[The Fountain] Humanity shines in a crisis

When there is no anxiety over threats, contacts can encourage understanding the most. Humans are equal in the face of disaster.

KANG HYE-RANThe author is the international news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo. The father was devastated, unable to let go of the finger of his dead daughter. Looking at the pictures of the victims in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Turkey in the aftermath of the earthquake, I was reminded of Japan’s earthquake in 2011. A small fishing village in Aomori I visited just two days before was completely destroyed by the tsunami. I was quite relieved by my luck for a second.

But then, I worried about the owner of the bar who served snacks with a smile. The earthquake in Turkey is especially painful, not just because of the more than 10,000 victims. My memories of visiting Istanbul several years ago have returned to me.

The presence of Turkish people in Korea, including naturalized journalist Alpago Sinasi, also played a part. How must volleyball player Kim Yeon-kyung feel after having played for the Turkish league for a long time?

Without the ability to empathize with the pain of others, homo sapiens — the most vulnerable of all primates — may not have survived today. Fossils showing the traces of injury and healing on ancient human bones prove that someone had helped them survive.

A well established theory in evolutionary sociology says disasters and pains stimulate compassion and encourage cooperation. We can work together with someone we’ve never met to achieve a mutual goal. Through that, we can create communities such as societies, nations and even fandoms.

But this ability is on the other side of the coin from the hostility to heterogeneous communities.

Oxytocin, which is released in mothers when delivering babies, can also ignite fury when the baby is threatened. If this mindset is expanded, we can hardly live together with those who harm “us.”

The sentiment was evident in a report from a JoongAng Ilbo journalist dispatched to Ukraine before the first anniversary of the war. The fury was surging not only toward Russia but also Belarus which opened the path to Ukraine. Grudges and tragedy are passed down.

If mankind had lived like this, civilization would have been impossible. While survival of the fittest prevails, affinity facilitated revolution, as claimed by recent evolutionary anthropologists who say that kindness is the key to human survival. As if to prove this theory, the international community is extending helping hands. Korea extended a helping hand to Turkey, who sent its troops to Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. Sweden has joined even after having a discord with Turkey over its NATO entry.

Greece, a rival of Turkey across the Aegean Sea, has a relationship as bad as the Korea-Japan relations. But the “earthquake diplomacy” is functioning again just like when the two countries reconciled at the time of the serial earthquakes in 1999.

When there is no anxiety over threats, contacts can encourage understanding the most. Humans are equal in the face of disaster. That humility brings us together.