Are you a long-term adult or a fool?
Jang Gi-ryeo, the foolish doctor who lived as an eternal free man

This book contains the life of Dr. Jang Gi-ryeo, who was known as the ‘Korean Schweitzer’, ‘the foolish doctor’, ‘a recipient of the Magsaysay Award’, ‘the founder of health insurance’, and ‘practiced with his whole body what the art of benevolence is’ and left quietly.
Following the life of Dr. Jang Gi-ryeo, a true doctor who focused solely on "people" while living through the harsh times of the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War, provides us with direction on how we should live our lives.

The President Who Went to Prison and Dr. Jang Who Was Awarded a Medal After Death
If Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo were the ones who set the precedent that even presidents can go to prison, Dr. Jang Gi-ryeo is the one who left the myth that even after death, one can receive a medal.
The beginning of his myth goes back to Mr. Lee Gwang-su.
The story is that the model for the male protagonist 'Anbin' in Lee Gwang-su's novel 'Love' is Dr. Jang Gi-ryeo.

In the 1940s, Professor Lee Gwang-su suffered from a stroke and was hospitalized at Seoul National University Hospital for six months. It is said that Dr. Jang was his attending physician at that time.
One day, while making rounds, Dr. Jang stopped by Dr. Lee Gwang-su's hospital room.
When Professor Lee Gwang-su saw Dr. Jang, he immediately said, “Dr. Jang! You are either a genius or a total idiot!”
This saying is passed down like a myth as it accurately captures Dr. Jang's character.

Dr. Jang Gi-ryeo was a surgeon whose achievements were unparalleled in the Korean surgical community, but his life was very ordinary and shabby.
He served as the director of Busan Gospel Hospital for 40 years and as the dean of Gospel Nursing College for 20 years until he passed away at the age of 86 at Baek Hospital in Seoul on December 25, 1995. However, he did not have even a single-family apartment or a 10-pyeong (approximately 33 square meters) cemetery to be buried in after his death.

The Fool Doctor's Tale
This is where his mystery begins.
Of course, he may have received a salary as a hospital director or university president, but his allowances were more than his salary or allowances.
When I first met Dr. Jang in 1967, he was in a state of crisis.
Because of the rumors that were almost superstitious about Dr. Jang, poor surgery patients from all over the country and terminally ill cancer patients who were deemed incurable by other hospitals flocked to Busan Gospel Hospital.
Even though I somehow ended up being hospitalized and had surgery and recovered from the illness, another problem arose.
Most of them did not have money for hospitalization and medicine.
The last place to visit at this time is the director's office.

When patients complained to Dr. Jang, who was originally not good at math and had a kind heart to the point of being foolish, saying, “My family lives in the countryside and we are tenant farmers without rice paddies, fields, or even a single cow. We cannot afford such high hospitalization and treatment costs,” Dr. Jang would first think of their plight and then cry.
The patients' noble(?) suggestion was that they could do odd jobs at the hospital instead of paying the hospital bills. What doctor wouldn't be touched by such words? At this point, Dr. Jang would often pay the entire patient's medical expenses with his own salary.
(syncopation)

The person Dr. Jang regarded as his lifelong companion and mentor was Mr. Ham Seok-heon.
Once a month, several people would gather at Dr. Jang's residence to study the Bible, and the voice of Professor Ham Seok-heon speaking at that time is still vivid in my ears.
Professor Ham asked, “Is it really true to believe in Jesus so simply like Dr. Jang?” After a long pause, he stroked his white beard and concluded, “You have to believe in Jesus as simply as Dr. Jang.”
Dr. Jang lived simply, believed simply, and died simply.
But his death leaves us with an important message.
He worshipped without any hesitation with anyone.
Even with Catholic priests, Buddhist monks, non-church members, Quakers, and atheists.

---From "Is the person who wants to keep the long-term an adult or a fool?"