Dec 2, 2018
Line Store, Itaewon. March 2018. Cooky Focus.
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Line Store, Itaewon. March 2018. Cooky Focus.
Halloween has changed forever
Warning: I’m talking about the disaster in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea. Mentions of people who have died, with mention to particular names.
I don’t usually celebrate Halloween, just never really been into it. However, I never really shied away from the Halloween spirit. This year it is different.
After the incident in Itaewon, I don’t know if I’ll ever think of halloween the same way again. I had a family friend that was there. Someone I only see every few years but whom I think of often. Luckily, they left before disaster struck.
I’ve done what I can to keep up to date with the news in Itaewon, watching as the official casualty list rose and victims from my own country were identified. I read survivors’ stories and felt my heart get heavier and heavier as I grieved people I didn’t even know existed. I had heard a rumour that the reason people had “flocked” to a certain area was because there was a celebrity there, I told myself that this was just a rumour and is probably not true, but again my anxious brain went down rabbit holes and I worried about skz. This morning, when I looked at the Itaewon news, I heard about Lee Ji Han. I’m not very well versed in the celebrities of Korea, I would be able to recognise the more famous ones by who they were in shows I’ve watched but I don’t keep up with any of the background stuff. Never before I heard about his death had I known Lee Ji Han, however seeing his portrait brought up a lot of feelings of grief and pain. He looked like a kind person, I don’t know what he is like at all irl but he reminded me of Seungmin: a young and talented man with a beautiful smile. However, he so easily got caught up in a national disaster and passed away, out of the blue. I know his family and those who knew him will be grieving and healing from this tragedy for a long time. However, though I didn’t know Lee Ji Han, I would like to pay my respects to him and wish him a nice sleep. If he had beliefs about the afterlife, then I wish him a peaceful afterlife wherever he felt his final resting place would be. I extend this farewell to all of the deceased victims, wishing that their passing was not too painful. For those who survived and those who lost people, please don’t let this tragedy permanently take away your happiness. Sure, grieve, but continue to live on. Seek help, even if you think you don’t need it. This is something that can cause a lot of trauma unbeknownst to the victim, and looking after yours and other’s mental healths is one of the most important steps in healing a country and it’s individuals.
I would say happy Halloween, but it’s not really. Instead, I would like to say happy life because you don’t need a special occasion to celebrate the good things or learn from the bad things.
Stay safe everyone and I wish you all a good, happy future ❤️💞
- from an international STAY 💞
