[W Forum] There Is No Immunity Under the Name 'Corona'

At the beginning of the recently concluded drama "Secret Forest Season 2," a meaningful monologue is heard, and the dialogue appears as subtitles in the middle of the screen. "To pursue truth diligently, to move toward righteousness, these are endless processes. The moment you stop is failure. Moving toward change is like my feet becoming needles, carrying invisible threads, walking tirelessly. Under the belief that a handful of hope is better than hundreds of despair, with an unyielding heart, once again." The first episode started with this monologue, and the final episode ended with the same lines. To me, the weight of the entire drama, the driving force and the ebb and flow of its flow seemed to be represented by that single monologue.

Not long ago, I had lunch with a junior colleague. It was a meeting arranged after exchanging holiday greetings, agreeing to meet once the holiday break was over. When I asked, "Has anything happened?" the junior bowed their head and said, "My father passed away last month, and the 49th-day memorial service is in two weeks." Feeling sorry and saddened by the news, I expressed my condolences, but the junior said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, announcing and hearing about the funeral was uncomfortable for everyone and said it was okay. In this era of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to share good news or sorrow, and this is becoming a reason in itself.

It happened during a meeting a few days ago. While both companies were struggling with poor sales and discussing ways to overcome the crisis, the client’s representative blamed the poor sales on the COVID-19 situation, the partner’s mismanagement, and lack of cooperation, saying the losses were significant and attributing responsibility to COVID-19 and the partner company. They created an atmosphere suggesting that there might be other ways besides the right path to recover the losses and that it would be acceptable to do so.

Of course, nothing is impossible in this world. There are right ways and wrong ways to overcome difficulties. There are various methods. But there are things that must be done and things that must not be done. Choosing the easy path requires no long meetings. In the end, we concluded the meeting by agreeing to find possible methods and to think more deeply about the right way. It was disheartening. COVID-19 becomes an excuse and a reason. Often, it feels like the result derived from this arithmetic is always the COVID value.

The protagonist Hwang Si-mok in the drama mentioned earlier is a prosecutor who walks the right path, perhaps frustratingly righteous. When asked about an incident caused by the wrongful thoughts and actions of the chief prosecutor, the protagonist said, "He seemed quite accustomed to giving himself an excuse. That habit probably didn’t seep in overnight."

We were taught to be strict with ourselves and lenient with others. But have we been lenient with ourselves and strict with others? Are we standing aside from solving problems while leading the shining achievements? Are we thinking that others’ difficulties belong to them and our difficulties belong to others? How much do we reflect on whether we are making others suffer with self-serving excuses?

Like the junior who recently held a funeral for his father, some people strive to approach unchanging righteousness in all relationships, whether with people or work, and try to find the right way according to the situation, while others look for things that are not right or proper depending on the situation. It is true that COVID-19 makes everyone suffer. But this cannot be an excuse for everything. With an attitude of "this much is okay in this situation," we cannot overcome the crisis. Choosing to "pursue truth diligently and move toward righteousness especially in such situations" and walking the right path step by step, though slowly, will ultimately be the strength to overcome COVID-19.

Park Ran, CEO of DongA TV