[Student Voices] The Origami Injury
Published: 19 May. 2025, 09:17
Geonu Jo, Sekwang Middle School
by Geonu Jo, Sekwang Middle School
After about ten minutes of cutting paper for origami, I accidentally plunged a pair of scissors into my thigh. Stabbing my thigh with scissors was as silly as asking, “Can birds fly?” Blood was coming from my leg like a fountain. I quickly picked up my phone and called my mom, trying to keep my voice steady despite the pain, to let her know about the accident. When my mom heard the news, she was shocked and asked about my condition. Her voice grew louder and louder as she spoke, and I felt like my ears were going to explode from the volume.
“Geonu, I’m on my way home as quickly as I can!” Mom shouted at me on the phone. “Just stay calm and wait for me!”
I heard her leaving work and getting into her car. Even though she had been busy working at the pharmacy, she dropped everything to help me. “Vvvvrrrooom!” She’s usually a slow and careful driver, but through the phone, I could hear the engine roaring like a rocket. When she arrived home, she said, “Come down—carefully, carefully!” With my hurt leg, I slowly got into the car. I could smell my mom’s perfume, the unpleasant odor of gasoline, and a faint whiff of blood.
We rushed to the closest hospital. On a scale of 1-10, the pain was an 8 or 9. To make matters worse, we had to wait for an hour before I could have surgery. During that hour, we waited outside the emergency room and prayed for a successful outcome.
At the beginning of the operation, the doctor gave me an anesthetic to numb the area for the surgery, and the nurse brought some needles and thread for stitching. Although I was terrified and on the verge of crying, I couldn’t feel any pain. I could only hear the doctor’s steady breathing and my own shallow breaths. My eyes were covered with blue cloth, but there was a gap through which I could see the busy hands of the doctor inserting needles into my numb thigh. The sound of the scissors—I couldn’t see what they were doing—made me want to scream. The surgery took about 40 minutes, which felt like the longest time ever. My mom and I were relieved when the doctor told us the surgery was successful, and we thanked him before leaving the hospital with a sigh of relief.
It was a difficult start to my summer vacation. Throughout the holidays, I experienced pain and discomfort as my thigh healed. When I recounted the experience to my dad and grandparents, they teased me with amused expressions.
“Hey Geonu, do you know how to cut paper?” my dad laughed.
“Even four-year-olds know how to use scissors safely,” my grandma said with a laugh.
Those jokes blew away my worries. We knew that freak accidents can happen to anyone. After the incident, I bought a pair of children’s scissors with a safety cover. But that wasn’t what made me feel safe. That wasn’t what made me feel protected. I made sure to keep my phone close by, knowing that my mom would come to help me no matter where I was or what she was doing. I thought of the proverb: “God could not be everywhere, so He created mothers.”
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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