VOL.69/2024.04

Radio DJ’s Pick

2023.08.07

The primary audience of the radio program “Lee Hyun-Gyung’s Musictopia,” in which I’m taking part as a DJ and producer, are those awake late at night. People who are emotionally hurt by others, fight with their husband or wife, have trouble communicating with their children, and feel bad for their parents for not making contact often, turn on the radio. Then, they share their stories about regretting the past, worrying about the present, and being anxious about the future, through text messages or the online bulletin board. As I am living a not-so-different life from them, I get to nod my head as I read their stories. There, I try to be in the shoes of those in pain by sharing my story or cases of people around me that I have heard sometime. I occasionally quote phrases from books that I find impressive as well.

Some days ago, I read a part from the book I Want to Have Fun ’til the Day I Die (Woongjin ThinkBig) (special edition to commemorate 400k copies sold) to a person who said that it’s sad to lose memory, physical strength, passion, and energy with age. The book’s writer, who is living with 7 types of diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary stenosis after completely losing vision in his left eye 20 years ago, once said about aging, “What’s good about getting old? Nothing. But as everyone on earth gets old, it is a course of life that you must accept. It’s much more important to have the mindset that you want to do good things and have fun, rather than looking for the good part of aging.”
Writer Lee Geun-Hu, 89 years old, was born in 1935 during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The Korean War in 1950 made life difficult, and his participation in the April Revolution (a democratic movement against government corruption that occurred on April 19, 1960) and the May 16 Coup (an uprising by military officers on May 16, 1961) made it hard for him to get a job and support his life. However, he soon realized that he had to be thankful for the fact that he was alive after going through several moments of life or death.
When he was working as a psychiatrist, he changed closed psychiatric wards into open wards for the first time in Korea. He was also the first person to bring in psychodrama as a treatment for mental diseases. Despite the hectic schedule, he has been doing medical volunteering for 40 years in Nepal and 56 years at an orphanage. He also holds the record for being the oldest summa cum laude graduate of Korea Cyber University at the age of 76. Today, even though he can only see in silhouette in his right eye, he wrote in his book that he is still grateful to be able to wake up every day.
That said, people who enjoy their lives are not those who only do things they want to do. It’s those that do what needs to be done, no matter how difficult the situation can be. So, I shared my feelings with my listeners, reminding them that life can be enriched by the accumulation of moments.

I recommended reading Good Enough Parent (Korea Economic Daily), written by psychologist couple Kim Jin-Young and Ko Young-Jin, to one of my listeners who said that she fell in shock after hearing curse words from her son as she scolded him for playing games too long. According to the book, writing a short thank-you letter for the child helps start a conversation. Of course, the letter does not solve the problem right away. It’s not that it makes them have a dramatic reconciliation. It’s also hard to write a thank-you letter for the child as a parent, which is usually written in the opposite direction. It’s harder than you might think to show your adolescent child gratitude for their presence instead of admonishment and demands. However, I shared the book because I thought it would be a great opportunity for couples to become parents and show their sincerity to their children, who are the compass of their lives.
I didn’t begin reading books to reply to each of my listeners’ stories, but whenever I hear a sad story, the phrases from my previous readings come to mind and naturally flow into the microphone. I sometimes receive comments that it was encouraging and gave them strength. There, I reply, “No, I thank YOU.” I jokingly tell my listeners, “Let’s have fun and live a long life as we are good enough as ourselves.” My recent life goal is “well-being for well-dying.” I want to live my finite life with people that I love and care for, instead of being alone. That’s also why I never lose interest in my listeners’ stories and keep reading books.

Written by Lee Hyun-Gyung (Newscaster at SBS)