Cheonan unofficially has a blacklist of people and tonight we put a name on its list. We added the name not only because of the wrong he's done to us but for his own safety. There are a lot of people who would love to jump at the chance to seek out revenge and take matters into their own hands. I don't support that and so it's certainly best he leaves and just never comes back. He clearly has a strong group of haters and though perhaps I should and could feel sorry for him, I do not. He made this problem but now we're the ones trying to clean up what he did on his own. It shouldn't be this way but it is, such is life I suppose. He will be leaving Cheonan when this all is over and, after this is all done, he's going to have little to none to pack.
Sometimes I feel like I don't live in the same city as other foreigners when I hear them talk about Cheonan. Cheonan is a great city but it is by no means the boring, plain city that many of them think it is. Many of them use their weekends to head to Seoul, as if Cheonan lacked excitement but I beg to differ. I visit Seoul to escape the craziness of Cheonan. Cheonan perhaps has too much going on, hence why I'm looking countryside for a new house to move into. I'd love to get away from the city, not just because of the noise but because it's thriving with non-stop people to see, things to do and situations always happening. With it's handful of gangs and corrupt rotary club that basically runs the city, Cheonan is not the county side plain city most outsiders think it is, or many "insiders" think it is either for that matter. It's very complex and for someone with connections within it, it's a world of opportunity and where the impossible becomes the possible. Life was so different for me when I was just a carefree foreigner, ignorant to the real Cheonan, and with no real deep roots in it. Now days I spend most of my day speaking Korean, living Korean culture and my tight circle of closest friends here includes various Korean friends but only one foreigner. I miss my days of innocence and bliss but I very much prefer the Cheonan I know and live in.
Sometimes I feel like I don't live in the same city as other foreigners when I hear them talk about Cheonan. Cheonan is a great city but it is by no means the boring, plain city that many of them think it is. Many of them use their weekends to head to Seoul, as if Cheonan lacked excitement but I beg to differ. I visit Seoul to escape the craziness of Cheonan. Cheonan perhaps has too much going on, hence why I'm looking countryside for a new house to move into. I'd love to get away from the city, not just because of the noise but because it's thriving with non-stop people to see, things to do and situations always happening. With it's handful of gangs and corrupt rotary club that basically runs the city, Cheonan is not the county side plain city most outsiders think it is, or many "insiders" think it is either for that matter. It's very complex and for someone with connections within it, it's a world of opportunity and where the impossible becomes the possible. Life was so different for me when I was just a carefree foreigner, ignorant to the real Cheonan, and with no real deep roots in it. Now days I spend most of my day speaking Korean, living Korean culture and my tight circle of closest friends here includes various Korean friends but only one foreigner. I miss my days of innocence and bliss but I very much prefer the Cheonan I know and live in.
I knew Snickers was quite the well-connected person when I first met him and I've always believed in the notion of six degrees of separation, the idea that we're all connected via six people or less, but with Snickers it's more like 2 degrees of separation. I can't even begin to bring light to just how many people know about Thursday's situation and have asked to get involved because they heard Snickers had involved himself in it. Snickers has really lived up to his label as the "lost and found of Cheonan" and if anyone can find an answer to this massive problem then it surely is him.
I can't go into the details of last week's situation because it by no means close to a finish nor am I legally able to. I'm itching to tell someone but I've limited myself to only a few friends I know I can trust. Unfortunately all but one of the few live outside of Korea. Perhaps one day I'll be able to let it all out, all the info that is now but secrets I go to bed with. Secrets are a terrible thing, I've always hated them, but I really have no choice but to keep them. The line between what's right and wrong is no longer a distinct one and these days I find myself stepping over the line to try to make right what is so blatantly wrong. I'm doing what I can, to make the wrong that's been done to my friends right, but in doing so, in supporting and picking my brain nonstop about it, I question if what we're doing is even right. We're playing with fire, surely, but I don't know if any of us would take back our choices and do things different at this point. If we could simply erase the situation and walk away from it with our hands clean, we'd obviously do so but we're talking about businesses and multiple families involved. Potential businesses risk going under, families risk losing their homes and everything they worked for, and either him and/or us risk doing harder time than the hard time we're doing now, if you know what I mean. Too much is at stake right now; we're too involved to stop. Forward moving is all we can do and it scared the hell out me today when I realised the full situation we're now in.
I can't go into the details of last week's situation because it by no means close to a finish nor am I legally able to. I'm itching to tell someone but I've limited myself to only a few friends I know I can trust. Unfortunately all but one of the few live outside of Korea. Perhaps one day I'll be able to let it all out, all the info that is now but secrets I go to bed with. Secrets are a terrible thing, I've always hated them, but I really have no choice but to keep them. The line between what's right and wrong is no longer a distinct one and these days I find myself stepping over the line to try to make right what is so blatantly wrong. I'm doing what I can, to make the wrong that's been done to my friends right, but in doing so, in supporting and picking my brain nonstop about it, I question if what we're doing is even right. We're playing with fire, surely, but I don't know if any of us would take back our choices and do things different at this point. If we could simply erase the situation and walk away from it with our hands clean, we'd obviously do so but we're talking about businesses and multiple families involved. Potential businesses risk going under, families risk losing their homes and everything they worked for, and either him and/or us risk doing harder time than the hard time we're doing now, if you know what I mean. Too much is at stake right now; we're too involved to stop. Forward moving is all we can do and it scared the hell out me today when I realised the full situation we're now in.
Shout-outs to my K-Crew here for their amazing ability to keep their heads clear and handle the situation with their intellect and not their emotions, for it not having destroyed them or torn us all apart. Much thanks to those few friends mentioned in the above paragraph, those who know of the situation and have reached out their support and encouragement. I really appreciate your support more than you know, even if it's just me venting to you in an email or over coffee -- feels so good to get this out of my head. I don't feel so suffocated by it when I share it with you. It's going to take a lot for my K-Crew to clean up this nasty situation but I am confident that we can do it. Hard times make hard people, I'm a firm believer in this and if we can build Korea's largest boxing club with no money and so many incredible obstacles, then solving this problem is just yet another bump in the road.
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