[W Forum] Self-Management Within Organizations, Are You an Adult?

A few days ago, I was on a bus heading to an evaluation schedule in Gangnam, Seoul. When I boarded the bus, there weren’t many people, with only a few passengers occupying the single seats at the front, and almost no one in the back seats. The air conditioning was running, making the bus cool, and all passengers were wearing masks. This is one of the changes brought about by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) environment. The bus stopped at the next bus stop, picked up two passengers, and moved on.

Among the new passengers, an elderly person approached a young man closely and said in an agitated voice, "If you see an elder, you should stand up. Young people these days have no manners." That scolding instantly chilled the atmosphere inside the bus. The driver cautiously said, "Sir, please take a seat in the empty spot. It’s dangerous while the bus is moving," but the elderly person only calmed down after the young man gave up his seat. The elderly person then sat down comfortably, spreading his legs as if it had been his seat from the start, settling deeply into it. Silence filled the bus for a while.

In the currently airing drama on a certain channel, Psycho But It’s Okay, there is a developmentally disabled older brother and his younger brother who watches over him. While watching the cartoon Dooly together, the younger brother asks the older brother why Go Gil-dong, who accepted Dooly and his friends, always scolds the kids but still lives with them. The older brother answers, "Because he’s a guardian, an adult." When the younger brother says he wants to become an adult too, the older brother replies, "If you try, you can become an adult, if you try." He emphasizes once again to his younger brother that anyone can become an adult if they make the effort.

In the concluded drama My Mister, there is also a line about adults. A temporary female employee with no expression or words sometimes comes to work with bruises on her face, wearing short socks that expose her ankles in the cold winter and thin sneakers. No one paid attention to her. The team leader, who had occasionally wondered about her, told the team members to find out about the temporary employee. When the team members asked the team leader why he was interested in her, he replied, "She’s a child, and I’m an adult." That short and powerful statement stayed in my memory.

When I was young, there were many adults around me. Just stepping outside the front gate, neighborhood elders would pat my head, and they seemed to care for me as if I were their own child?whether I was going to school, coming back from school, playing with friends, fighting, happy, or hungry. Those adults would scold me until tears came out when I did something wrong, and they never hesitated to praise me when I did well. Those adults were always around us. Where have all those adults gone?

What is an adult? In front of parents, one may be a child-adult; when alone, a child-adult; in front of children, a life mentor-adult. Adults show many faces in society. They can be saints in history, leaders of a society, mentors to someone, superiors or seniors in an organization, or adults shaped by time. At age 20, one receives a certificate of adulthood through a coming-of-age ceremony. But it’s unclear whether receiving that certificate immediately makes one an adult.

Those who hold the novice adult certificate received at the coming-of-age ceremony and make healthy efforts will become guardians, responsible persons, respected adults who others want to be with. However, some may become burdens and harm to others, failing to keep promises made to themselves, remaining shameful adults. What kind of adult am I? Am I an adult making efforts to have a positive influence, or an adult who is disconnected? Am I making efforts to be an adult I’m not ashamed of? Can one become a good adult through effort? Living in this era, I deeply reflect on what it means to become an adult. Within family, within the company, and more broadly in society, am I truly an adult?

Park Ran, CEO of Dong-A TV