Everyone Is Someone

노승아

Living as a high school student in Korea, we face many difficulties. Learning itself isn’t really an easy process and Korea is a country famous for its strong sense of rivalry. We are half-forced to wake up at six every morning and go to sleep at 1. The situation worsens when deadlines for essays and presentations near. I’ve seen many friends who stay up all night to finish their assignments. As we see here, we are definitely living a hectic life.

Many friends of mine, who is from other schools say that it is nothing less than madness to study as much as we do only because 5 hours of sleep a day isn’t enough for growing adolescents. Well, yes, it definitely is not easy to stop up and study for weeks. However, it would be a big mistake to say that the biggest hardship we have is simply a shortage of relaxation. We all know that quantitative burden we should bear is inconsequential compared to emotional distress we have to endure. The real problem is not that we have to stay up through the night, not that we have to spend Christmas writing papers, but that we are losing the sense of self-respect and confidence while studying and participating in the system of this culture.

So, let’s take a look at emotional distress we feel here. Every day, we throw ourselves into tough competitions. In this capitalistic society, competition has become an everyday-routine. A person has to be or do better than others to survive since there will be no reward for losers according to a capitalist theory. Although free competition stimulates people to work had an efficiently, it also brings about severe side effects. In its kind of thinking, people always have to work more, sleep less and surrender one’s right to be better compensated.

Adding to the sufferings cased by resignation of our freedom, there lays a much more serious problem, which is the sense of inferiority. Participating to incessant competitions, students experience defeats. That’s normal. No one can be better in every aspect because everyone has different talents. Defeat itself isn’t a real problem, but culture is what makes us feel as if our defeat is a humiliation and thus our values are determined by the results of competitions.

I’ve seen many friends saying that they are not as good as others and that they are inherently inferior to others. Many of you might have had this kind of thoughts before. Even though people who’ve accomplished great undertakings tell us to have dreams, to go our own way and ignore what others say about us, their message comes to us as a platitude. We are busy doing what our society wants us to do.

The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. This society has to make others nobodies to make a person somebody. It makes us find our values in overthrowing others. And at some point, we will realize that what we’ve been fighting is of vanity. We will not find what we want adapting ourselves to the culture. The only thing that awaits is another competition you would have to fight again in.

So many people walk around with a meaningless, tiring life this way. They seem half-asleep even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. They are chasing what society wants them to chase, but not what they really want to have.

To live your own life, you have to be strong enough to forget what the culture says. Don’t ever let anything to take away lead of your life. It is your life, your journey. No one can ever meddle in your choice and determine your value on one’s authority.

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, community around you and creating something that gives you meaning. No matter how many times you lose, no matter how bad your grade is, you are precious. You have something special that nobody can have. And that comes from the love you give to others and the love you get from others, not your career of ability.

Again, don’t forget how valuable you are. You are priceless to someone who gives you love and gets your love. Live your life respecting and valuing them. And you’ll find your life shining amidst your loved ones.

#노승아