When the issues of responsibility and failure become the primary concern of our society, the memory of the tragic Sewol disaster will surely haunt us. Even though our beloved young children who died in that ill-fated ferry forgive us and take us in, we cannot ever forget our unbearable guilt. Indeed, the enormous gulf of guilt cannot be bridged, no matter how hard we try to atone.

Even though we are grief-stricken, we will soon forget the disaster as usual because we have an incredibly short memory span. Once again, we won’t be able to learn from the tragic calamity because we are notoriously slow learners. And we will undoubtedly repeat the same catastrophe again in the near future because we seriously lack professionalism. Currently, the whole nation is in mourning for the victims of the disaster. But how long will it last? And how long will we remember the tragic incident?

Other countries are different from us. Americans, for example, do not seem to forget the past easily. For example, they have never forgotten the fall of the Alamo to Mexican troops in 1836, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 or the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. In the States, you can frequently hear or see the slogans “Remember the Alamo!” “Remember Pearl Harbor!” or “Remember 9/11!” Instead of harboring a grudge against the perpetrators, Americans want to remember the tragic incidents. It seems that the American people are ready to forgive, but do not want to forget.

On the contrary, Koreans tend to forget the past too easily. For instance, we no longer seem to remember the major disasters that shook the nation: the ill-fated ferry Seohae that sunk in 1993, the collapse of Seongsu Bridge in 1994, the crumbling of Sampoong Department Store in 1995 and the North Korean attack on the naval ship Cheonan in 2010.

Few people would deny that our habitual amnesia of those catastrophes culminated in the recent Sewol disaster. Since those major calamities brutally exposed our lack of safety precautions, we have done virtually nothing to prevent similar catastrophic accidents from happening again. In Korea, therefore, you hardly ever hear or see the slogans “Remember the Seohae Ferry!” “Remember Sampoong!” or “Remember the Cheonan!”

Indeed, we are oblivious of the disasters that happened to us or the favors we received in the past. It is only natural that we do not learn from history and are labeled as ingrates. Strangely, we do not forget it when someone harmed us in the past, and thus constantly harbor a grudge against him.

That is why we still exhibit resentment against Japan, which colonized our nation for 35 years in the early 20th century. Instead of remembering the tragic incident and learning valuable lessons from it, we just feel everlasting resentment against Japan. When it comes to Japan, therefore, the dream of reconciliation recedes and becomes a hollow gesture. It seems that Koreans are ready to forget, but do not want to forgive.

Another problem that plagues Korean society is a lack of professionalism. Professionalism provides us with self-respect, decency and integrity, preventing us from falling into disgrace. The Sewol disaster illustrates how devoid our society is of professionalism.

If the captain of the ferry had had professionalism, he would not have abandoned the ship to save his life that easily. If only the owner of the passenger-liner company had valued professionalism, he would not have let the overloaded ferry leave the port for commercial profits. And if only the government officials who were in charge of overseeing ferries had cared about professionalism, the Sewol disaster could have been avoided. Indeed, we urgently need to restore the long-lost professionalism in our society.

Watching the coverage of the Sewol disaster, we now realize that Koreans are not only incredibly slow rescuers but also extremely slow learners in this rapidly and radically changing world. Amidst the swift and strong international currents, we are frequently at a loss and thus often do not know what to do. Meanwhile, our society will capsize and precious lives will be lost. In order to survive and thrive, therefore, we should be able to learn fast and act fast.

Despite our short memory span, we should remember the tragic Sewol disaster and its ill-fated victims forever. And in memory of the victims, we should renovate our society and restructure our nation in order to prevent a repeat of the shameful disaster. At the same time, we should not allow pro-North Korea agitators to rile up the victims’ families and relatives in an attempt to topple the government.

The important thing is not to forget the disaster, not to be slow learners any longer and not to let a similar disaster happen in our country ever again. From now on, we should become fast learners who remember the past for a long time and who are known for our professionalism.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. ― Ed.