Different Spotlights Are Necessary

I was surprised to watch a tel evision program about bachelors living in rural areas who cannot get married. In the year 2001, there are still many rural bache lors, some of them over the age of 40. There are more than 200 old bachelors registered in a marriage agency in Seosan, many on the waiting list for years, without any assurance of being able to get mar ried. Stories about the fix the rural bachelors often get in Œ of taking Korean residents in China as wives and the tears of disappointment of the Filipino women who married the farmers and moved into rural areas Œ provoke sympathy.

Psychologists used mice in experiments to find out which desire is stronger, sexual desire or the need to satisfy hunger. No matter how the results come out, sexual desire and the desire to reproduce are the most basic human desires. One dies without eating and can live without sex, but that pain is not less than the pain of death. We send food overseas to relieve the starving, but we neglect the old bachelors nearby who are starving for sexual lust.

A specialist on women said that the living conditions in rural areas should be improved drasti cally, so that women would find fewer difficulties in rural life than urban life. Is that really so? I do not think so. If the improvement of living conditions should be made first, in order to create better conditions for the rural bachelors to get married, it might take their lifetime to be married. Living conditions are comparative, so that if conditions in rural areas become better, conditions in the cities will become better twice over. Rural areas cannot catch up to cities in the quality of life. The solution is not in creating better living conditions, but in the way social focus is given in our socie ty. That is, more social spotlight should be given to the merits of rural life.

There was a teenage girl who was trampled to death in trying to see a star entertainer for a moment. Apartment residents living near such a star cannot get any sleep because of the numbers of fans camping outside. Is there a great substance in being a star? There is really nothing to it. They just have the special skill of getting the spot light. If we turn the direction of the spotlight a little, we can induce the women''s attention to that side. If television portrays the rural bach elors as being gentle, warm, strong, gallant people with strong beliefs, the shirking of rural areas by single women would abate.

Whenever there is a movement of personnel in the government, the ruling party and the people with a different regional basis insist that the important posts should be filled with those from specific locales. Although rural bachelors suffer these pains, there aren''t many people who are angry at the biased spotlight. If this is so, the social justice of our society and our sense of taking care of neigh bors are clearly onesided. That there were more than 60 people who received perfect scores in the last college proficien cy examination proves our overemphasis. If there were some questions that could not have been answered except by students who helped their parents in the rural and fishing areas, perfect scores would not have appeared.

Seoul National University decided to admit 100 students from rural and fishing areas under a special quota next year. But it should select students who help their parents, love their origins and hope to return to their hometowns. There is no use in admitting stu dents who only dream of finding their way into the city and succeed, by sitting in their rooms, while their parents overwork.

There is a mysterious passion and impulse in humans that cannot be explained by logic. There are those who suffer and are injured because of this, but dedicate their lives to looking after orphans, sen ior citizens, the environment and a sense of justice in society. If we turn the direction of the spotlight and catch the heart of women, than the rural men may live like urbanites, having children.