How Squid Game got me thinking

For some time I was contemplating watching the latest series on Netflix - The Squid Games. I don’t like brutality and violence, and what I heard from those who had watched it, the Squid Games was quite a fit.?

But then last weekend I succumbed to the temptation of checking it out without any expectations. I and my wife said to ourselves that we will watch an episode and if it’s too much violence, we just move to something else, something like a rom-com or an old movie… a fair deal.

Needless to say, right from the word go, the series grabbed my attention and we got sucked into the story and of course, the gory violent scenes that came along.?

A story of middle-aged people, who have made mistakes in life, bad decisions, and have broken lives are handpicked and brought to an island, to play games…games which are playful and childish but with extreme repercussions.?

Win it and you live to play another game, and then another one; till you finally win the bumper prize…lose and die a nerve-racking violent death. Simple! You make some friends and enemies and as you progress in the games, you smirk when your enemies die and feel sad when your friends meet the same fate. But you go on - determined and focussed on the big prize.

Needless to say, we binge-watched the 9 episodes over 2 nights. Had bad sleep and grumpy mornings and decided to never binge-watch again…(something we promised ourselves the previous week).

Though the series was completely mind-bending and thoroughly fictional, it made me think - isn’t it what we do and think in our personal & professional lives?

We play this game - of building our careers and businesses with an unwavering commitment towards success; the ones who win get to live a great life full of luxuries. But the ones who don’t, we label them as losers.?

Our corporate lives make us believe that the CEOs and successful business leaders are the winners and the people who didn’t make it “big” are the losers. At best we label the losers as mediocre. And mediocrity is despised by all, isn’t it??

Then there are the 'VIPs', who are way above the winners. People who make people play these games. Needless to say that they are also vulnerable at the very end. They too die; in cozy beds though.

But there was a twist which was right in front of all the players, all the time. Rule No. 3: They could all (or the majority) decide to quit and go back to their lives. There was no compulsion to play on. The players even decided to take that option but they didn't hold on to their decision. Why?

Why do we choose to keep running the rat races, trying to beat each other in games which make no sense? Trying to prove that we are better than the others, more successful, smarter, faster...childish isn't it? Why can't we all quit the "game" and focus our energies on making our lives better - by working on the things that matter like being a better son, a better husband, and a better father instead? Being better at work also does not mean we have to win over others! It simply means we are good at what we do and we love doing that every day. Simple.

The Squid Games made me think again about my own professional life and life in general. Something which I never expected to do from a gory violent series on Netflix.