Having wanted to write about this for a long time, and I finally managed to squeeze some time out of my daunting essay writing mode for business schools and upcoming crazy work weeks assured by the boss. I am trying to limit the word count to a business school application standard, 500 words.

As a fan of Japanese horror movies with subscription to Blockbuster’s unlimited online rental service, I just could not miss a Japanese movie with the title “After Life”. When I got the DVD, it was obvious that I made the mistake of not reading the synopsis carefully enough.

People, dead people but in normal forms, arrive at an old school-like facility in batches, where they are given one week to choose one memory and one memory only to take into the afterlife. Once one has chosen a memory, it will be recreated by filming it using actors and all the tricks and illusions of cinema. Then comes the shocking part – this piece of film will replace all of one’s memory in the world and will be played over and over again in eternity. Most people spend most of the week remembering, thinking, and choosing which piece of memory they are going to pick.

A 70-year-old lady picks a time when she was 7-year-old and dancing in her favorite red dress in front of her older brother and his friends. A middle aged business man picks the feeling of an early summer breeze from the school bus window he was riding when he was 16. One picks the scene in which he flied a glider through the clouds. To my surprise, very few people choose memories with their lovers and family. At the end of the week, once the film is made, each person will sit in an old cinema and watch the piece of memory that he has helped to recreate. When the film ends, he disappears. I guess that means he has left for his afterlife.

(The movie paces gracefully and elegantly, a feature of a lot of Japanese films.)

What will you choose to film and hold on to eternally? It is a scary question, but it is a beautiful one and really touches your soul. Although I do not believe this kind of afterlife, I could not stop thinking about it long after the movie ended. To some of the people, it was a great deal because they get to “live” with their most cherished moments forever. But to most people, who want or care about too many things in the world, it is a hard decision to make. It is hard to give up what we already have, and it is even harder to choose our moments.

Whenever I think of this question, I get scared because it feels like I am wasting my previous life every day without any “real” contribution to my final decision. Why am I doing what I am doing now? Should I sit down and think about my past life, or should I start to create some new memories? What do I want? Who do I love? If we can slow down a bit and think about these questions once in a while, we will feel more grateful about life even if we might never find a satisfactory answer.

For the pick of the moment, I am thinking about memories with my lovely wife. Though not exactly sure which one to choose, but I want you to be in my life, before and after.