self-injury and the emo cult.
This is my open letter to the world, in which has been burning within me so deeply that I had to churn this out. It is very disheartening to see what society has become, in particular a trend amongst youngsters today. Apparently, it has become fashionable to be depressed. Everyone takes the word depression very lightly--you fail your entrance exam and you're depressed knowing dear daddy is not gonna waste any more of his pension money on you. Your boyfriend of 3 months dumped you and wham bam! you're so depressed that the razor blades becomes your friend. Even when the stylist massacred your hair, you utter; "tis so depressing."
We live in a generation where it's trendy to depressed; to feign depression. Oh so cool to be depressed, leavemealone. It's cool to listen to music that makes you mope around like a mother who lost her child. It's cool to be alienated and pretend you're some hermit on a mountain. It's cool to write lyrics, poetry, and stories about suicide and abuse. It's trendy to take pictures of yourself with psuedo-tears smearing the mascara on your eyes(let's not go into the many poses where kidz are left quite forlorn of hope with heads hanging down). It's cool to whine and complain about how you have it so bad because your parents won't buy you that Miu Miu coffer bag or that your life just won't be worth living without the coveted 8GB Apple iPhone that your friends were talking about all week. Suddenly, it's so fashionable to be "emo."
That said, I'm not some insensitive being who's here to pass snide remarks. Neither am I here to belittle one with mood disorders or depression, fer I myself was diagnosed with clinical depression and taking prescribed antidepressants--there's nothing to be ashamed about. Alas in most Asian countries, even the most educated mortals are unforgiving against depressives. People with depression bear stigmas of weakness and lack of control.
Depression is not an illness of the the weak-minded, so don't go around telling the clinically depressives to "get over it". Grief, negativity, disappointments and depression are not the same. Depressives need help, support and medication to function. Other than that, we're normal as the person you see on the busy streets. It's just that we feel too much. The same can be said fer many other talented creative people such as Heath Ledger, a well-known Aussie star--how can we ever forget Ten Things I Hate About You, Four Feathers and A Knight's Tale in which he acted in, and then, there's Diana--Princess of Wales whom many of the commoners have fallen fer, fer her grace and beauty, and Sir Winston Churchill whom we all learn about in History, and fer those who read widely; we all know of Sylvia Plath, Amy Tan, Anne Rice and J.K. Rowling who have struggled with depression. Even the musically inclined such as Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Sheryl Crow and Billy Joel have battled with depression. Even Vincent van Gogh the paint extraordinaire had depression. These talented people were all depressives but each successful in their own ways. I could go on and on but by now you'd probably think I'm biased. So be it.
Bottom-line, it's not fun to be depressed/emo whatever you call it. Stop the whole i'm-sad-lonely-screw-life cult kiddos, you're making the real depressives look bad and undermined. And please, stop cutting yourself, it's not cool. Seek help, not attention.
We live in a generation where it's trendy to depressed; to feign depression. Oh so cool to be depressed, leavemealone. It's cool to listen to music that makes you mope around like a mother who lost her child. It's cool to be alienated and pretend you're some hermit on a mountain. It's cool to write lyrics, poetry, and stories about suicide and abuse. It's trendy to take pictures of yourself with psuedo-tears smearing the mascara on your eyes(let's not go into the many poses where kidz are left quite forlorn of hope with heads hanging down). It's cool to whine and complain about how you have it so bad because your parents won't buy you that Miu Miu coffer bag or that your life just won't be worth living without the coveted 8GB Apple iPhone that your friends were talking about all week. Suddenly, it's so fashionable to be "emo."
That said, I'm not some insensitive being who's here to pass snide remarks. Neither am I here to belittle one with mood disorders or depression, fer I myself was diagnosed with clinical depression and taking prescribed antidepressants--there's nothing to be ashamed about. Alas in most Asian countries, even the most educated mortals are unforgiving against depressives. People with depression bear stigmas of weakness and lack of control.
Depression is not an illness of the the weak-minded, so don't go around telling the clinically depressives to "get over it". Grief, negativity, disappointments and depression are not the same. Depressives need help, support and medication to function. Other than that, we're normal as the person you see on the busy streets. It's just that we feel too much. The same can be said fer many other talented creative people such as Heath Ledger, a well-known Aussie star--how can we ever forget Ten Things I Hate About You, Four Feathers and A Knight's Tale in which he acted in, and then, there's Diana--Princess of Wales whom many of the commoners have fallen fer, fer her grace and beauty, and Sir Winston Churchill whom we all learn about in History, and fer those who read widely; we all know of Sylvia Plath, Amy Tan, Anne Rice and J.K. Rowling who have struggled with depression. Even the musically inclined such as Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Sheryl Crow and Billy Joel have battled with depression. Even Vincent van Gogh the paint extraordinaire had depression. These talented people were all depressives but each successful in their own ways. I could go on and on but by now you'd probably think I'm biased. So be it.
Bottom-line, it's not fun to be depressed/emo whatever you call it. Stop the whole i'm-sad-lonely-screw-life cult kiddos, you're making the real depressives look bad and undermined. And please, stop cutting yourself, it's not cool. Seek help, not attention.