September 29, 2021

Time of writing: 11:30 am 09/28/21

The Squid Game and Life 1.0

The next game is tug-of-war...

Life is a tug-of-war. We spend our entire life working hard, struggling to keep our pace, battling against our own primitive brain, falling into one side, but sometimes, not getting anywhere. Maybe because we keep pulling the wrong rope, or standing in the wrong position.

So let's start pulling ourselves up, and let go of the wrong rope. We can buy a new one anyway. We just have to stand in the right way.

Let's continue this Squid Game and Life series. (SGaL 2.0)

Game 3: Tug of War

The goal of this game is to pull the rope until the red flag crosses the centerline. The deadly twist here is the battle arena was a hundred meters above the ground. So once the opponent team falls, the rope will be cut and the other team will win.

Lessons:

Let me quote this line from player 001 (the old man). "The tug of war is not really about strength, it is about good strategy and teamwork, and you can win even if your team is weaker."

Even if we are smart with strong bodies, if we don't have strategy and teamwork, we won't win the game. But if there's teamwork and everyone is moving forward, success is possible to achieve and wonderful things would happen.

Not because a person is old, weak, or of the opposite gender that you think is incapable to do great things, doesn't mean they can't win the game. We may be weak in other people's eyes, but it's the inner strength and wise mind that makes us stronger and capable to win any battle of life. We should not judge anyone by its cover, rather, we have to read their books before jumping to the wrong conclusion and making discriminations.

There are times in life that the odd would be put very much against us and the world would throw its worst, we should not be dispirited, rather, lift our spirits high above the sky, because in every dark day and every fall, there is always hope and a new beginning.

If our game of life ends, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Sometimes, it's just the beginning and another opportunity to take a new and better path. Success is possible for as long as there is hope and strong faith.

We all play different roles in this world. We can be a leader, a follower, a supporting one, or an anchor of a ship. But what matters more is the legacy we give to this world that impacts the lives of the people around us.

We may not be good at everything, but there is always something we are good at. Something that we can be proud of. Something that can not be taken away by anyone and anything else. We just have to unleash that something and do not be afraid to step out of our cocoon. And that can be used as a weapon to win any battle of life.

I posted this lesson on noise.cash, and I want to quote the comment of @charmingcherry08

"Sometimes it takes challenges to make you realize the role that you are good at. You won't notice your purpose yet, unless you get betrayed, rejected, or simply lose a game."

This next episode made me shed tears, especially the ending part. Trust and betrayal circulate in this third game and make us realize whom to trust because even the person we trusted can stab us once we face our back.

Game 3: Marbles

The goal of this game is to collect all the marbles of the partner within 30 minutes.

Players choose their strong ally whom they believe can help them win the game. But as they entered the arena, they were told that their partner would be their opponent. And it shocked them all.

Lessons:

In this world full of deceit, some people will find ways to gain our trust. They will befriend us, help us, and show us good intentions for some personal motives. And when things turn upside down and the world goes against their side, they won't hesitate to dump us off the cliff or use our weaknesses to take advantage in the game. The ones we called friends, became our enemies. The trust we once built becomes full of betrayals.

So if we are in the battle arena and only one should stay, we should trust no one but ourselves. Even a friend can betray us. And even a family can betray us. There is nothing wrong with trusting other people. However, we should choose well whom to render our trust, filter well the words we should believe in, and become an ally only to those who are worth trusting.

If there are people who betray us, there are also people who believe in us.

Sometimes we feel like the world is against us. We feel like nobody likes us. Nobody believes in us. And we feel like we just want to end our game of life. However, we should not give up because there is always someone who believes in us. Maybe we haven't met the person yet. Or maybe, he's just there standing in the corner but you just can't see him until he approaches you.

We are being blinded by the dark world that we tend not to look at the people around us. We tend not to trust others because of our dark past. We tend not to believe in ourselves. However, we need to believe in ourselves so we can see those people who believe in us. That person might be our real friend, our family, even a stranger, or, OURSELVES. Believe in yourself, and people will believe in you.

The game of life is a continuous battle. And we, like marbles, keep on rolling and rolling. We sometimes hit the wall and strike back, or break the wall and get wounded by its falling debris. And the rolling will continue unless we fall into a hole.

We keep grinding and striving until we reach our ideal destination, or, our final spot. However, should we just keep on rolling and hitting every wall?

We also need to take a break, especially if we are exhausted. And sometimes, we also need to stop rolling, especially if we know that we are hitting something or someone. And when that time comes, we should start reflecting.

We should ask ourselves, "am I doing the right thing?" "Am I heading into the right path?" "Is it okay to hit the wall?" "Is it okay to bump into someone or something?"

And sometimes, while rolling the marbles, they tend to roll down on the road. And while we are collecting the rolled marbles, we tend to lose the ones in our fists. And just like a kid who lost his prized marbles, we would frantically search for them. And when we fail to find them, we would certainly feel sad or despair.

The marbles can be our cherished pieces or our mental state. We feel sadness and anguish once we lose valuable marbles that we tend to lose our minds. But later, we realized that we are just actually holding our marbles, and we just have to play with them.

And playing the marbles teaches us to measure risks and when to venture into games. The wide playing arena also reminds us that there are potential strategies that we can undertake to win the game. And part of it is losing the game that we have to deal with as part of life and growing up as a person.

We all have the marbles, we just have to learn how to play them, and accept losses to avoid losing our own marbles of life.

In this third game about marbles, what caught my attention and touched my heart is the scene between the two ladies.

We sometimes found a real friend during unexpected days. She's not the one we have known the longest, she's the one who stays on our toughest day, who helps us conquer our obstacles, accompanies us in our final battle of life, and sacrifices her own life for the sake of our own survival.

Another one is the scene between player 001 (the old man) and player 456 (Gi-Hun).

Some people would choose to sacrifice other people's lives just so they could survive. They would fool other people, use any tricks they know, step on other people's lives, so they could get ahead of the game and save their own lives.

However, some people would sacrifice their own lives, so good ones can survive. A heroic act that only a few could conduct, especially if our life is at stake or on the verge of death.

This drama truly touches its viewers' hearts and taught us many lessons about life. Amid the number of bloody episodes, the lessons outnumbered them and they impact everyone's life.

The last part of this SGaL series will be posted tomorrow. So stay tuned and thanks for reading 😘.