The professor reflects on what comes to mind when life comes to an end. When the flow of time stops he surmises that the most impressive scenes and sounds of our lives will come to mind. And at the same time, the events, places and people, relationships may appear and disappear in the background.
Perhaps we are trying to love our present life more, hoping that that moment will be a final consolation rather than a painful moment.
Sometimes he thinks of sounds that warm his heart like ASMR (sounds that provide psychological stability).
As a child, while in bed before sleep, he heard his parents putting cold rice and side dishes together and hearing them rubbing the rice with a spoon, putting rice in their mouths, and chatting while eating. It sounded so beautiful to him. Even though he was dozing, it was a time when an unknown sense of peace came over him. This sound is the archetypal ASMR he remembers and is also the sound he wants to hear in the last moments of life.
In the neighborhood where he lived as a child, various stores, such as a black bean noodle restaurant, a snack bar, a cosmetics retailer, a tailor shop, and a bicycle shop, were arranged in an ‘ㄴ’ shape along the main street, with a yard and a communal water supply in the middle. In addition, the houses were attached to the right in an ‘ㄱ’ shape, so the overall structure was a ‘ㅁ’ shape with shops and houses connected.
In those days, there were many children in each household, so the yard was always overflowing with children, and people took turns babysitting other families' children and often shared food with each other.
When you go to a 'jjajangmyeon' restaurant early in the morning, you watch in amazement as the man puts dough into the machine and pulls out the noodles. When you go to a cosmetics store (which also sells imported products), the woman applies cream to your sore hands and mixes cocoa or skim milk powder with warm water. The bike guy sometimes took him around here and there and showed him a little bit of a wider world.
The scene at the time is similar to the works of photographer Kim Ki-chan (1938-2005), who had been capturing images of alleys, especially children in alleys (children who were poor but already living in heaven).
These are memories and scenes he wants to see in the last moments of life.
Among those who have attempted suicide, some say that if they had had even a single happy picture or loving video engraved in their minds, they would not have gone to such extremes. Therefore, suicide attempters emphasize that basic suicide prevention is possible only when young children are not exposed to violence, receive love, recognition, and warm care, and can grow up properly.
It is also said that for young lives to grow well, the country, society, and community must prioritize helping young parents, who are direct caregivers. That's why young parents say that they should leave their children with a lot of positive ASMR images that can serve as a protective factor no matter what adversity they face as they grow up and come to the end of their lives.
