From Deseret News archives:
USU's Pak making the most of his second chance
Aggie point guard learned a life lesson while in prison
The No. 2 on his jersey signifies his second chance in life.
The four Chinese symbols he had tattooed onto his triceps after he was released represent love, eternity, obedience and tranquility.
The No. 2 with the Chinese symbol of life and "I Samuel 16" (the story of David and Goliath), adorn his left shoulder.
They are all are reminders of what he learned while in prison serving an eight-year sentence for sexual assault.
It took him just a single day to realize the severity of his crime, and the subsequent eight-plus years cemented it.
"The first day that I got in hit me that I wanted to go in the right direction," he said. "I only needed to be in there one day to know I didn't want to be in there again."
He learned what love was through his mother, who visited him every week while he was incarcerated, and then learned to love his family — two older sisters and his grandmother. (He never knew his biological father, and his mother divorced his stepfather when Pak was very young. He still carries the last name of his stepfather, however).
Pak learned to respect others, and he learned obedience to the law and to himself, and he learned of the peace that came through the ability to forgive. He learned that directly from his victim.
"At first it was painful for her to be in the same room. Throughout the years, she would ask me more questions about what I was going to do with my life," Pak said. "The last couple of (parole) hearings she was wishing me luck. The last couple of times she was able to (forgive me)."
He now treats people with more compassion and understanding.
"I take every individual separately and try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt," he said. "Everybody is raised differently."
At age 16, Pak had no direction. In his opinion, his home life was a wreck. His mother was always gone. He didn't realize at the time, but she was away so she could provide.
Several months before his 17th birthday, he broke into the home of a woman, whom he said was a neighbor, and raped her at knife point, according to court documents as reported by the Orange County Register.
Several days later he was arrested and six months later he began serving his sentence. He never received parole.
"I was lost. I was a little kid with no direction. I didn't know who I was or where I wanted to go," he said. "Being away from society for eight years gave me time to figure things out — figure out who I am and what direction I wanted to go in."
Still, Pak, who is a registered sex offender in Utah, is haunted by the shadow of his past that never diminishes even in the darkest of nights, but he is learning to deal with it.
