This is one for the plot line of "The Good Wife." Alicia defends a client who performed emotional mercy killings on Korean Americans who were unable to off themselves. The client is also a Korean American and did the job for no payment. It was, well, an act of honor. Financially strapped himself during the downturn, he couldn't economically bail out that family. So, he did the next best thing.
In THE NEW YORK TIMES, Kirk Semple reports that suicides have been soaring among New York Koreans. In 2009 they reached 15, up from 5 in 2007 and 6 in 2008. The reason - what else -was financial. They felt shame over losing their piece of the American Dream.
Semple confirms what we all thought: The higher the expectations, the higher the suicide rates. Koreans are oriented toward outstanding achievement, be it getting admitted to the Ivy League college or making it better-than-average in their adopted country.
Perhaps the only way to stay alive in these volatile economic times is to surrender hope. In my novel, I position hope as a dangerous substance which should be regulated. Few can handle it, not at least right now.
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