Write something honest?

Yesterday I went to watch a rather weird movie. A movie I didn’t expect what it turned out to be. “The Whale,” the opening credits read. This is not a movie review. But I would recommend you not to read any reviews before watching the movie.

The protagonist Charlie said something so simple yet overlooked generally that it made me think. Made me think hard.

“These assignments don’t matter, this course doesn’t matter, college doesn’t matter. These amazing, honest things that you wrote, they matter” – Charlie.

The context here is that the character, a literature professor, asks his students to write something honest. Doesn’t matter what. He was tired of his students producing repetitive, regurgitated assignments repeatedly. The students replied honestly about what they were feeling, what they really wanted to do, what they would instead not do, and so on. They let their heart go free, unrestrained, and in the process, probably felt lighter or perhaps found something new in them. Anything further would spoil the movie for you, so I am restraining myself here.

I do not believe that education and tests do not matter. Nor do people toiling day and night to achieve the best are not doing anything that matters. I feel, and you can very well choose to disagree, that not everything and every moment of our lives is a preparation for a test. Or a means to achieve something. A race that never ends and only possibly ends with our demise.

We need to understand that all the tests, education, work, and promotions are necessary to sustain a lifestyle or get a better one than you’ve had before. Lifestyle includes everything from basic physiological needs to societal needs. But what do we need to sustain life? The very reason, the essence of you breathing on this tiny blue world in the whole vast universe.

When was the last time you looked up or around you while walking? Really looked. Not searching for shops or something on the streets. We live in such a unique, beautiful, and delightful world, which at the same time is also filled with unspeakable tragedies and horrors. Such dichotomy, such vividness at each end of the spectrum, but we often remain oblivious to many things that cross our paths each day.

Slow down for a moment. Just for a moment and stand still; look around you. Just look. Without ulterior motive, intention, expectations, or a “why” or a “what.” It can overwhelm or underwhelm you or make you feel nothing. But at this moment, you focused on something outside your wants, your intentions, and you just be. Just be in the moment, as they say, and watch the world.

This sounds like a lot of bull. Which it could be for a lot of people. But to others, I say, life is more than a chase. Of course, for someone to focus on this, they must have the basic necessities covered. If we have that covered, then, once in a while, slow down, disengage from the chase, and watch the world ebb, flow, crash, and clash. Watch the raindrops fall, the river flow and crash against the rocks, and the leaves rustle on a windy day. Don’t just observe the lovely rosy things too. Observe the beggars on the road, the sweat and toil of a daily wage worker. I can’t promise what this could make you feel, but I can somewhat promise that it will make you feel that you are a part of the world, a part of something bigger. The good, the bad, and the ugly, whatever it is, there are infinite possibilities for things to occur.

This is me writing something honest. Without pretending, without trying to impress people, just being.