Far from us the idea of playing politics (or create polemic discussions), but we are lucky to live in a country where we can freely give our opinion, so we do not deprive ourselves of it (even if no one asks us to …)
Apart from the recent attack of a tiny virus, we do not live like South Korea under the constant threat of an “overflow” between neighbors. Also, we find it hard to imagine having to devote two years of our life learning how to defend our country. Not even mention the patriotic spirit, which is natural and instilled from the earlyest age of every Korean.
What do you feel before this obligatory passage?
The weight of a Damocles sword waiting until the deadline ?
What do you feel during ?
Will I find, like a boomerang, my past life ?
What do you feel afterwards?
The satisfaction of an accomplished duty?
The relief to finally being able to start living again?
The feeling of having wasted time and put your life on hold for 24 months (730 days! 17,520 hours! 1,051,200 minutes …)
What remains of this period when you have so little contact with your family (or simply with the outside world)?
Friendships and the spirit of camaraderie towards companions embarked on the same galley as you?
A better self-knowledge?
So, we don’t know exactly how much this period marked Kim Hyun Joong, but join the army when he did was an obvious choice and we can imagine that it made him stronger and more mature.
He tells us a little about it, modestly and in a joking tone, in this video :HERE
or again, with a little more confidence in this letter: HERE
However, the most touching message of this period is the one broadcasted just before the end of his mandatory service. So brief and fragile, showing between the lines his doubts about his future
(video below on which we allowed ourselves a little personal message, by changing the background music of the original video).
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Two years of a man’s life seems a long time … but ultimately is quite small if compared to the length of a lifetime..
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Promised, next time we’ll talk about a lighter topic.
by the way… don’t worry, the black clouds are gone and three years later, even if he has lost a bit of his carelessness, Kim Hyun Joong has regained his legendary smile !