Life Goes On: BTS and My ARMY Life

I think it was in late 2019 or early 2020 when I seriously started paying attention to BTS. My daughter is ARMY since 2016 and what to me, back then, was a teenager's fascination became a necessity for survival as the pandemic came into full swing in mid-2020. From there on until the present, I have realized many things about myself. I am learning and affirming a lot of life lessons from the Bangtan Boys. Being ARMY at my age and status is like a parenting and motherhood experience. The adult is learning from the child.

As a teacher and a librarian of children and young people, I take this dynamic to heart. Every year, my students bring in a newness that fuels our creativity in making sense of who we are and the process of growing a compassionate understanding of the world around us. This can be tough, but from where I come from, we eat resilience for breakfast. After all, creativity is never an easy thing. This is the context I find myself in being a young ARMY of 47. More than ever, I have a deeper appreciation of BTS.

While the Tannies have a way of sweeping you off your feet (there are seven kinds of sexy and together, they are deadly!) they are more than visual aesthetics. Kim Namjoon have said it countless times in interviews and docuseries early in their career that they are more than pretty faces. BTS wants to matter. Truly, they have been successful and more. On top of record sales and awards, a closer examination of their discography by academics, experts in the field of music and the arts, professionals in business, economists, and industry leaders in the creative arts all point to the fact that the Tannies are not just a Kpop band or group. Not anymore. The boys were awarded the Order of Cultural Merit of Korea in 2018. They are now envoys to the UN. Ambassadors of the youth. Their campaigns and advocacies impact global communities. On top of all these, BTS got ARMY right behind them when they say so.

The fandom is as amazing, as generous and as loving as the Bangtan Boys.

In less than a year as ARMY, I have gained new friends and strengthen old ones. I have shared online concert tickets, received gifts and unsolicited advice. I have been supported by ARMY parents in my journey as mother and as a woman going through midlife. I found ARMY I can geek out with over Namjoon's poetry and the books in his reading list, nerd over Suga's critical view on life and society and go kilig over Hobi's hotness. 

I celebrated my birthday last week and unexpected gifts came from ARMY friends near and far. One of them, a good friend from way back, sent me an acrostic poem. The Tannies love creating them, so she created one for me.

Right now, I am up in arms in the battle for reading and literacy. I have two ARMYs seriously working on a BTS inspired book donation project that we hope to launch before the month ends. Right in time for Literacy Day on September 8 during the month of Namjoon's and JK's birthday. What could be more satisfying than to experience this personal advocacy come to life but with two Titas of BTS.