Looking at Korean society and politics these days... this phrase really comes out naturally... "5 minutes before the mess"
Since I spent a long time growing up in my grandmother's care when I was young... I tend to use the language of elders.
When I heard the phrase "5 minutes before the mess" in elementary school (called National School back then), I remembered it by associating it with the chaos when dogs gathered...
Actually, the "dog" here isn't a puppy (犬) but the "open" character (開) from the word "open".
It's said to have originated from after the war ended, in times when people had nothing and no food, when they had to survive on communal meals in wide village common areas like ash yards.
It was common to boil porridge or gruel in a large cauldron and distribute it to villagers in the form of communal meals... Before opening the cauldron lid and starting distribution, the pot lid would be
tapped with a ladle going bang bang bang~!! while shouting "open board (開板) in 5 minutes~~~". Then people from times when it was hard to eat even one meal a day gathered chaotically and haphazardly
in front of the distribution area, fighting and pushing each other to get even one more spoonful, creating a chaotic scene.
That scene became the origin of the phrase "5 minutes before the mess" that we use today.
Doesn't it fit perfectly with the atmosphere of today's society where nothing seems normal?
It's true for the person called president.... it's true for the people who elected such a person.... it's true for the people who pushed such a person and got them into that position...
If something went wrong, it would be fine if they just admitted it and didn't repeat it.... But I can't find a single person who admits they did something wrong.
That's why these days I'm afraid to look at the politics & society section of the news. I wonder what contradictions they'll be insisting are right this time...
In my eyes, the sight of them frustrated at not being able to bite each other... really looks exactly like "5 minutes before the mess".
