Life

Random personal note: I hate ticking clocks. Because to me it’s a slow reminder that life is ticking away. There’s one life, one to make it good. And the only thing we can really choose; is if we’re living that as a bad person or a good one.

I wonder and overthink too much in my life. That’s my curse.  I’m one of those people that wants to find answers in life, about life and living it. And this is where my appreciation of Hideo Kojima comes in.

Small intro for a genius.

Hideo Kojima is the creator of the Metal Gear Solid series on Playstation. And in those games it’s all about questioning life, the reason behind living and questions about fear and fear of dying. About love, relationships and fearing love. Of losing people that you love. To me he dares to ask questions no one dares to speak out loud but the same ones I want to find the answers to.

So let’s talk about Metal Gear Solid shall we ^_^ there's huge life lessons in it.

I've played the first one about two times when it first came out. And what struck me was the story that wonderfully flowed throughout your character's struggle to survive in Alaska. Yes he saves the girl (and a young man but that's not my point lol) but in the end he doesn't get the girl. Three games later, that girl falls in love with someone else on the battlefield.

So we have this lone wolf as a character; Solid Snake. Fighting and surviving is all he knows but love is not part of that. He questions the motive of life, questioning living. And then he hears he's got about a few months to live. How do you handle that? What is life?

And then there's the young man he saves; Otacon aka Hal Emmerich. He's the one that's a genius, not into fighting, afraid of it and questioning love and the reasons of love. He falls in love with Sniper Wolf; their enemy. A sniper out to kill them and yet how can he fall in love with her? Can you feel love and hate for a person? But she gets shot; her dying wish. He loses his love.

Then later on in Metal Gear Solid 4, he falls in love again with Naomi; a spy and eventually a traitor but in a strange good way; she had to. He stops wearing his glasses because she things it makes him more handsome. He tries to be another person for her but in the end she commits suicide (because she's forced to) (yes he's the male version of the Black Widow) and puts his glasses back on. Being who he really is...as it should. Later on he loses the only person he loves and that's his sister; Emma. Otacon? How do you survive when you lose so many people you deeply love? Can you still believe in love?

Then there's Meryl; seeking love on the battlefield. Can that survive? How do you cope with loving someone if they're in constant danger of getting killed?

It's quite intriguing their different stories and everybody knows Metal Gear Solid has the longest ass cut-scenes there is on the planet!!! I mean some of them are like 10 full minutes! Can you imagine that lol. Biters, I love them =)

We've talked about Sniper Wolf and even the bad guys have their own background stories that shows us the stupidity of mankind.

This is what Sniper Wolf told Snake as she was dying: I was born on the battlefield. Raised on a battlefield. Gunfires, sirens and screams...they were my lullabies. Hunted like dogs, day after day...driven from our ragged shelters.... That...was my life. Each morning, I'd wake up...and find a few more of my family or friends dead beside me. I'd stare to the morning sun...and pray to make it through the day. I watched the stupidity of mankind through the scope of my rifle. I finally understand. I wasn't waiting to kill people, I was waiting for someone to kill me. A man like you. A hero.

Then we have Crying Wolf who was born in Africa in a chaotic war zone. The rival faction slaughtered her parents and siblings, leaving her a refugee. She ran with her only surviving baby brother. One day they came across an enemy unit and they had to hide in an abandoned shack. Wolf's baby brother started crying. Knowing they would die if the soldiers heard his cries, she wrapped her hand as tight as she could around his mouth.

When the soldiers left she realized her brother was no longer crying. Wolf had accidentally smothered her own baby brother. Horrified, she carried her dead brother through the battlefield. Every night she would cry and howl just like her brother did.

She arrived at a refugee camp but the cries of the children tormented her day and night and soon she envisioned a wolf answering her sorrowful screams and watched as he made his way around camp to silence the children forever. This was in reality, a hallucination created by her damaged mind. In reality there was no wolf, she was murdering the children herself.

There is a sad life lesson in this one.

Continuing onto Laughing Octopus, she was born in a small Scandinavian sea-side village where the primary meat consumption was octopus. A cult nearby saw this as a Devil's act and one night attacked the village. However, instead of executing Laughing Octopus, they forced her to participate in the torture of her family and friends, making her enjoy it all the while by making her laugh. The incident left her emotionally scared and prone to fits of laughter, especially during battle.

Yet again, another lesson.

Last but certainly not least; Screaming Mantis. She was born in a war torn village in South Africa. When she was just a child, her village was attacked and burned to the ground. In order to survive, she escaped and hid in a basement, which she would soon discover was actually a makeshift torture chamber. However, because of the constant military activity outside, she had to stay down there to survive. She got locked in. The constant screams of tortured villagers haunted her every day and night. After weeks locked in the cellar, keeping herself hydrated by drinking the dirty, bloody water that had pooled up on the floor, she began to hallucinate. 

She saw a single black praying mantis, who would teach her how to block her ears from the screams. She learned from the mantis that to survive, she would have to eat the corpses that littered the floor.

This is just a few of the storylines but it's so amazing. I have much appreciation for the game and a huge respect for Hideo. If ya can, buy MGS4. It's so worthed!

And the end of Metal Gear Solid is my:

Quote of the Day: You mustn't allow yourself to be chained to fate, to be ruled by your genes. Human beings can choose the kind of life that they want to live. What's important is that you choose life...and then live.