'You only live once'

By Park Moo-jong

Forty-seven years ago, Kris Kristofferson wrote and composed "Help Me Make It Through the Night," an "immortal" country music ballad whose lyrics are somewhat erotic.

The then 24-year-old American singer-songwriter, who was assigned to teach English literature at the West Point at the end of his military service but refused, sought for love: "Take the ribbon from your head..........let the devil take tomorrow. Lord, tonight I need a friend. Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight. And it's sad to be alone. Help me make it through the night."

Three years before Kris sang the song, American rock band The Grass Roots released a mega hit in 1967, "Let's Live for Today," highlighting the phrases: "Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today. And don't worry 'bout tomorrow."

Already half a century ago, the American artists were talking about "YOLO," an acronym for "you only live once," similar to "Carpe Diem," a Latin aphorism meaning "seize the day," taken from Roman poet Horace's work "Odes" (23 BC).

YOLO, a latest buzzword among mostly young people, in short, expresses the view that one should make the most of the present moment without worrying about the future, implying that he or she should enjoy life, even though that entails taking risks due to impulsive or reckless behavior.

The somewhat "negative" term gave birth to another newly-coined buzzword "YOLO Tribe," whose number is surprisingly rising of late as a recent Job Korea survey shows: Four out of ten in their 20s and 30s are the YOLO Tribe who thinks their happiness is the most important thing and spending money for this is number one priority.

Over the past decades, our society has taken it granted planning for the future rather than the present. What's the background of the emergence of YOLO Tribe?

The glooming uncertainty of the future could be mainly responsible. The latest general trend features a gloomy outlook: AI (artificial intelligence) will certainly take up most human jobs through the Fourth Industrial Revolution as seen in the AlphaGo's overwhelming power in its competition against top professional "baduk" (go) players.

Young people of today tend not to sacrifice today for the uncertain tomorrow. The reality of our society supports the move. Many young people with jobs are tired of their hard work, while many others with no jobs are tired of spending the days with the unemployment rate soaring.

The YOLO Tribe is not estranged to another popular trend of eating alone, going to see movie alone, drinking alone, etc, represented by the Korean word "hon" meaning alone like "honbab" (eating alone) and "honsul" (drinking alone).

Eating by oneself has become increasingly in vogue with the number of people living alone rising sharply, illuminating the latest economic depression and security unrest amid the mounting North Korea nuclear missile threats.

Statistics show that one of four households is single-person last year, accounting for 27.1 percent of the total. This means about 5 million people live alone. And the ratio is expected to reach one third in two decades.

There have been many pros and cons about eating alone. Charles Lamb (1775-1834), an English writer and essayist, exclaimed, "Oh, the pleasure of eating my dinner alone."

An Arab proverb, quoted by Henry Louis Mencken( 1880-1956), a German-American journalist and cultural critic, reads: "He who eats alone chokes alone." Jean Baudrillard (1929-1987), a French sociologist and philosopher, absolutely hated eating alone. He said, "Sadder than destitution, sadder than a beggar is the man who eats alone in public."

Dining out alone in a restaurant used to be an unfamiliar scene in the Korean society where a family is called "sikku" meaning persons or members of an organization who eat together. "Sik" means eating and "ku" mouth.

Today, however, dining out alone is becoming a familiar scene in this society with the increasing number of YOLO tribe.

Of course, from time to time, one may want to dine out alone to have his or her own time enjoying a meal by himself or herself and for replenishing the soul without being concerned about accompanied diners.

But eating alone habitually like a daily routine is "dangerous" for mental health, in particular, due to the ever-glooming solitude. This means an isolation from the outer world.

The disgraced former president Park Geun-hye, now standing a trial behind the bars. used to be a lonely diner at the "vast" restaurant of Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential residence. She had no one to rely on but Ms. Choe Sun-sil.

Worrisome is the fact that the YOLO Tribe does not care others, even family members. They are determined to do what they want to do, whoever opposes. They tend not to set a high value on human relationships.

Happiness depends on human relationship more largely than such external achievements like money, power and honor. Success or failure of one's relationship with others also depends on his or her modesty and consideration of others.

One's happiness, thus, largely depend on how he or she establishes human relationship to be respected by others.

Few will be against the idea of being faithful to today's life. But the pleasure of today should be connected to the happiness of tomorrow.

No one can live twice but James Bond in a 007 film "You Only Live Twice." But today without future has no hope.

Park Moo-jong is the senior advisor of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after he worked as a reporter of the daily since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei2i9@gmail.com.