A warm bowl of rice soup

A famous line in The Attorney, a Korean movie directed by Yang Woo-seok, goes something like "The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea belongs to the people, and all power comes from the people. The people is the nation!" Song Woo-seok, the protagonist (played by Song Kang-ho), shouts out an impassioned speech when he is defending at the court a young man who is about to be sacrificed by state violence. Despite this historical scene in the movie, I have my personal favorite: it is an anecdote about the owner (played by Kim Yeong-ae) of the rice soup place that Song frequented for a meal during his years preparing for the bar exam. Despairing and exhausted, Song sells all his study books to give up on the exam and visit the rice soup place with the money to pay off his outstanding debt, only to run away, retrieve all the books he sold, and resume his studies, eventually passing the bar exam.

After becoming a lawyer, Song visits the rice soup place again. He tries to pay the owner a large sum, saying he is a poor bastard who ran away without paying for what he ate. However, the owner refuses to receive the money and replies, "Old debts are repaid not with money but with your face and feet. Come often, you hear? Oh my, I feel great. Today’s on the house again." Her words are genuine. She feels delighted by someone who succeeded after having the meal she prepared rather than scolding the person for running away without paying. Deeply moved by her, Song asks if he can hug the owner, and while embracing him tightly, she gently pats Song’s back like a mother, saying, "As long as you enjoy my food, that's all that matters. Don't feel sorry for not having paid anymore."

That bowl of warm rice soup is invaluable. It cannot be quantified or measured because it is about the heart it contains. There are so many people who don't feel burdened even when they are receiving luxurious treatment. Those who value and feel grateful for something as small as a bowl of rice soup and those who wish to repay kindness not just with money but with more kind hearts: those people are in short supply and thus greatly missed in today’s world.