What Humans Lose Sight of Last

Subtitle
What is dignity?
It is the final ethics
that remain in a person who is on the verge of breaking.

Prologue
Losing something and losing sight of something are different.

What humans lose sight of last
might be their dignity as human beings.

To say they have
lost it entirely
is a bit too heavy.

Because,
there are times when people haven't truly lost it,
but it has simply become invisible.

I think I've lost my kindness.

I think I've lost my sincerity.

I think I've lost the ability to cherish someone.

I think I can no longer return to who I used to be.

However,
has it really vanished?

Or,
has it just sunk beneath the anger?

Has it just been hidden deep within the fatigue?

Due to the intensity of despair,
has it just become temporarily invisible?

What is lost
is no longer there.

However,
what is lost sight of
is still somewhere.

This difference is significant.

Humans,
before they break,
first lose sight of what remains within them.

Chapter 1
Dignity
is not elegance.

The word dignity
is easily misunderstood.

Etiquette,

the way one speaks,

appearance,

refinement,

conduct;

it is easily associated with such things.

Of course,
those are also part of dignity.

However,
the dignity I want to talk about here
is something much deeper.

Dignity is not
the superficial beauty shown by someone with composure.
It is the final restraint

to avoid treating others poorly
even when one is cornered.
When people have

composure,
they can be kind as much as they want.
When they are calm,

they can say the right things.
When they are fulfilled,

they can be tolerant of others.
The problem is

what happens after they lose those things.
Losing money,

losing one's position,

losing youth,

losing health,

losing relationships,

losing expectations,

losing hope,

and

losing composure.
After that,

what remains?
That is where

a person's dignity appears.
Dignity is not

the composure of a winner.
Rather,

it is the final freedom
left even to the loser.

Chapter 2
Expressing emotions
is not losing dignity.

This is something
that should be carefully distinguished.

Crying
is not losing dignity.

Getting angry,
complaining,
or becoming distraught
are not immediately a loss of dignity.

Humans
cry when they are in pain,

get angry when they are frustrated,

and break down when they reach their limit.

That
might be unsightly,

but being unsightly
is different from the loss of dignity.
Losing dignity does not mean having emotions.

It means turning those emotions
into domination or attacks on others.

Because I am suffering,
it is okay to hurt someone.

Because I am miserable,
it is okay to look down on someone.

Because I am unfulfilled,
it is okay to diminish someone's dignity.

When one starts to think that way,
one loses sight of dignity.

Suffering
is not an indulgence.

Being hurt
is not a reason to hurt someone else.

However,
one should not be too quick to condemn here either.

Behind a person who has lost sight of dignity,
there may be circumstances that drove them to that point.

Long-term loneliness,
unrewarded efforts,

accumulated humiliation,

screams that reached no one.

Such things

can cloud a person's vision.

Therefore,
one should not simply despise

a person who has lost sight of dignity.
However,
having circumstances

is not the same as it being okay to hurt others.
Herein
lies the difficulty of understanding humans.

Chapter 3
Before people destroy others,
they abandon themselves.

Dignity
is not just an attitude toward others.

It is also an attitude toward oneself.

Before people
treat others poorly,
they have usually started treating themselves poorly.

Whatever, I don't care about myself anymore,

it doesn't matter anymore,

no one is watching,

it's all the same whatever I do.

That is how
they throw themselves away.

And,
a person who has thrown themselves away
finds it easier to throw others away too.

A person who has lost sight of their own dignity
also finds it harder to see the dignity of others.

A person who has started treating themselves like an object
becomes insensitive
to treating others like objects as well.

Therefore,
dignity is the power not to destroy others,
and at the same time,
the power not to abandon oneself.

Cherishing oneself
does not mean pampering oneself.

It means not recklessly discarding
what still remains within you as a human being.
No matter how miserable,

no matter how shameful,

no matter how late it is,

perhaps I can still

return from here.
Not to trample on that possibility

by one's own hand;
I believe that too

is dignity.

Chapter 4
Dignity is lost sight of
before it is lost.

Dignity
does not disappear suddenly.

First,
it becomes invisible.

When you are too tired,

when unrewarded efforts continue,

when the time spent being understood by no one is too long,

when you feel like only you are losing out,

people
lose sight of the final ethics
within themselves.

The sincerity you were supposed to cherish so much
seems foolish.

The kindness you have protected
seems like a loss.

The self that has endured
seems like it was just being used.

At that moment,
people think,

enough,

I don't care anymore,

I don't need to be the only one enduring anymore.

Up to the point where these words emerge,
I think it is a natural reaction as a human being.

However,
what comes after is the fork in the road.

After thinking 'enough',
do you go to destroy someone?
After thinking 'enough',

do you pause for a moment?
Dignity resides
in that split-second difference.

It is not about continuing to have a pure heart.
It is about holding onto tainted emotions,

yet still not crossing the final line.

I believe this
is dignity as a human being.

Chapter 5
What you thought you lost
might still be there.

People
sometimes think they have lost their kindness.

I can no longer be kind to anyone,

I can no longer trust anyone,

I no longer understand the meaning of being sincere,

I have already changed.

There are times when one thinks this.

However,
have they really lost it?

Perhaps they have only
lost sight of it.

When night falls,
the road becomes invisible.

However,
that does not mean the road has vanished.

When fog appears,
the mountain becomes invisible.

However,
that does not mean the mountain has vanished.

When the heart becomes turbulent,
dignity also becomes invisible.

However,
that does not necessarily mean it has vanished.

It might just be sunk beneath the anger.

It might just be silent deep within the fatigue.

It might just be
unable to move at the bottom of despair.

If so,
people can still return.

If they haven't lost it completely,
but only lost sight of it,
they can search for it again.

Dignity is not just about not losing it.
It is also about returning to search for it

after losing sight of it.

Chapter 6
What remains at the end
is not righteousness.

What humans lose sight of last
might not be righteousness.

Righteousness
can judge people.

But,
with righteousness alone,
people cannot return.

Righteousness
can point out mistakes.

However,
it does not necessarily teach
how a person who has made a mistake
can return from there.

What humans need last
might be dignity rather than righteousness.
The dignity referred to here

is not for making oneself look beautiful.
It is not for standing above others either.

When you are on the verge of breaking,

it is the final restraint
to avoid destroying someone else.
And,

when you think you are already finished,
it is also the power to call yourself back,
thinking that perhaps you are not finished yet.
Dignity is not

the final decoration
for humans to be human.
It is the final outline.

Final Chapter
What humans lose sight of last

What humans lose sight of last,

that is
not strength.

It is not wisdom.

It is not righteousness.

It is not composure.

It is the final dignity
to not make your own suffering
a reason to hurt someone else.

However,
just because you have lost sight of it,
it is not the end immediately.

Losing sight of something and
losing something are different.

What you lost sight of
is still somewhere.

The kindness that remained within you,

the sincerity you couldn't quite throw away,

the final hesitation to not treat others as objects,

the small stubbornness to not completely abandon yourself.

Those things,
beneath the anger, fatigue, and despair,
might just be invisible.

What humans lose sight of last
might be their dignity as human beings.

And,
even if you think you have lost it,

there are still times
when you can return to search for it.

People
cannot live in a completely clean state.

They break down many times,

they become clouded many times,

they lose sight of themselves many times.

Even so,
in order not to turn your own suffering
into violence against others,
you can pause once more.

I believe that pause itself
is the final dignity
left to humans.

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