Until I first began to be perplexed by my self-awareness, my life seemed to be mundane and simple. The world I knew was extremely limited. I was a frog living in a well. I lived in Ulsan, the headquarters of Hyundai Company, in South Korea. No matter where I looked, I saw nothing but Hyundai car factories, which were tall and gray, dull and dry. To many, this may sound strange, but it was almost as if Hyundai stalked me everywhere.
As I grew older mentally as well as physically, I found myself desiring to run away from this repetitive and colorless life. However, I took only a small step each day to reach for an end that I was not sure even existed. Thus, I was merely an immature boy running in the desert, trying to reach an uncertain goal without looking around. I hoped that someday I would find an oasis in the middle of this desert. Whether or not I would find the place where I belonged was unclear at this point in my life. As my shoes became bigger than my father's, I was more and more curious to learn about life. It became harder to concentrate as these concerns grew. This question of what to do with my life was the obstacle that continuously challenged me. .
My sixteenth summer became the turning point of my life, during which I discovered my future goal. I volunteered at the Taeyeon Rehabilitation Home, a social welfare foundation in South Korea. The building was an old house with several rooms that were overcrowded by children with handicaps and Down Syndrome. Some were in so much pain that they lay on their backs all day. Others could not walk without falling down, so they wobbled around the room like infants taking their first new steps. Others were not conscious of their actions. I was overwhelmed with a new feeling I had never experienced before in my life.
My first responsibility was to wash clothes and supervise little children. These two tasks were not so easy as they seemed.