Two-faceted life
People living in the arctic regions are called eskimos.
But we, inhabiting the rest of the earth, are no different from them.
(Photo source: Den of Geek)
Released a quarter-century ago, the dark coming-of-age film Heathers, directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Daniel Waters, still seem relevant to this day and generation.
In a society that cares more about inclusion rather than involvement, fame rather than faith, it is easy to confuse what’s real from what’s right. We find the peak of immense inner tension, the so-called angst, during our teenage years when there is the desire to belong and to be “click” among peers, to be known and attended to, to be reckless and unmindful of the consequences. As we relate to others, trying to find a self that can be appreciated, we lose the truthfulness of our identities and we get stuck in a rut we cannot get out of, at least not without the committed and willing indifference to what the world may otherwise impose on us.
A nihilistic viewpoint develops in us, and we learn to fixate our lives with the hopeless belief that all efforts toward utopia on earth are pointless and that the only thing that ultimately hinders us from the perfect world is death. (“The only place different social types can genuinely get along with each other is in heaven.”)
Life, society, and the world is never perfect; they can never be. The challenge is for us to try to magnify the beauty in all that fails, to brave prejudices and oppositions, to accept perversion and corruption as they come without necessarily being influenced by all negativities, and to find the voice within us and nurture it into a loud battle cry.
In the end, all that matters is our attitude toward life.
Contradicting as they may seem, the two viewpoints highlighted in the story, that of chaos and of hope, work together to bring about the real essence of living.
We are all eskimos consumed by our feelings of isolation and abandonment.
But, living in a region that is ours, we are never truly alone. •
But we, inhabiting the rest of the earth, are no different from them.
(Photo source: Den of Geek)
Released a quarter-century ago, the dark coming-of-age film Heathers, directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Daniel Waters, still seem relevant to this day and generation.
In a society that cares more about inclusion rather than involvement, fame rather than faith, it is easy to confuse what’s real from what’s right. We find the peak of immense inner tension, the so-called angst, during our teenage years when there is the desire to belong and to be “click” among peers, to be known and attended to, to be reckless and unmindful of the consequences. As we relate to others, trying to find a self that can be appreciated, we lose the truthfulness of our identities and we get stuck in a rut we cannot get out of, at least not without the committed and willing indifference to what the world may otherwise impose on us.
A nihilistic viewpoint develops in us, and we learn to fixate our lives with the hopeless belief that all efforts toward utopia on earth are pointless and that the only thing that ultimately hinders us from the perfect world is death. (“The only place different social types can genuinely get along with each other is in heaven.”)
Life, society, and the world is never perfect; they can never be. The challenge is for us to try to magnify the beauty in all that fails, to brave prejudices and oppositions, to accept perversion and corruption as they come without necessarily being influenced by all negativities, and to find the voice within us and nurture it into a loud battle cry.
In the end, all that matters is our attitude toward life.
Contradicting as they may seem, the two viewpoints highlighted in the story, that of chaos and of hope, work together to bring about the real essence of living.
We are all eskimos consumed by our feelings of isolation and abandonment.
But, living in a region that is ours, we are never truly alone. •