Let me tell you a little story about a little country...

Once upon a time there was a country far far away in a land between China and Japan. In this country, little people wandered the land in great spirit and nearly magical presence. They harvested their crops from terraced gardens utilizing all that nature had provided. As strong willed as they were, they continued to prosper through hard times and famine. Through occupation and war, the country stayed strong and continued their 5000 year history to this day. Priding themselves on their strength and health, they passed upon their youth ways to insure a long life.

To this day, exercise and food are of utmost importance to the people. Everyday, one can visit the great nation between China and Japan and witness the roaming hillsides with magnificently groomed walkways for the thousands of citizens a week that claim it as a second home each weekend.

In their food longevity resides too. Their national dish is famed to prevent cancer, aging, SARS, Bird Flu and the common cold. Not just a few, but all 100+ versions of this dish fight the same diseases with 5000 years of perfection. It lies in their meat too. As another famous meal is cooked over the fire, restaurant patrons know all too well the negative effects of charred meat. Anything charred has the potential to cause cancer if ingested enough.

These people run the gamut of health consciousness, that is, until you live in and witness the atrocious phenomena that hammers health like a nail with a sledgehammer made of danger.

Example A:
Though Koreans love to exercise and keep their bodies in tip top shape they have some follies when it comes to water breaks. It is all too common to witness soccer, basketball or badminton games where the breaks entail half the team lighting up cigarettes between halves. Nearly every male in this gloried country smokes, and I'm sure that the copy guy at my school would smoke mid 11km swim if he wasn't immersed in water.

Example B:
Many Koreans use the more economical method of transportation like mopeds. But there are limits people, to the number of people allowed on these things, and it's for a reason. Hey Pops, I don't think it's safe at all to have your 6-year old clinging to your chest like an ape and your 15-year old daughter sitting side-saddle on back. Just a thought. Tell your friends not to do it either.

Example C:
My heater in this here 4th floor haunt uses some sort of gas, maybe white fuel? Whatever it may be, during the 5 minutes it takes to fill the gas can, it's not very safe to be smoking a cigarette inches from the flowing gas which comes from a massive storage container above ground that holds enough gas to blow up all 700 students and 50 teachers within these walls.

But, they still managed to live happily ever after.

The End