とりあえず名文かつ美文なんで保存させていただきます。
現状どうなのか、今後どうなるのか、まあさっぱりわかりませんが、KARAについての美しい名文があったので丸ごと保存させていただきます。
It's been a beautiful six years. I still sometimes watch footage from their debut days to when glimmers of recognition began to emerge as Kara5, to when they first won a music program, to that precious video of them showing off their dorm during chuseok. You look back and you marvel, how much can people change and grow from young, doe-eyed starlets to veteran performers, in front of your very eyes? What dreams did they dream during that first stage of Break It? What nerves did they swallowed down that first step they took in Japan? What kind of tears were they finally able to stop holding back when they got their first concert, their first Tokyo Dome tour?
The going has never been easy. There were a lot of us who would have accepted their decision to stop everything in 2011. In 2008. But miracles happened. Not once, not twice, and we hoped, and we prayed. And there were many changes. But the most important one I felt was that everyone always became more mature and wiser.
Speaking for myself, I feel I have grown older, and maybe a modicum more mature, with Kara. I still have much personal development left to be desired, but through them I learned more about how to handle criticism with grace, how to have confidence in yourself, how to hold onto your beliefs but remain courteous to the thoughts of others, and how to work hard and be persistent.
I've never had the privilege of seeing them live, but I don't think that matters. It took no more than some videos and interviews and a few dedicated fans and translators to have them make an impact upon me and countless others. Through them I have made wonderful memories and friends who have given me joy, sass, and endless humor. Imagine, then, how many wonderful and lasting memories they must have been able to make for themselves! Nicole fangirling Taylor Swift was adorable, and it always makes me laugh how Gyuri and Seungyeon used to idolize g.o.d. and H.O.T. and were able to bring it back full circle years later.
Time is never static - its unyielding passage is the only certainly in life. It's naive to believe the present will remain forever. But the memories remain forever. You cannot wash away six years of history, of the good times, of the bad - you just can't. Their lives may lead them into distinctly different futures, but their pasts will be deeply intertwined. These five know each other best - there has been so much shared love, trust, friendship, and hardships -had their bond not been that strong, there is no way they could have made it to today.
They're the Park Gyuri, Han Seungyeon, Jung Nicole, Goo Hara, and Kang Jiyoung we all love and adore and admire with all our heart. What we've shared with them and with each other are not just past memories destined for storage, but integral parts of ourselves that will be with us forever. I ask fellow Kamilia to look after them, respect them, and continue growing along with them. After all, this is simply another setting, another stage. This show called life goes on.
And remember: effort never betrays you.
KARAスタート時からのファンっぽいけど、一度もKARAを生で観/見たことがないということ。ファン歴の長さはともかく、KARAを観/見たことのない海外ファンって世界中にたくさんいるわけで（もちろん日韓にもたくさんいる）、なんというか、こういうみんなのことも常に念頭におきたいというか、念頭におくから何をするとかしないとかそういうのは特にないしわからないけど、素直な感覚的にそういうファンたちに愛着を感じるというか、愛おしくかんじるというか。
