Translation result
When winter ends and flowers begin to bloom, the city brightens—especially in May. With Children’s Day, Parents’ Day and a string of neighborhood festivals and cultural events, streets fill with laughter as vivid as spring blossoms. Family outings and small, everyday purchases become simple pleasures. But not everyone in the city can enjoy the season. Some people move through May as if it were any other day because of financial hardship or fractured relationships. Though they share the same spaces, many carry a deeper, private loneliness.
That gap didn’t arise by chance. Family structures and lifestyles in Korea have shifted quickly. The era of extended families has faded, and single-person households are now common. Relationships remain, but the time people spend together has declined. As screens replace face-to-face contact, the places where neighbors once looked after one another are emptying. We should ask whether our cities are becoming anonymous places where people live side by side without knowing each other’s lives.
That disconnection can lead to social isolation. At this point, we need to rethink culture. Culture is not merely leisure or consumption; it is how people understand one another, forge bonds and live together. Through culture, people connect, take part in daily life and confirm their place in society. In that sense, culture can serve as a means to restore broken connections.
Change doesn’t have to begin with grand policies. It can start with a phone call or a brief check-in. A simple “How are you?” can give someone the strength to get through the day and reopen a connection to the world. If institutions create a framework for addressing loneliness, it is the ties between people that fill it. We need to move beyond a society that merely provides help to one that routinely asks after each other’s well-being.
When small acts accumulate, they become culture and shape a city’s character. A daily check-in helps form the city’s face. Over time, those connections grow into something beyond casual greetings—they become sources of mutual support.
The pleasure of May is complete only when it is shared. Small actions—going out together, sharing a meal, taking part in local culture—can change a city’s mood. A city is not built of concrete alone; it is made by people who care about one another. If we want May’s scenes to belong to everyone, start by calling someone close to you. “Hey, how are you?” is the simplest and surest way to reconnect.
/Jo Bu-hyeon, Director, Incheon Metropolitan Self-Support Center
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