할아버지

I had two bags full of stuffs after shopping but they were not heavy. It was evening peak hour in Busan. The subway was quite crowded. As a habit, I would always choose to stand rather than sit even if there are empty seats. As I was standing and looking aimlessly out of the train windows suddenly I felt a pull on my hand. An old man was trying to ask me to sit down. He was squeezing out a space for me to sit. The ajumma beside him also spontaneously shifted. He was speaking to me in Korean which I did not understand but I guessed that he was trying to tell me that the things I was carrying were heavy and that I should sit down.

I was caught totally surprised by the old man's kind gesture. It was expected of the young people to respect the elders by giving up their seats but the reverse, to me, was quite out of the world that I knew. Anyway, I turned down the old man's offer because the space he squeezed out was quite small and I did not want him to sit in an awkward position. A few stations later, the ajumma sitting beside the old man alighted. He pulled on my bags of stuffs again and asked me to sit down. I did not reject him the second time although I did not really need the seat. I smiled at him to show my gratitude. At that moment, I wish I could have known how to say "감사합니다" to him.

할아버지들 playing a game of Chinese Chess in Jangan Park, Suwon