Walking For a Long Time – Jae Do Lee

Jae-Do Lee is a 76 year-old Korean war Marine general, born in 1928, South Korea. Living with his son’s family at Glendale, he spends most of his time studying English and watching television. On the night of March 24, 2004, he leans quietly against the wall, sitting on his bed. Hands folded on his lap, he looks straight forward, his eyes drawn and focused, as if to reach for some memories of old. He would normally lie back on his pillows this time of the night and watch television in the dark or walk around the apartment for fresh air. Tonight is different. Instead of television, there is a small noise made by a tape recorder rolling. Breaking the silence he opens his mouth. He begins to tell his story of the days before phones and cars. Casually he sits. He begins to narrate his life in the old days. He pauses now and then, in effort to recollect his memories. After a few seconds, he goes on.

Probably, when I was six, the first automobile was introduced in Korea. Korea was under Japanese colonization at that time. People in the city drove cars such as Toyota and Nissan. Obviously the poor people in the rural suburban had no roads to drive on to begin with. My family had no car. No family did.

Mah-cha (a horse-powered carts) and bicycles were alternatives for cars. I remember walking to school that took two hours everyday. I woke up five in the morning when it was still dark. I ate and took off. Shoes? They were made of rubber or sometimes wood. That’s actually better than a pair of jipshin (made of straws to wrap around feet). Now we have casual sports shoes or sandals. But that is now. Back then, walking was the main way to travel. Train was the other. My school, once a year, had its graduates the sixth graders to go on a field trip on their day of graduation. I remember taking a train then. From Hwang He Do to Seoul, a five-hour long trip. I was gone for the whole day. As I moved on to junior high, I began to ride train more often. At my twenties, I joined the army and I drove an automobile for the first time there. All the officers were required to drive a jeep. So I drove the car. Later, I even got to ride on a airplane for military purposes.

It took months and months to build roads. 1km (little shy of a mile) took just about a month. Not to mention money. The soldiers helped building roads at times.

Now that the world is being modernized, yea the air is getting more polluted than before. If you look at Nam San Tower in Seoul, you can tell. Only decades ago, it was visible from anywhere. Now its clouded with smog and filth in the air. Trees are dying thanks to all the smog. Other than that, now that the transportation is very much developed, people feel more comfortable. But pollution has increased, sanitation decreased, and the lives of people are threatened. Car accident is one of them. People are becoming short-tempered more or less.

To get from a place to place, you need transportation. I don’t deny that its better to travel faster. When the distance to cover is long and traffic is thick, accidents do happen. Overall, I think people feel impatient and frustrated.

I see it as this. People long ago, had to travel short distances and it took them long time even to get to a place near because they moved in groups. Shikgoo (family) had to stay together always. Even as they traveled, most of them seldom had problems getting along. These days, the traffic causes many disputes. Why? Because people want to go faster. Before cars and roads were made, walking was the only way. Although it was lot slower, people appreciated fresh air and exercises done from it.

Back then people had to walk. But as generations changed people changed. Now we have more convenient ways to come and go. Now people want to drive more than walk. I think I changed also, it’s because I am old now I think. Car is more comfortable for me.

Before (phones), news got carried around mouth to mouth. When somebody was going somewhere, one passed mal (word) to that person who was leaving or used letter to send information. Now, we use mail too but we have internet to take care of that or transportation to do that too. The world did get smaller as many say so these days. Long ago, if one was to go from Korea to U.S. it took month on boats. But airplane made it possible to fly oversea in less than 24 hours.

In shigol (rural areas), there was no junior high or high schools. So if one wanted education, he had to go to cities. Being able to go wherever you want and achieving things at places you choose to go is a good thing. I think it gave people greater opportunities to succeed in life. The concept of immigration was unknown. If people wanted to leave a home, they took the whole family together. You only moved if you couldn’t live there any more for some reason or had to move into place where you can work.

Some people miss writing letters. I think it all depends. Some people like reading letters. But the modern age think it as waste of time. I agree. It takes lot less time to use phone. And I think e-mail is an improved version of letters.

Pyun-ji (mail) did exist. Yes mailmen existed too. Although there was no newspapers around. Back in the days in the army, you know, guys would send letters to their parents or girlfriends. I wrote to mine as well. Until the war broke out. We had couple of letters going back and forth. Mail was pretty important to some of us who had no other way to communicate. I don’t have much people to call to even thought I have a phone to use now. It’s good to hear from some of my daughters or relatives around the globe time to time.

Interviewed by Hosea Lee