Wrist slitting. The first thing that springs to my mind whenever I come across the word suicide, and far as I know, it’s the most stupid method to choose if you’re really decided to end it all.
Okay, suicide itself is outright stupid, but committing it by cutting the wrist makes it more foolish because:
1. I read that most people do not die from it (Maybe because they didn’t do it the right way. Some say the slash must be done horizontally or vertically or whatever. Try criss-cross.);
2. Unless you’re a masochist and incredibly morbid who wants to watch yourself bleed, I don’t think anyone would enjoy dying this way. And basically, you kill yourself to end your misery, right? So why choose that one that’ll take its time in bringing you to the finish line? You should choose a suicide method that’ll get you dead in a wham;
3. It’s messy! Just imagine the blood stains that you’ll leave on your bed sheet (assuming your attempt worked). It’s too gross, and don’t be selfish, it’s heartbreaking enough to lose someone/a loved one, so don’t make other people’s feelings worse by making them clean the evidence of the disgrace you did.
Oh no. Before you get any ideas, no, I’m not suicidal or anything. The reason why I thought of this madness is because I read about the high suicide rate in South Korea today. There was even a report that said that South Korea has already surpassed Japan when it comes to this.
As I read about it in the office, I was pretty okay because it was just an info I got to know, so I thought that life would go on. But when I got home and I still couldn’t get it out of my head, I started to get sad for the Koreans and feel lucky that I’m from a third-world country.
A The Korea Herald or The Korea Times News article that I read said that when the democratic Korea wasn’t rich yet, the nation’s suicide rate was one of the lowest in the world. But when the globalization hype started, that’s when the increase began.
Overworking is one of the reasons for this. To be globally competitive, one must work extremely hard, so that’s what they have been doing. Koreans would willingly work long hours everyday (Yes, even past the regular working hours, I’m just not sure if they get paid for overtime.), which means they get less sleep.
Likewise, students don’t get enough rest, too, because each day, after their regular schools, they still need to attend hagwons (or cram schools), and they take not just one subject. There’s this Korean that shared on the Internet that he takes five hagwon classes at the moment. He only takes two in a day, but they’re still two—two additional subjects aside from the ones being studied in school each day. Of course, when they get home they still have to do their assignments and study for the next day, which means they get to sleep at around two in the morning, and wake up at 5am, I think. I don’t know how they do it, but they sure are hard working and competitive. I can’t even imagine myself doing that. No, not in a gazillion years.
And oh, they have something about sickness, too. Whether they’re workers or students, they all continue with their everyday lives even if they’re sick. The explanation for it is that showing utmost effort and diligence are just too important for them that they’ll only get themselves absent if their illness is already leading them to the verge of death (maybe that’s a little exaggeration on my part).
Depression is another reason why South Koreans commit suicide. Alright, every person around the world gets depressed sometimes, but I think it’s on a different level in this country. Psychiatry is still a taboo for Koreans (or so I read), meaning going to such doctors would automatically make others think that they’re insane, so they’d rather stay away from help and keep to themselves. And we all know what happens when we keep everything inside. So that, couple it up with overworking and you get people saying goodbye to the world permanently.
I don’t know what you think about this bit of knowledge, but it sure got me affected. I just find it ironic that they work hard to make their lives the best, but in the process, they give up and end that very thing that they’re working on.
P.S. Even a simple chit-chat about veins and wrist cutting makes me writhe and cringe like someone’s actually trying to lacerate me, so taking a photo of my wrist is never easy. And to make my feelings worse during the “photo shoot,” I got to see my veins protruding like they’re saying hello to me (and they have the right to since it was the first time I ever paid attention to them). It was actually good as far as the photo is concerned because I think (I think) it stressed my point about wrist slashing, but the feeling I got! Ughhh… It took me a couple of takes to get that shot ‘cause I kept on producing blurred pictures, and you know why. -_-‘
*Originally posted on my Project 365 on August 3, 2011.
Words of Happinest 