, so she could help her father to pay the debt.

            In middle of the crisis, my parents decided to get married, and the hard situation motivated them to make the heartbreaking decision for their future family. When they dated, my father was suffering from the IMF crisis as well. His family was originally poor, and to add insult to injury, the family income sharply diminished because of the bad economy. My father was a worker by day and a student by night to support himself. Before the marriage, there was one huge issue to consider. My mother’s job was in a different area from my father’s. One of them needed to quit a job, and obviously it was my mother. However, she wanted to keep working to help my grandfather to pay back his debt. Korea, back in the 1980s, was very conservative country. Ideal woman stayed at home all day and took care of the house working; it was unacceptable for one’s wife to live far apart from her husband for money. Despite that fact, my father understood her because he was going through the same hardship like my mother was. Eventually, they determined that they would be a long-distance couple.

           Although financial situation has gotten better thanks to my parents and relatives, my parents still have no plan to live together because they have to support my brother and me until we can be independent. My brother and I are living with my mother in a region which is three hours away from my father. My father has been visiting his family every weekend and calling us every night to say hello for the past twenty years. In spite of the distance, we have never been indolent to contact each other.

            Sometimes people feel regretful over my family, especially my brother and me. They think that we wouldn’t have the chance to feel a father’s love as much as other children would. Nonetheless, we have never thought that he is not with us. Thinking of how it would be for a fifty-year-old man to leave his family and sacrifice himself for work only for his family breaks our hearts. We owe him. He is always with us as a form of selfless love. Like my parents made an effort to pay back the IMF debt, it’s time for us to pay back the debt from my parents, which is love.