[Na Dong-jun's ESG Perspective] Those Who Disappeared After a Cancer Diag...

[By Na Dong-jun, Columnist, Korea Lecturer News] A cancer diagnosis did not end at the hospital. From that day on, I found myself confronting not only the illness in my body but also how easily care and relationships in our society can falter.

After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, it wasn’t just my health that changed. People’s attitudes changed as well. Among those who once expressed concern and offered comfort, some gradually cut off contact. Relationships I believed were close faded more quickly than expected. On the other hand, unexpected individuals quietly remained by my side. There were people who sent brief messages instead of long explanations, and who did not retreat even in the face of situations they could not resolve. Illness occurs in one person’s body, but the time surrounding that illness ultimately reveals how a society treats those who have become vulnerable.

We often understand ESG only as a language of investment or management. However, the “Social (S)” that I experienced as a patient is far more tangible. It concerns how we treat the sick, where we push those who have grown weak, and how far a community is willing to share the burden of those in need. Systems and metrics come later. The level of a society is first revealed in how it treats people in crisis.

The difference between those who disappeared after my diagnosis and those who remained ultimately lay not in the depth of their emotions but in their attitude toward responsibility. Those who disappeared tended to see suffering merely as an individual’s misfortune. They pushed it aside as an uncomfortable burden belonging to someone else, rather than recognizing it as a shared responsibility. Those who stayed were different. While they could not cure the illness, they ensured that the patient was not pushed out of social relationships. They asked how I was, stood by me through the long process of treatment, and accepted the slower pace of my life as it was. At that point, the “Social (S)” of ESG becomes not an abstract slogan but a concrete ethic. It is a way of relating that does not exclude the vulnerable, and a shared responsibility that does not push those in crisis out of the realm of participation.

Of course, the reasons people disappear from the side of the sick cannot be explained simply by coldness. Beneath this lies a societal poverty—a lack of language, attitude, and preparation to face illness. When confronted with someone who is sick, many people first encounter their own helplessness and limitations. Unsure of what to say, afraid that their words of comfort might cause harm, they ultimately choose silence and distance. Illness is not only another person’s misfortune but also a mirror reflecting a possible future for oneself. Some avoid patients as a way of pushing away that reality. However, as this avoidance repeats, the sick must endure not only the pain of treatment but also social isolation. This is not just an individual issue but a result of a social structure and culture that leaves care as a private burden.

Then why were some people able to stay until the end? It was not because they were exceptionally strong, but because they understood care not as emotion, but as responsibility. Even knowing they could not eliminate the patient’s suffering, they did not abandon their responsibility in the relationship. What the sick need is not always the right answer, but the experience of being respected as the same person they were before falling ill. Those who remained did not give up that respect. Even as the pace of life slowed and roles diminished, they continued to treat the patient as an equal member of the community. This is the core that the “Social (S)” of ESG should aim for: not leaving the vulnerable as mere objects of compassion, but recognizing them as individuals with dignity.

Cancer took many things from me, but it ultimately taught me one clear truth: staying by someone’s side when they are at their weakest is the true measure of a society. A society that pushes the sick, the slow, and those in need out of relationships cannot be considered whole, no matter how many systems or metrics it boasts. The real “Social (S)” is not found in grand slogans. It begins with not disappearing from someone’s side in their hardest moments.

Columnist Profile

Na Dong-jun is a senior researcher at the Digital Transformation Education Institute and a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University. He is an innovator pioneering the intersection of generative AI and digital transformation in social welfare. He earned his Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Seoul and holds certifications as a KAC coach and management consultant (HR and organizational management).

He delivers a wide range of lectures—from ChatGPT utilization strategies to ESG management, smart work, organizational development, and emotional management. As a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, he is actively engaged with 50+ Centers, domestic and international universities, welfare institutions, associations, and corporate settings, earning strong responses through customized solutions and hands-on workshops.

He also runs the one-person education and consulting brand “UPDREAM153,” covering career development, career design, and organizational consulting, and serves as the editor of the regional ESG insight newsletter “local in fact,” contributing to the sustainable growth of organizations and local communities.

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