POST BATTLESHIP ISLAND REFLECTION

My friends and I caught Battleship Island yesterday. It is a movie based on real events that happened during Japanese occupation over the Koreans. While we initially wanted to watch the movie because of Soong Jong Ki, he was far from our minds when the movie ended. We were scarred by the brutality, atrocities and gore we had witnessed. It was horrifying. But what made it worse was knowing the story wasn't a fiction.

The violence depicted in that 2.5 hours was for some, a lifetime of torture.

My heart was still palpitating even as the credits rolled on screen; We walked out with wobbly legs - All we could think was the the intensity of the story and exactly how far-fetched it was really from reality.

It scared me knowing how far humans can fall. Many times during the movie, I caught myself thinking "How could they have done that?". People were so far gone that there was no ounce of compassion nor humanity left in them. They could roll people on iron-cladded beds, they could force themselves on women, they could subject children to the worse kinds of torture - and still think it was normal.

Violence isn't normal. War isn't normal.

You'd think that humans would have realised that by now yet what we think is history is happening right here, right now.

Charlottesville racial riot, Aug 2017

With the recent racial riots in America and religion afflicted tensions in ISIS-affected countries, wars are far from a cry of the past.

Violence is escalating at a rapid rate unbeknownst to us because we are so... detached. While we are complaining how the MRT system is always making us run late for our meetings, someone out there is running for their life. While we are picking if our meals are made up of gluten-free, organic ingredients, someone out there is scraping crumbs to fill their stomachs.

We have been fortunate enough to elude such violence. But just because we don't see it doesn't mean it isn't occurring.



It's such an irony. We feel so much after watching a war movie based on a past event but we turn a blind eye to the diabolical riots happening presently. Violence has become but an action-packed entertainment for us - a $10 cheap thrill - when in fact, those narratives are built on the foundation of the lives of hundreds and thousands of men.

And history is still in the making: there are many similar stories out there with which people are paying with their lives.

I guess we don't hear the cries of our fellow brothers and sisters until and unless it is a packaged entertainment.

A friend of mine who raises funds in his spare time to supply amenities to refugee camps. He documents his experience as well as the historical social events he witness through his photographs.

Yet at the same time, I wonder the extent of the impact of such chronicles. Watching these movies, clips and photos juts us out of our comfort zones - but only temporarily. Before long, we slip back to our peaceful lives. It cultures people - but only in their minds. I wonder how many of us actually take action to help upon knowing the tragedies of the world.

I feel selfish at times, knowing all these and proceeding to live my life at it is when there are people suffering out there. But what can I do?

What can we do?

Perhaps that's the reason why we overlook the sufferings of others.

Our apathy is but a cover up for our helplessness. We are just as lost and just as afraid.