Remembering how to be

By Jonathan Lam on 01/13/18

Tagged: reflection

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I just watched a movie, From Up on Poppy Hill, directed by Hayao Miyazaki in the Studio Ghibli franchise. And yet again, as for any other Ghibli movie, I am still beyond words, a few hours later. Its plot can be reduced to a few sentences, but the entire feel is unforgettable.

I feel like I never want to stop doing. That there is beauty in action itself, that anything I can do will bear fruit. I feel silly because I am not a very masterful writer and this may sound ridiculous, but perhaps that's part of its magic.

It all makes me want to cry.

The Japanese and their codes of honor and discipline. Folding clothes, cooking meals, being so respectful for everyone; it's something quite absent in traditional American culture. I usually would say that I despise formalities that have no practical value, but these values are not simply formalities; they are a different, peaceful way of living. And it hurts so much. It's far too easy to get caught up in winning, competing against classmates. To some, school is life. To others, sports. And to a select few, memes. But they simply create a sense of artificial ways to fill the time, to forget about the human inside all of us.

I feel like a monster.