Re-Learning Some of the Basic Lessons of Life

I have been told that nearly every international faculty member who comes to Handong makes a trip to the local hospital's Emergency Room within about the first two months of their sojourn. Well, it seems I have been given that privilege in my first two weeks! Here's how it transpired.

It all started -- as every life-instructing experience does -- in a very ordinary way. I was fixing myself a light Sunday evening supper and needed to remove a bottle cap. I reached in the kitchenette drawer of my well-anointed, little studio apartment. In that drawer, I found nearly every utensil you might need for meal preparation -- except -- a bottle-cap opener. So being the resourceful Eagle Scout that I am (this will come back to haunt me), I picked up a small knife and started to pry off, ever so carefully, that stubborn bottle cap.

I thought if I could only loosen the edges of the cap, I could then twist it off. What I failed to do, however, was what my father had regularly warned me to always do when using a knife or tool. Think about what might happen if the knife slips! Seems as though at fifty I was in need of re-learning this most basic of life's lessons: Consider carefully the consequences of your actions.

That's right; you guessed it. The cap popped-off a whole lot easier than I had expected and -- yes -- the knife slipped. But the other thing I had failed to check was just how sharp this little knife was. It had a rounded blade, so I assumed it was more like a dinner knife -- not a razor-sharp pairing knife. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, my left index finger was changed! Laid open with a inch-long slice that was clearly too deep just to bind-up tightly and butterfly closed. No, I was no longer in need of Korean hospitality -- this would require professional medical attention.

Thankfully, Eric Enlow and his family had just dropped me off back at my apartment (The Hermitage, as I have now affectionately come to call it) an hour before, so after wrapping a clean hand towel around my wound and applying direct pressure (remember I'm an Eagle Scout), I made a quick call to Eric and humbly requested his prompt assistance. He assured me he would be right over to pick me up and drive me into Pohang's Good Samaritan Hospital.

What my good brother did not tell me at the time was that he was in the middle of grilling up his family's dinner. He dropped everything to come to my aid. We made it to the hospital in less than 30 minutes, and though I don't think I had loss much blood, I was feeling a bit light-headed. Eric directed me around from the main entrance to the ER -- having four kids, as Eric does, he has come to know this route fairly well. In fact (remember the two-month rule?), his young son (about 6 at the time) broke his leg within their first few months at Handong.

After being given two shots -- one in the arm, an antibiotic, the other in my rump for tetanus -- and two X-rays of my hand, the attending physician came over to my gurney and attended to the wound. It wasn't hurting much by this time since I had continued to apply pressure, but being the careful doc that he was, he needed to open the wound up and clean it out thoroughly.

Now the pain really intensified, but I was put in my place by the fellow two gurneys down from me. He had just been brought into the ER with a compound fracture of his lower leg! So it was time for me to buck-up and take the pain that clearly paled in light of his suffering.

Six artfully crafted stitches drew the 3cm wound tightly closed. The finger was bandaged and I was sent off with a 3-day prescription of antibiotics and pain medication. The whole experience had taken a little less than 2 hours and the cost -- $101.46 (that's 125,590 Won) which included the X-rays, medications and stitches! Consider that on your way to health care reform in the States. So now, I'm walking around campus and soon to conduct my Monday afternoon class with a fairly large bandage on my left index finger.

My "learning opportunity" has been especially humbling when you consider that about 35 years ago, this Eagle Scout nearly cut off that very same finger with an ax when he was attempting to spilt some oak logs on the first evening of his last Summer Camp as Senior Patrol Leader of his troop. Not only was it the same finger I cut, this new knife slice ran almost exactly along the old scar from that Scouting "ax accident." I think there might be an even deeper lesson here, but I will have to ponder it for awhile.