本期主題
作者：Dyske Suematsu
In my 20's, I was always 1)craving to "2)hang out". After work, I would go straight to my friend Nadav's apartment and spend a whole evening hanging out with other friends who 3)commuted to Nadav's every night. We would watch TV or play video games while 4)bingeing on beers. Nothing productive. Nothing constructive. We just sat around watching the clock go around and around. Now I think back, it seems wasteful, but I don't regret it. Our 20's are, in many ways, about a sense of belonging. Part of the process of defining who you are is to find where you belong. It is ironic that after spending a whole decade trying to find your identity by struggling to belong somewhere, you find that to know who you truly are is to know that you don't really belong anywhere. That is, you are you; any differences or similarities that you see are only in your head. Anyone can be similar to you or different from you depending on which aspects you focus on.
A sense of belonging is a cause of many problems in the world. Some people spend their whole lives struggling to find a place to belong to, whether it is religion, nation, culture, or race. In many cases, the things that create the sense of belonging are negative aspects of being human, such as drug addiction, 5)alcoholism, racism, and mental/physical 6)affliction. They tend to strengthen the sense of belonging. In a way, they have 7)recourse in the very thing that they criticize.
Belonging is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you want to belong because you feel lonely, so you seek out others who share certain similarities, but on the other, you don't want to be 8)categorized and 9)generalized. You conveniently switch your position depending on a merit. 10)You want to eat your cake and have it too.