As a day well spent brings happy sleep, so a life well lived gives happy death. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Time moves in one direction. It carries our past and current memories along with our growth. Time also creates our life. It always helps us to look back on all of our great and worst moments when we are up and down. However, do you ever think about what kind of life you would like to spend? Or what is the meaning of life for you and do you enjoy it now?
"Soul,” this new Pixar movie caught my eyes currently, not because of the cute characters, but its plot and the core value to which the director wants to deliver. The movie talks about the meaning of life by a sudden death of a middle school teacher in New York, Joe. He is eager to become a Jazz pianist. One day he learns that there is an opening for a band of Jazz legend and he is also hired for the night’s show in the music bar because of his piano playing. While he is so thrilled about the news, his excitement distracts him, and he falls down a manhole.
Joe finds out him as a soul heading to the “Great Beyond,” where is a place for the long-gone souls. However, he is unwilling to die because of the jazz show he dreams for whole his life, he tries to escape and ends up in the “Great Before,” where consolers prepare for all the unborn souls with the help of mentor souls. Every unborn soul possesses a badge that grants access to the Earth by filling out all the personalities. Especially, each soul needs to obtain the “Spark” by mentor soul’s assistance. Joe pretends to be a mentor and is assigned to No. 22, who has lived in the Great Before for hundred years and avoids entering the Earth. As No. 22 understands that Joe is in a coma in the hospital and Joe also notices he couldn’t help her to gain passion because of his boring life, No. 22 agrees to help Joe to get back to earth by filling out her badge. Nonetheless, when Joe finds a way to return to his body, he accidentally brings No. 22, so it turns out Joe becomes a therapy cat and No. 22 enters the body of Joe himself. During the journey on the planet, No. 22 got a chance to live a life once, and she also noticed she completes the badge while they find a method to switch them back. Even though the consoler informs Joe that the “spark” is not the soul’s purpose of life, it is an indication that is ready to live. When Joe finally gets back to his body by getting No. 22’s badge, he is successful on the show, but he is aware that he is actually not satisfied as he imagined he would be and realizes his life won’t be changed afterward. He recalls the joyful experiences with No. 22 on earth, it helps her to obtain the spark and fulfill the badge, this time, Joe decides to return the badge to No. 22 and escort her for the journey to Earth. What’s more, Joe even gets the second chance to live again.
How many times of chance to live again in our real world? When Joe found out how boring his life is, I also recall what kind of life I have lived until now. Pursuing success and being competitive in college or the workplace is my goal all the time. Having a shining and reputable job in a company is also a dream of my life. What’s more, possessing fruitful and colorful pictures on social media is also my routine. However, am I happy?
Apparently, I am happy with the goal I set but I also suffered from a mental problem for a while. Somehow I realized that I trapped myself in a serious model of utilitarianism, instead. In order to achieve these goals as soon as possible, I sacrificed my time with family, I said “Yes” to every invitation and I also ignored the chance to enjoy how lucky I am every day to live on this planet. Did I reach anything? Well, yes, hundreds of eventful picture records on my Instagram.
Last year after the awareness of how long my father could live, I am truly aware of how fleeting life could be. There is no chance to have a life again. All you can do is look forward and figure out how to live the rest of the time. It also impacts me to decide to reorganize my life. Apart from chasing the dream, trying to look for the spark in life is also a lesson to learn. Sometimes a cup of new coffee, a small fight with friends, and time with family can be a joyful moment. In addition, cutting all the toxic people and things in life is also a way to focus on things that really matter to explore and expand new skills and hobbies to increase experiences in life. Last but not least, all these moments eventually connect together to a net of memories in our life.
Time is a self-evident feeling, same as the life. They do look like moving in one direction, but the memories could be in another direction for us to experience our future. Most important of all, as long as we are happy and won’t be regret when heading to the “Great Beyond” at last.
