Beautiful Disaster

9-2-2010
Day 182 of 365: When I came to South Korea in March, friends and family members repeatedly asked me if the country was safe. Assuring them at the time that it was, I had no idea that SK would first suffer an act of impending war from a disgruntled neighbor, followed months later by a spectacular and beautiful, yet imperious and terrifying force of nature. "Cyclones of the sea", as they are referred to sometimes, I was witness to the landfall of Typhoon Kompasu, and I was struck with awe.

Early this morning, just hours after hearing about the passing of my grandmother back home in Texas, for which I still don't have words, I was woken to a powerful howling outside that compelled my ear to listen. It had been hard enough to get to sleep that night as it was. I kept thinking about how I should have been there for my family, and how I should be there right now. I just laid alone in the dark, thinking and praying for a long time until I was eventually asleep. When I awoke, I heard the wind and the rain and was comforted by the sound, knowing it would put me right back to sleep. A few moments later however, I could hear and feel banging outside of my apartment, as if a colossus were trying trying frantically to get in. I could hear air breathing through the cracks in my rattling windows and doors, and I knew this wasn't just an ordinary thunder storm. With work looming just hours away, I knew I had to get back to bed, but as soon as I laid my head back down, the colossus broke in! My locked, 6th floor window burst open, with blinds sucking in and out and posters flying off the walls as sensor lights across my apartment illumined the chaos. Wide awake, I dashed from my loft to secure the window, only to find that it wasn't budging as long as the wind was blowing. In the beast's brief respite, I once again closed and sealed it's gate, not knowing what I had done wrong to have allowed it inside in the first place. Moments later I found out that it never had anything to do with me. Just as I had allowed myself to relax and assess the damages to my domain, Pandora's Box burst open once again with seemingly more fury. Realizing now that the latch was broken and the window would never stay shut as long as "it" was out there, I resigned myself to just pulling the window shut and holding it until the worst had passed. However, something had changed. In it's cleverness, my new-found nemesis sabotaged the hinges on the window in one mighty blow, so that they wouldn't even come close to closing or sealing, leaving both the window and I vulnerable to it's will. What happened next was just the fledgling attempts of a desperate man. I slid over to the junk drawer and grabbed the only two tools I had in my possession: some pliers and a pair of vice grips. I went to work on those hinges in every way I could think of, the horror without fighting me all the way. After multiple failures, giving up, then doubling my efforts, too stubborn to be defeated, I got the window shut for the final time, with my own hands as the seals and the demon locked out, screaming in protest. It was a muted cry however, and from my safe perch I observed the flowing, invisible, impossibly powerful titan moving across the city; the world as it's cage.
I sat at my window for over an hour, watching. I witnessed the sun rise in the east and cast it's exposing light on the beast as it flowed violently through every tree and bent lesser beings to it's will. It was in that moment that I realized how mighty a foe I had faced. It's name was Kompasu, and in a matter of hours it had waged war against an entire country. I had fought it and won, though I now realize that it was never really after me. It probably didn't even know I was here. I just happened to be in it's path as it crossed the sea and the land, it's final destination unknown to man. In it's passing, I once again think of my loving grandmother and my grieving family, knowing that soon these same winds will carry me back to them, so that we may newly appreciate the time we have with each other, and strive together to continue to make her proud. I know how much you loved me. I just pray now that you knew how much we loved you.