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Tag: hedgehog’s dilemma

Joyce Carol Vincent

There’s this story of a woman. She died in 2003 and it took three years for anyone to notice that she’s been dead. She lived a perfectly normal life, with friends and career. She even said to have been shaken hands with Nelson Mandela. And yet, there’s no one to notice her upon her death.

It’s just terrifying to realize that we humans (or maybe some of us) has changed to such an individual creature. The modern way of life makes it possible for someone to live without having to be in contact with others. It’s ironic that when humanitarian activists called for universal brotherhood, more people are being cast off the society.

Let’s leave the ideological talk at that.

I sometimes feel disconnected from the world. Or rather, I disconnect myself from the world. There are times when I lost faith in people and kept a distance from them. It’s like a hedgehog who stays away from other hedgehogs out of fear that it might be hurt by others’ quills.

Maybe I’m a loner. Maybe it’s just me being selfish. I used to say, “someone who thinks that they have no friends actually have people around them.” But that alone is not enough. Even someone who has friends can die without anyone noticing (like the woman’s story I mentioned).

Then what? I’m still finding the answer.

What isn’t remembered never happened. If you aren’t remembered, then you never existed.

— from Serial Experiments Lain

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