In 1992, I was a junior high school student. When I met You-jin, she was close to graduation, but I was not. She was one grade higher than me.
        When I met her, it was a rainy day. At that time, I was going to school by train from Tongdu-chun to Seoul. It was not raining in Tongdu-chun, but when I arrived in Seoul, it started to rain. I did not have an umbrella, so I was walking in the rain and getting wet. At that time, You-jin looked at me. She walked up to me and offered to share her umbrella with me. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know who she was when she held up the umbrella. Because of her uniform, however, I noticed that we went to the same school. I was thankful for her kindness. The next day, I gave her a card of thanks and a small present. The present was a Teddy bear. That's how I became acquainted with her. You-jin taught me how to solve difficult math problems, sent me letters, let me listen to her favorite music, etc.
        One month later, she asked me, "Do you have an appointment this weekend?"
        I answered, "No, I don't."
        She said that she was a volunteer for patients in a hospital, so she asked me to go to the hospital with her. I said O.K. so we went to the hospital. I don't remember the hospital's name exactly, but anyway, we talked with the patients and took care of them. You-jin especially liked the children, so she used to play with them, reading books, teaching them songs, etc. Unfortunately I was so unskillful that I was not much use. She liked to help patients, so she worked in the hospital every weekend. I asked her, "How do you do this work? Doesn't it make you tired?"
        She said, "I never feel tired. I want to make the patients happy." And she went on, "Sometimes this work is annoying, tiring and troublesome, though I am happy to be of service to patients. I've never felt this sort of happiness. Then, I am satisfied with this work." I felt that she had a pure heart.
        In fact, in the third grade of junior high school, they divided us into two sorts of schools. One was an academic high school, and the other was a commercial high school. To get into an academic high school, students had to take an entrance exam, so they received private tutoring, or went to an academy. A lot of students had never done volunteer work. Even though You-jin was a volunteer in a hospital, she entered an academic high school.
        After we graduated from junior high school, I lost contact with her. Two years ago, unexpectedly, she made a phone call to me. You-jin asked me, "How about your health? What are you doing lately?"
        I answered, "I'm living happily, and I have become a university student."
        She said that she always remembered me. She couldn't contact me, because she lost my phone number. She asked for my phone number from our junior high school. You-jin said that she had become a nurse and was working hard for her patients.
        After I talked to her on the telephone, I thought, "She must be a real nurse." You-jin made me realize what real service is.