Yesterday, I opened the Itaewon branch of "Cherry Garden Chicken" with an acquaintance. It is only 15 pyeong (approx. 500 sq ft) in size, but thankfully it is on the first floor. Due to financial constraints, it is not located on the main street. Although we are starting small, Cherry Garden Itaewon aims to be a global community living room with a future dream. Friends of our international student part-time workers came by to warmly celebrate the grand opening. We shared halal chicken baked in a corn oven, halal pizza, and sweet potatoes.

We were conversing in a lively and amicable atmosphere when I saw a young man in military uniform walking past our glass window. I quickly dashed outside and asked, "Are you on vacation?" He replied, "Not a vacation, just an outing." He added that he came because he heard there was a festival in Itaewon. I invited him inside to have some cake or rice cake. He politely declined, saying he had already eaten. "Instead, I'd love to have some roasted sweet potatoes," he said, so I told him to enjoy them to his heart's content. The young man mentioned that he serves as a driver in the Capital Defense Command.

For a long time now, whenever I spot soldiers while dining at a restaurant, I have quietly handed my credit card to the owner to pay for their meal. At other times, I would have the owner serve them an extra plate of dumplings. I am genuinely grateful to all our soldiers protecting the nation. Just visiting Paris, France, is enough to see overflowing war refugees from all over the world. My memory tells me they were stationed about every 500 meters, hailing from dozens of different countries.

These refugees come from nations that were once much wealthier than South Korea. Depending on the fate of their country, they were reduced to begging on the streets. Having no country does not simply mean lacking a nationality; once you experience it, you realize how great a blessing it is to have the shelter of a motherland. Having no state means living a life devoid of human dignity. Will we live as humans with dignity, or will we be born human only to live like animals? That depends entirely on the fate of the nation. For me, the nation always comes first.

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