X for X-rated

X for X-rated

             Every time I see an X in a math problem, I think of my volunteering experience. I went into a slum where the old needy lived and saw numerous big red X painted on the window glasses of the town houses. The X on the glass meant that the houses were illegally built and thus would be removed. I wandered then, what would happen to the people inside the house if they were to be evicted.

             The clearance of slums is an endemic problem in Korea. In Korea, if the government believes that a slum gives negative effects to its neighboring residents, it could tear down slum structures. This policy would be acceptable if the government builds new houses for the slum residents, but it neither gives adequate amount of money for the residents nor constructs new houses. The original townsmen are literally “kicked out” by the government becoming a homeless.

             That was the situation that I confronted while participating charity activity. Numberless X was painted on the window glasses of every house about to be torn down, either by the government or by the owner. I was unaware that such incidents were happening around in this country. What was more surprising, the townspeople with the average age of 68(not about 70s but 68, the authority said) were unwilling to protest against the unfair, brutal policy for they were too old, and tired of fighting off eager authorities. After the “clearance”, these poor people would have to go to charity facilities, forced to stay in the rooms without freedom to move about.

             I was enraged at the status quo, so I asked the social worker how this could even happen. She commented that this policy was lot better than the past. In the past, people kicked out had to choose between the privileges of being able to make a contract before others after the apartment is newly built, or just hard cash as remuneration. She said that these townspeople in current status had both. It was nonsense. Even though they might have the right to make contract than any other people, they were needy. What good is this right to a contract when they can’t even eat three meals a day? This change in compensation must be for the investors who plan to earn unjust capital by speculating. For two decades this law had done nothing except allowing the rich get even richer, and leaving huge red X on the poor’s windows.

             I once read from a history book that Jews had to wear a yellow star on their chest to be differentiated with other German citizens. People with that mark were rationed less than others, and were discriminated against in various ways. The only difference from the red X in Korea is that it was yellow instead of red and that it was on people’s chest instead of window glasses. In terms of being discriminated, living in poverty, and being isolated from others,two symbols are indifferent. The huge, red X on the slum people’s windows, or yellow stars on the Jew’s chest are like the branded A for adultery in The Scarlet Letter. Maybe the governors thought the life of slum people were too miserable for their children to watch. Maybe that is the reason why they put a large, red X on the window glasses: X for X-rated. They have succeeded in driving out the poor people out of their houses.

             The experience of aiding the slum dwellers, and witnessing their abject poverty was shocking. The uncomfortable expression on the fellow volunteer was a negative impression to me. Social discrimination was still progressive, like in the 1800s. All of this perception was visualized into a large red X in my mind. Every time I see a newspaper article about slums or the extremely poor, I see the big, red X, reminding me about the slum people.