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Article excerpt 〚February 13, 2018〛

On Human Suffering

Anonymous

It's fairly common to ask a higher being about whether or not this is all it's ever going to be. Suffering, unlike the usual notion we have of it, is constant: it accompanies us on our day-to-day. It can be found sitting next to you on your ride home or folding clothes beside you in the neighborhood laundromat, or it could even be whispering in your ear right now. That's well and good, because that's simply how the world is, but the problem with suffering is that we are all accustomed to it. Oftentimes, we find ourselves craving its presence because we simply wouldn't know where and how to be without it.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a conference three months ago where we talked about art and suffering. At first I thought, there are too many conferences about art and suffering already; besides, isn't art suffering in itself? But then I got a glimpse into the lives of the people I was with at the time, and I realized halfway through the conference that suffering never runs out. Consequently, art never will run out either, and it will constantly take a different form each time it latches onto an unsuspecting person.

Perhaps we are all artists because we are all sufferers. The phenomenon that happens, then, is that suffering becomes a crutch for us. It's a reason and a purpose at the same exact time that it's a nuisance and a problem. The crucial part of it is how we deal with it, and I don't want to sound like a self-help book author here because God knows I need help more than anyone, but that is the truth. Suffering, like a wound, festers. It gets infected. Soon enough, if left untreated, it starts to weigh you down until it kills you. And you won't even know it—the death wouldn't necessarily be in the literal sense, although that is possible—it would manifest in the way it consumes you, and when it has nothing left to take from you it blinds you so you feel more than see that it's started to consume the things around you.

Because I'm not a self-help guru like I said, I wouldn't be providing ways to deal with suffering. We are talking about suffering, after all, not how to get through it, because I'm afraid we can't—but that might just be my pessimism. More importantly, we are talking about living with it instead of living above it as well as how there's a thin line between accepting the natural suffering that the world imparts upon us and the suffering we must struggle against. The world is unkind, after all, because we have made it so. It takes advantage of us, and if we don't discern what's for us and what's not, life would be hell on earth indeed.

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Two out of seven letters  〚June 2017〛

From: Japan Post Bank
1-15-16 Megurohoncho,
Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8799
3 June 2017
To: Mr. Getou Suguru
2-19-28 Nishiochiai
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 15-10

Dear Getou Suguru:

We are truly sorry to inform you that your account was included in the recent breach. Attached to this letter is a statement of the losses incurred. We will be freezing all the accounts until the issue is settled. Rest assured that we will be updating you on the matter. Thank you.
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10 June 2017

Dear Getou Suguru:

We hope that this letter finds you well. Please visit the nearest bank branch to make a deposit. Your current bank balance no longer meets the maintaining balance, and as per our updated policy, your account will be closed within one month. Thank you.

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9:48 PM  〚June 13, 2017〛

Suguru's hands have been shaking for the past ten minutes. He couldn't stop them.