The Unwanted Present... Monday, September 20

With tomorrow being the start of the Chusok holiday here in Korea, I got thinking today about what it is in Korea that I am so thankful for and at the top of my list was my boxing. Beyond the obvious things that my boxing in Korea has given me, like great health and wicked training, my boxing has given me a second family... and a husband too. I've met so many people through and because of my boxing in Korea but I'll never forget those of whom I've labelled as my teammates: Junior Mint, Milk Dud, Black Skinny, Motor Cross, Tang, Panty Boy Jr., the Cheonan Bulldog, S-Line Wanna-Be, Bella Punch, and various others. I train with a lot of boxers but there is a select group that I am considerably close with -- guys, and the odd couple of girls, whom I've laughed with, cried with, and have even sat around in panties with (weigh-in moments).

Getting word that one of my close boxing buddies has passed on was heartbreaking. I've always known him as a sweet down-to-Earth kind of guy that trained hard and no one ever had a beef with because he was just a good guy. While other teammates joked about their drama with the girls and drama at home, he never seemed to have anything to contribute to these conversations. The only thing he ever complained about was not having enough time.


If only we could go back to the day this picture was taken. Since this picture boy have we all changed -- too much. Two of these guys are now in the army, one of which is now a divorced father of one and the other is having a heck of a time juggling army with his professional athletic career. I'm now married, another had a "bun-in-the-oven" scare that almost distroyed his boxing career, and now one of these guys is dead.

I won't get into the details of it but this past week this very down-to-Earth guy who always seemed carefree committed suicide. I was extremely shocked to get the news and felt sick to my stomach. How did none of us notice that he was so desperately sad?

I couldn't help but think back and think of Du San, a student of mine who committed suicide and had even told me he was going to "go away", as he put it. We all, and by we I mean his classmates and I, knew something was up with him. I even tried to confront him about it. I only saw Du San once a week at Dankook and that was when I stood at the front of his class lecture hall and gave my weekly two-hour English lecture. But to hear that a guy who is a friend of mine, whom I've trained with for countless hours over the span of about two years, whom at almost every boxing dinner party I've either sat beside or across from, and whom I've stood around the boxing club chatting with him after training, has committed suicide and I totally didn't foresee it coming just sends chills down my spine.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's life without life?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present.
-- Author Unknown