If you want to give up

Some time ago, I interviewed someone in his 80s. He said the world is so weird today that he was suffering from depression. I nodded to express my sympathy before parting away. Then more recently, I counseled with a college student who was agonizing over whether to graduate or quit college. The student said he was prepared to sell even his soul if he can land job, but could not and was thus deeply depressed. I nodded again and expressed my sympathy before ending the meeting.

In the past, I thought to myself that expressing sympathy is one of the friendliest things to do, but I feel bitter when I experience such situations. When we feel bitter, we resort to religion, pray or pin our hope while seeking beliefs. To my knowledge, what religion is to ordinary people is what poem is to a poet. If a poet has something that is really important, it is also poem. If we need religion or pray, it is not bad to see that of a poet.

Let’s take pray-like poem written by a poet. In the line “life exists anywhere” we wonder where on earth life exist and feel bitter about pray that is transforming into something. The wording “living life while failing to feel that I am truly living” is frustrating. Nevertheless, the poem suggests that one feel grateful for others’ sympathy and other people be empowered accordingly. Praying and making a wish will not solve everything. But we often cannot survive without resorting to them.