Desperation

It is the first Korean drama to top Netflix’s top 10 weekly and it also became the top 10 most-watched TV show globally. Yes, it is Squid Game that I am talking about. You may not watch it yet but I assume you already heard about it.

I have this one thing that is lingering on my mind upon watching the whole series and it is the word desperation. All of the players have one thing in common, all of them have huge debts and their desperation for money leads them to do things that are unimaginable.

Desperation leads them to take the risk.

As what the famous Filipino saying goes, “ang taong nagigipit, sa patalim kumakapit”. (A desperate man in need, clings to the knife.) Despite knowing the risks of the game, the players still decided to go back to the competition because they are so desperate that they didn’t have a choice but to cling on the knife knowing that their life is at stake.

That’s how it works too in reality. There are so many people who are so desperate that they are choosing to take the risk. There are people who are in desperate need of money that they resort to loans, to loan sharks, even though they’ll know that they will end up having more debts because of the huge interest. There are also people who are willing to do illegal things because of desperation to provide for their family.

Desperation leads them to cheat.

On the episode 6, Gi-hun or player 456 faces a moral dilemma. They were paired into two and in order to win, they have to get all the marbles. Being desperate to win, to stay alive, and to survive, he was about to lose but decided to cheat when he sees an opportunity to do so.

How about you? How about us? Have you ever faced a moral dilemma wherein you chose to do the bad thing because of the desperation to save yourself?

Desperation leads them to betrayal.

Pertaining to the same episode, Sang-woo or player 218 betrayed Ali or player 199 to save himself. Like Gi-hun, he’s already on the verge of losing when he deceived Ali into making a way to save both of them. Ali trusted him yet he betrayed his trust and chooses self-preservation because of his desperation to stay alive.

Have you already faced a similar situation as Sang-woo? Was there ever a time wherein you get to choose between others and yourself? Was there ever a situation wherein you betrayed someone just to save yourself? Like simply putting the blame to others instead of owning your own mistake?

Desperation leads them to look for ways.

Still with the same episode, Jang Deok-su or player 101 is also on the verge of losing already, he only have 1 marble left but because of the desperation to win the game, he was able to look for a way on how to turn the situation.

He was able to think of an idea to change the game and start over again. And in the end, he was able to win the game and survive.

I’m not saying that what he does is right but this is the only positive thing that the desperation has made in the film. And that is to look for ways even though it might feel that we’re already on the dead end.

To sum it up, desperation can lead us to do so many things. Things that we don’t think that we can do but we still did. Desperation seems to be a bad thing in this film and yes, it is bad. It leads them to kill, to betrayal, to forget their moral values because of the desperation to survive.

But that also made me realize that desperation is a nice factor to push us to our limits and to unleash our potential. That made me realize that we can do so much than what we could ever imagine, we just need to have the right forces for us to actually do so.

So, instead of thinking about the desperation negatively, why not treat it as the force that we need for us to do things that are unimaginable too, but not in a bad way.

What if we became so desperate to learn?

What if we became so desperate to help?

What if we became so desperate to pursue our dreams?

What if we became so desperate to explore new things?

What if we became so desperate to change?

Wouldn’t it drive us to do everything in our power to do all the things that we want to do because of so much desperation in wanting it. What I’m saying is that let’s use this desperation as our motivation to do more than what we can do right now. Let’s turn that desperation into motivation and let’s use that motivation for us to become so eager on what we want to do or to achieve.

Let’s be desperate!

I know I have to be confident on what I have written but can you please tell me if I did make some sense in here? You can be brutally honest like how brutal Squid Game is. LOL

Anyways, I appreciate you reading this far. Thank you so much. Till next time! :)

Article No. 146 - October 9, 2021