As a mother of an 11 year old girl, and BTS fan since 2015, for a long time I didn’t take a lot of in depth notice to her love for BTS...
Until “Love Yourself” launched.
I was immediately drawn to the energy, passion and skills of these incredible 7 young men.
I was hooked. And I started to understand why she was too.
For years she’s been relentlessly bullied for her size, taste in clothes, hairstyle, artwork, love of singing and dancing, and mostly for her taste in music. Especially when it comes to BTS.
Schools say they have a “zero tolerance” policy, but have never truly made an effort (except for a very few exceptional teachers) to stop it, or even address the bullying.
Those very few teachers have shown her true kindness.
But not many kids her age ever have.
She’s been virtually friendless her whole life. She’s had the odd friend here and there, but none she could ever fully trust or consider a “best friend”.
She doesn’t get invited to other kids houses, doesn’t get invited for “play dates” and never gets invited to birthday parties.
She has only ever been invited to 2 birthday parties, and had ONE birthday party of her own at the age of 6 because she’s never had friends to invite.
So, over the last few years, she’s been so enthralled with BTS, and the Army, and connecting with so many others online that share their love of BTS and everything that goes along with it.
Because of BTS, just over a year ago, at the age of 10, she decided to teach herself Korean, as she feels it’s only fair if she, as a fan, tries to learn her idol’s language, cultures, and customs because they try so hard to learn ours.
We went to see the BTS documentary Burn The Stage together, and I was so impressed with the way you support each other, build each other up, help each other, and are always there for each other.
What impressed me most is how you learn each other’s parts in every song and dance so that you all know what each other does, and how hard you all work equally so no one can say someone works harder than the other.
The mother side of me says you are all too hard on yourselves when it comes to perfection. Nothing, and no one is ever perfect, and we learn and grow by making mistakes. It’s part of being human.
We’ve read all about the Army charity work, supports for Army, UNICEF, Mental Health supports, animal charities, and so much more.
Namjoon’s address to the UN brought tears to my eyes.
So, as a mother of a fan, and now a fan myself, I would like to say thank you.
Thank you for giving my daughter an outlet for her loneliness, for making her feel ok with being “different”, for giving her fun times for laughing (we watch hours of crazy funny BTS videos and laugh until our stomachs hurt), expanding her love of music, and other cultures, satisfying her need for inclusion and positivity, and reinforcing her desire to be free to enjoy what she loves without ridicule.
She has learned to love herself for who she is, not to let others control how she feels, and to be proud of what she enjoys even if others don’t enjoy the same things or understand why she likes what she does.
She has learned it only matters what she likes, and she needs to stay true to herself.
We truly love BTS and everything you stand for.
