On a life-affirming epiphany from Park Seo-joon’s Itaewon Class, and healing from grief-Art-and-culture News , Firstpost

Towards the top of Itaewon Class (Korean; Netflix), the protagonist Park Sae-Ro-Yi (Park Seo-joon) is hospitalised, critically injured after an accident. In his unconscious state, he sees his father, who died 14 years in the past, and they stroll by means of key moments from Sae-Ro-Yi’s difficult life.

Finally, Sae-Ro-Yi and his father attain a bridge. The different aspect is shrouded in mist, however Sae-Ro-Yi’s father guarantees him that if he walks over to it, he’ll by no means have a painful evening once more.

Sae-Ro-Yi hesitates, and thinks about his pals, who’re all of the household he has left. Then he tells his father that regardless that he’s had many painful nights, there have additionally been some good ones. That whereas he misses his father terribly, he now needs to embrace that craving in his coronary heart, and maintain residing.

Sae-Ro-Yi’s father is happy with him; in that second his son has realised what it’s all about: “You can overcome something, so long as you might be alive.”

*

I watched that scene a few weeks in the past, after a yr during which my melancholy and suicidal ideation had worsened considerably. I’d relapsed into self-harm, a behaviour I hadn’t engaged in for 16 years. Beginning in 2004, I’ve had main depressive episodes of various severity and durations, off and on, however from 2017 onwards, these had escalated, as had the period of time I spent in desirous to and planning find out how to finish issues. The pandemic and social isolation had little question exacerbated these ideas.

Somewhat earlier than I watched that scene, my mum had insisted on having a speak with me. She instructed me that she anxious each evening till she fell asleep that that was the evening I’d do one thing to myself. She held me, regardless of my preliminary dismissiveness and regardless that I used to be adamant that I wasn’t in want of comforting, till, after years, I wept in entrance of her. And as I wept, I may title what it was that I used to be feeling: it was heartbreak and grief; solely, I didn’t know what I used to be heartbroken and grieving over.

*

Later, as I dwelt on what Sae-Ro-Yi’s father says, I questioned if it was true, even when simplistic: You can overcome something, so long as you might be alive. For so lengthy, loss of life had been my Plan A, however what if I took it off the desk? What if I made a decision that it doesn’t matter what, I might stick it out, as a result of you may overcome something — so long as you might be alive?

Oddly sufficient, it was a model of a coping mechanism I’d had in my extra well-adjusted phases: Whenever I used to be within the midst of an expertise that despatched my nervousness skyrocketing, I’d inform myself that it was high-quality, as a result of it meant I used to be alive and that was one thing to be glad about. My dad and mom had had a son, an older brother I by no means knew; he died earlier than he reached Class 1. I’d remind myself of him, of how he by no means went by means of rejection or a irritating job hunt and even the petty apprehensions of a dentist’s appointment, which additionally meant he by no means obtained to fall in love, or have a drink along with his pals, or see the world, or learn/take heed to/watch/encounter issues that made his coronary heart and thoughts soar.

*

My father had a speak with me once I turned 19. He’d been anxious that I used to be losing my life, frittering away alternatives and potential, slacking, by no means making use of myself wholeheartedly to any pursuit, be it teachers or music or writing. He wished me to grasp what I used to be doing earlier than it was too late, he stated. I had an hourglass in my room: He turned it over and requested me to have a look at the sand falling beneath. “Every grain of that sand is one which you could by no means have again,” he stated. I didn’t see what the fuss was about; I turned the hourglass once more, reversed the movement, flippantly replied, “Of course you may.”

Not a lot later, he left for work as common one morning. That afternoon, we obtained a name from the workplace: he had collapsed. My mum and older sister rushed to the hospital, however he was useless by the point they obtained there.

*

I’ve written elsewhere of life’s “Thelma and Louise moments”. This was one in all mine, and in some methods (and whereas I’ve had comparatively steady durations too), I’ve been driving off a cliff ever since.

Death had touched our lives earlier than: my older brother, my organic mom (of most cancers, when she was 36). But I’d been too little to understand what they meant, had felt these losses solely as absences: a life that would have been mine, however wasn’t; individuals who ought to have been there, however weren’t; folks I knew solely by means of tales and a few still-preserved possessions. In my father’s case, nonetheless, loss of life was a presence, rending me from inside.

I slept, a lot. I began college, however reduce most lessons. When I used to be alone, I’d bawl and beg and discount, make wild guarantees to God — “if solely I may have my dad again”. I engaged in magical pondering: this was simply a take a look at, and if we proved how a lot we liked him, he’d be returned to us. When none of that labored, I scratched at my wrists with sharp objects. Stood in entrance of a truck barreling down a freeway: it had practically reached me, when a sense of its dimension lastly punched by means of my daze and I stepped away to offended curses from the driving force.

I did get better, finally. I discovered work as a instructor and counsellor earlier than switching to journalism. I remembered what my father had stated in regards to the hourglass. And I dedicated to not slacking off once more.

*

Since I wasn’t as sensible as my friends, and had a lot misplaced time and floor to cowl, I made a decision to make up for it by working twice as a lot. The area I’d chosen was a nice enabler — there was all the time an pressing deadline that wanted to be met, a scarcity of palms that needed to be compensated. And there was loads of reinforcement too: the nice days whenever you did one thing that mattered to you or that you simply loved, and felt all of the gratitude for that probability. I prioritised work over every thing — time with household, pals, myself. I labored till I used to be uneasy once I wasn’t working. I labored till I by no means had to consider troublesome issues or of the long run as a result of my thoughts was so absorbed in no matter I had on my to-do listing for that day. I labored till I used to be like an addict, resentful of the maintain it had on me, however needing it too, like a crutch. I labored till it was the one factor I had left, and it was the only real supply of my id.

And over the following 11 years, as different, extreme life crises got here alongside and piled up — as life crises are wont to — I turned much more to work, till I felt like a husk, an empty shell programmed to undergo the motions, who wakened each morning simply because she had a listing of issues to do.

*

On a day that Sae-Ro-Yi’s expelled from college (for refusing to apologise over punching a bully), his father, happy with his son for sticking to his ideas, provides him his first drink of soju. After he swallows the shot, Sae-Ro-Yi’s father asks him the way it tastes. “Sweet,” Sae-Ro-Yi replies. “That’s since you had a powerful day,” his father tells him.

When his father dies in a hit-and-run that’s coated up, Sae-Ro-Yi is sentenced to 3 years in jail for attacking the individual accountable. He develops a plan for bringing his father’s killers to e book. For the following 11 years, he works in the direction of his vengeance with a single-minded focus.

Through these 11 years, every time Sae-Ro-Yi accomplishes a milestone from his plan, he tries a shot of soju. It’s invariably bitter. No matter how a lot harm he causes his enemies, the style by no means improves.

But on the conclusion of Itaewon Class, after the dream about his father and the bridge, Sae-Ro-Yi is having fun with a night out along with his pals, his hand clasped across the lady he’s allowed himself to like. They increase a toast; he drains his glass of soju, and smiles. It is lastly candy once more.

Sae-Ro-Yi learns what his father needs for him to: to dwell nicely, is the perfect revenge.

*

Watching Sae-Ro-Yi, I may see that possibly, residing nicely was the perfect type of tribute too. That possibly what my father had meant with the hourglass was not for me to actually work to the exclusion of all else, however to dwell a life with out regrets.

Instead, I had amassed a world of these. I used to be decided to punish myself — with the phrases I used for myself in my head; with believing that I didn’t deserve something; pondering that even the nice issues that occurred to me have been a fluke and might be taken away at any second, so I shouldn’t get hooked up to them — regardless that nobody had requested for me to be punished. I hobbled myself with guilt, regardless that I couldn’t actually reply what it was that I used to be alleged to be responsible for. I strove consistently for an elusive perfection, beating myself up for by no means reaching it, as an alternative of feeling that what I had finished, or how I could have been, was ok.

I fixated on the thought of redemption: A line from The Kite Runner got here into my thoughts typically — “There is a option to be good once more” — and I’d really feel despair as a result of it was too late for me; I had come too far, there was no means for me to be good once more.

*

When loss of life and ageing are the one certainties, why should we wrestle by means of life? Sae-Ro-Yi is requested this query by his pal and the supervisor of his pub, Jo Yi-Seo (Kim Da-mi). Yi-Seo has the IQ of a genius and the ethical compass of a sociopath, however her defining attribute is how exhausted she is with the world and all that’s required of 1 to be in it. Life, she tells Sae-Ro-Yi, feels so predictable, and like such a chore that she needs she’d by no means been born. Sae-Ro-Yi wonders why Yi-Seo is speaking like a god, with good prescience in regards to the future. He tells her that each evening, he goes for a run by means of the neighbourhood. And each morning, he opens up their pub and spends the day working there. It’s repetitive. Some days are powerful, and some days are unhappy. But each as soon as in a whereas, one thing enjoyable comes alongside. So why not wait, and see what life may need to supply?

Depression does fairly a job of wiping means your good reminiscences, leaving solely the dangerous. On ending Itaewon Class although, I started to make a listing of every thing good that had occurred post-2004 that I may bear in mind and really feel grateful about. At first, it was troublesome, however over a few hours the listing grew:

Travelling solo by means of Scotland and Austria. Watching the lights of the boats anchored in a single day in Halong Bay. The dazzling cobalt blue of the water whenever you land at Hong Kong airport. Hours searching at my favorite secondhand bookshop. Laughing at my pals’ jokes. Long conversations the place you’re feeling the complete thrill of getting one other individual know, regardless of your lack of articulation, precisely what you imply. Beer binges. Lord of the Rings rewatches. Pride and Prejudice re-readings. Having the individual you like relaxation their head in your lap. Workdays made enjoyable due to the camaraderie of colleagues. Seeing my youthful sister graduate on the prime of her class whereas I half-jumped, half-cried, in my seat within the auditorium. Seeing each my sisters discover love, and work they excel at. Walking into one of many worst nights of my life, and trying again to seek out my household ranged round me, prepared to supply unquestioning help. Etc.

The day after I made the listing, and that dialog with my mum, I felt emptied out, but additionally lighter ultimately. I didn’t know if it will final, however I felt one thing I hadn’t in years: a chance that issues might be totally different.

*

For all of the finality of loss of life, you may lose a individual greater than as soon as. In the years after he died, I dreamt of my father typically. The desires have been of two varieties: Ones during which he’d be completely okay till the very finish, solely to keel over, clutching at his chest, and I’d really feel all of the horror of it; or ones during which he was simply round the home, doing the issues he used to do, being the best way he was. Those have been worse, as a result of I’d get up from them within the mornings with a uncommon sense of well-being, till a few moments later, I’d bear in mind.

Some days earlier than I watched the scene on the bridge between Sae-Ro-Yi and his dad in Itaewon Class, I had dreamt of my father. This was a new type of dream: I didn’t see him in it, solely knew that he had died, and that I needed to inform the folks we cared about. The grief felt uncooked over again, and as I considered him making his ultimate journey alone, I needed a lot that I may have accompanied him, figuring out that I might have finished it with out a second thought had I been given the prospect.

Now I acknowledge that that isn’t what he would have wished for me. He would need me to be completely happy, to dwell, as a result of you may overcome something, so long as you might be alive.

I need to work in the direction of residing. I need to cease being an automaton, cease carrying this guilt and remorse round. I don’t need to consider anymore that I do know simply how my future will pan out, and that the hermetically sealed and sterile dead-end I’m in now’s all there may be to it. I need to have hope that there’s something past this harm. I need to consider in serendipity and luck and in the concept that I may need the type of life my dad would have wished for me.

I need to not die, however to dwell nicely.

This essay was initially revealed on 30 May 2021, and is being republished on the event of Father’s Day.