A senior citizen, who was affected by poverty most of her life and died of illness this week, was found to have left a will to donate her entire savings as a scholarship fund.
When Suh In-soo, 71, Daegu, passed away on Thursday, she left behind a legacy that many rich people in South Korea couldn’t afford. She didn’t give her wealth to her children as inheritance as Koreans usually do. Rather, she donated it to an elementary school from which she graduated to be used as scholarship for underprivileged children.
When she was a student at the same school several decades ago, she commuted to the school every day barefoot because her family couldn’t buy a pair of shoes for her.
Later, she worked at a semi-outdoor market, selling fabric to make her ends meet. She lived frugally, while saving most of what she earned.
“I was so poor that I couldn’t afford a pair of shoes when I was in elementary school. I hope poverty doesn’t discourage today’s students,” she was quoted as saying.
The school plans to establish a scholarship in her name.
The South Korean society promotes the spirit of noblesse oblige, the idea that people born into the nobility or upper social classes must behave in an honorable generous way toward those less privileged.
But most rich people find it a difficult virtue to put to practice in a society where traditionally parents leave their wealth to their children.
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