Please remember that you are choosing to read my opinions.

Written: October 28th 2003 (Revised April 4th 2004)

Is it possible that there are there trends in metal illness?

If I had mentioned "Cutting" on a "web log" 7 years ago, not only would no one really read it, but also if they did they'd have no idea what I was talking about. Yet, I find myself completely shocked to see the rapid increase in the trend that has taken place in the last several years.

What is cutting?

Well, I probably don't know as much as you do really. With the rise in the number of people doing it, you might even cut yourself. Oprah has had specials on self-abuse, along with every major talk show and new station. Is that really helping? I think that we are putting the information about cutting in all the wrong places.

Who was the first? Why did the first person cut themselves?

I'll take a crack at that one, since there isn't really a right answer. It wasn't just one person, but more likely a thing that just started taking place; perhaps due to failed suicide attempts. Some people must have attempted to kill themselves, and they didn't die. Many times this causes the person to get some attention, but for whatever reason, they feel like they want to live again. Then they find themselves doing it again, because it made them feel better last time. I don't know if I'm close or not, but it makes sense. If there are any cutters out there that want to answer this on the blog, please do.

Where do "cutters" hear about cutting? Does it come about from thoughts of suicide, or does the media plant the thought?

I think these are all questions that should be thought about. In fact, these are some of the most important questions of all. It isn't something that would normally pop into someone's head. I’ve had cutter’s admit to me that they did hear about cutting from magazines and television, but it seems to be spread by word of mouth, perhaps from friend to friend, also.

There is always some speculation at the answer of why people are cutting themselves. It seems that a popular answer by the cutter is that, while they usually aren't sure, they think it makes them feel alive, because so much of their time is spent feeling "numb". Some people admit privately that they do it for attention. But, attention is only pity... do they want the pity? I’ve heard many different answers from the first time this was posted. I must say that while there are a lot of different ways to say it, the reasons for cutting are all similar in some aspects.

It makes me sad. And angry. I want to know if it is the media's fault. The media makes me very angry thinking that they can solve the world's problems on national television. All the while, however, they introduce these ideas that people would otherwise never conceive on their own. The media affects us all whether we want to admit it or not. I like to know that problems exist, but I don't need a primetime special. What are newspapers and radio for nowadays anyway? Sports and lame music? There must be a more effective way to spread information about cutting.

Don’t take offense at this, but I’ve also noticed that cutters are often similar to each other, and I wonder what the connection is. Taste in music seems to be similar many times, and I wonder is music today isn’t romanticizing the act of cutting. Has it gone so far that artists are taking advantage of their fan’s emotional vulnerabilities just to make some money?

I can't tell what causes what. Is it depression that causes the problems or the problems that cause the depression? Is it the chemical imbalance that causes the depression, or vice verse? Does attitude and mood affect chemical production in the brain? Does it matter? Can you change yourself to fix a chemical imbalance with out medicine? Does medicine make things better?

I think the masses are over-medicated. I hate medicine. Yes, it’s extremely helpful, but we use it too much, too often. Supposedly, our antibiotics are letting resistant bacteria live, so the antibiotics become less effective over time as the resistant bacteria multiplies and mutates, and whatever. But isn't taking any medicine that you might not need a bad thing? Isn't taking too much of anything bad?

I just have too many questions that I'd like to know the answer to. Luckily, I'm in college taking courses that will eventually lead me to answers I'm satisfied with, but until then I have to wonder about a lot of things. I just wish there were one person who could explain in detail the correct reasons behind what happens, but that is a utopian idea. Why?

People can't even settle on one answer to a problem. There can't be one right way. All explanations have a right to be correct whether they are logical or not. Logic isn't even right all the time, because that isn't fair to the Illogic. I mean, let's be open-minded, right? Let's all accept each other's idea's no matter how crazy they are. What is the world coming to?

Here is an example of what I am talking about:

Racism. If I say that Racism is ignorant, you'd expect complete agreement, right? In a perfect world, perhaps. This is simply because of a little thing known as the Golden Rule. I've been throwing this around on blogs across the world. The Golden Rule, if you haven't heard of it yet in your life, is simply to treat others as you want to be treated. If you haven't heard of it, I'm shocked and taken aback. It is used in most philosophy and religion, just worded differently. In fact, some of the wisest minds all through history have stressed this idea.

So, by this rule, no one should really want to be discriminated against based on something like race. But then again, by this rule the world would be nearly perfect. We would grow up learning to treat people like we want to be treated, so we'd always have that to help us make decisions. Should I cheat on my partner? No, I wouldn't want them to do that to me. I should just talk to them about these feelings and try to figure out why I feel that way.

All of these people spouting off this timeless piece of wisdom are still ignored by so many. Perhaps they were all misunderstood. They didn't say treat yourself how you want others to treat you. They didn't say treat yourself like you want others to treat themselves. It is clearly based on interaction with others. Perhaps we just like treating each other badly and then complaining when we are treated badly ourselves.

What an odd world.