Sra_TZ
Walking Disaster
- Mar 6, 2021
- 65
I came across a rather thought-provoking answer on Quora :
The Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa wrote a short story called Kappa (河童) back in 1927. The story is written from the perspective of a mental health patient, who recalls his time spent in the world of kappas - a water-dwelling creature in Japanese folklore.
He recalls that before kappas give birth, they would ask their unborn children in the womb whether they wanted to be born. He sees one unborn kappa reply that it does not wish to be born, due to its father having a mental disorder which is passed on genetically, upon which the kappa doctor injects the kappa mother with a needle, which deflates her belly like a ball.
After publishing this story, Akutagawa (himself a disturbed genius) committed suicide in that very same year.
None of us was asked by our parents whether we wanted to be born. Many of us would have preferred if we were never alive, for a variety of reasons that were never our fault to begin with. And yet we are called "selfish" for not appreciating this "gift of life", or for contemplating suicide.
Ironic, isn't it, that water-dwelling monsters respect their children's personhoods much more than actual human beings do with our children?
Just as not every video game is worth playing, not every life is worth living. That is why I have always supported the legalisation of euthanasia - it offers an "exit game" button to people who should have been offered one before they were born.
Here's the link to the original answer: https://www.quora.com/The-teenage-c...-the-matter/answer/Lonely-Cantonese-Sith-Lord
The story: https://mimichootings.wordpress.com...gawa-ryunosuke-translated-by-geoffrey-bownas/
Look forward to hearing what others think of this!
The Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa wrote a short story called Kappa (河童) back in 1927. The story is written from the perspective of a mental health patient, who recalls his time spent in the world of kappas - a water-dwelling creature in Japanese folklore.
He recalls that before kappas give birth, they would ask their unborn children in the womb whether they wanted to be born. He sees one unborn kappa reply that it does not wish to be born, due to its father having a mental disorder which is passed on genetically, upon which the kappa doctor injects the kappa mother with a needle, which deflates her belly like a ball.
After publishing this story, Akutagawa (himself a disturbed genius) committed suicide in that very same year.
None of us was asked by our parents whether we wanted to be born. Many of us would have preferred if we were never alive, for a variety of reasons that were never our fault to begin with. And yet we are called "selfish" for not appreciating this "gift of life", or for contemplating suicide.
Ironic, isn't it, that water-dwelling monsters respect their children's personhoods much more than actual human beings do with our children?
Just as not every video game is worth playing, not every life is worth living. That is why I have always supported the legalisation of euthanasia - it offers an "exit game" button to people who should have been offered one before they were born.
Here's the link to the original answer: https://www.quora.com/The-teenage-c...-the-matter/answer/Lonely-Cantonese-Sith-Lord
The story: https://mimichootings.wordpress.com...gawa-ryunosuke-translated-by-geoffrey-bownas/
Look forward to hearing what others think of this!
