Old Man

Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone and most times this pays off handsomely. Today I hiked for about 3 hours in the low mountains of Western South Korea, near Incheon. The hike was tough and I made numerous errors in direction along the way. My goal was to find fun trails for mountain biking.

Upon my return back to Casa Crocker de Korea I got a call from Suzanne. She thought it a good idea for me to go talk to this “geriatric dude with a bottle of Soju” in front of the local quick shop. She said he really wanted someone to speak English with and that he likely had made friends with U.S. troops during the UN occupation of Korea. I sighed and slowly rose to put my dusty shoes back on my filthy feet. Something about the clinical term “geriatric” gave me the bump to go talk with this guy despite my aching feet.

I looked for the old guy and his bottle of Soju, “Hello, do you speak English?”. He stared blankly as either the Soju had a good grip on him or he did not speak English. I asked again and a young business man asked me if he could assist. I told him that my wife had been approached by the old man and that he was intent on speaking English. The young man asked why I would feel like I needed to talk to the old man who he said could speak no English. I only replied that “it’s just to be nice to him”. Eyebrows raised and then he walked away as I thanked him in Korean. The old man sat there in a Soju fog smiling, saying nothing. I bowed and exited.

While walking away I was overcome by the feeling that it’s never about doing something for nothing; there is great reward in trying to give of one’s self, even if the recipient never catches on. My feet hurt and so did my heart. I miss my patients but I know that that place is my comfort zone and I had actually stepped back into it. Where is "outside" actually?