Hey, North Korea, Thanks A Lot

So as I am sure most of you have heard by now, North Korea has attacked South Korea. Apparently they do so every few months and only manage to do a little damage, or unfortunately kill military men. However, this time they began shooting at a tiny island close to the coast of North Korea. There is a military base on the island, but it is mainly home a to a small fishing community and innocent South Korean Citizens. 2 of these citizens were killed in the attack, which has been called one of the worst bombardments of South Korea's territory since the Korean War in the early '50s.

There is an air of uncertainty in my neck of the woods. Some people say that North Korea won't try anything more, while others think that there could be an all out war. It has been hard for me to decide where to land on this spectrum, I feel obviously better when I speak to people who say that it will blow over, and a sense of dread when my coworker tells me that her mother-in-law says to leave the country right away. In the end it ultimately becomes a waiting game, I have no control over this situation. If worst does come to worst, I can leave. The children that live here do not have that option. Since the attack, impending war has become a popular topic of conversation in the teachers office as well as in the classroom. I was teaching my last class of the day on Tuesday, the day of the attack, and one of my students told me she was afraid about the war. I told her that I was nervous too, but that it would all be ok. She replied that it was not bad for me because I could leave, but she had no where to go. There it is folks, the reason for this blog post.

At the risk of sounding like a condescending ass hole, I must devote some time to this. As an American, I have never had to deal with a war in my own country. These things are fought in other places on other continents, worlds away from me. I was little affected personally by this. Now I am in a country that is potentially on the brink of war, and it is the weirdest feeling. I have lived 25 years and, trust me, I have felt a lot of emotions, but this is one for the record books. I am slightly scared, yet incredibly disgusted that people can do this to one another. It makes me sick to my stomach that throughout the history of the world, people have ruled with fear and have hurt and killed others for their own gain, and worse yet, that people have not learned from this and overcome this barbaric lifestyle. These children that I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past month, are worried about war, about what may come next. An issue that most of us have never dealt with. Count your blessings as an American, for what it is worth. You can sleep peacefully and your children have not laid awake at night upset about a little three letter word, and the prospect of dying. Let this sink in and please think about it a little.

I don't know what the outcome of this situation will be, but I do think it is more serious than skirmishes in the past. I guess we shall see what the next few days bring. Also, I have been here for exactly one month today...what a way to start my adventure.