Quotes about writing

Sentiments

Lee Wei Ling (Lee Kuan Yew's daughter) wrote "Love Does Indeed Spring Eternal" on 2 Oct 2011 about her mother's passing the year before, and her father's request:

“For reasons of sentiment, I would like part of my ashes to be mixed up with Mama’s, and both her ashes and mine put side by side in the columbarium. We were joined in life and I would like our ashes to be joined after this life.”

It takes a lot of courage for a man not prone to sentimentality, to make a requests purely for reasons of sentimentality.

Or it takes a lot of Sentiment for a man not prone to sentimentality to request something purely for sentiment.

Go, gentle into the good night.

The race is run, the battles won

Your life's work has taken all your life

Go now to be with your wife

Your two loves are Country and Choo,

What we owe, we owe to both her and you

Go, gentle into the good night,

Rage not against the dying of the light

The race is won, the journey done

You've won your peace, you have won the right

To go gentle into the good night.

One of my favourite movies: Departures

Someone asked me why "Departures" is one of my favourite movies.

This was my answer:

Long after I've forgotten the movie, I will probably still remember the music.

But if I remember the movie and the story and the message, it is simplicity itself. A mispronunciation of House's favourite adage: "Everybody dies".

There is quiet dignity, serene beauty, and simple love in the ritual of nokan.

A pure understanding that death comes for us all, and as a final act for the ones we love, the best we can do is to send them off looking the best they can.

The movie also manages to make the dead, alive for a moment. In the simple mise-en-scene of the nokan, the drama, the conflict, the love, the lives affected are all played out and in many cases, resolved, giving all affected the the closure they need. "Hontoni Arigato Gozaimashita!"

In their death, their lives are validated by those who love them, miss them.

There are no heroes, only people living their lives, touching other people lives, leaving footprints in their hearts.

There are no great deeds. Only a respect for service for others, and an understanding that others need you, even if they don't understand what you do.

But in the end, there is forgiveness and acceptance.

And then there is the eating of the fried chicken. :-)

I also wished I understood Japanese dialects. Because the boss spoke a dialect which adds to his character. But never mind. It is still fantastic the way it is.

A complaint to the universe

Every year on Dec 31st,
A silent complaint goes out to the universe
"Those 365 days that just went past
They went by just a little too fast!"

"So if you could just slow things down
Or better yet, bring things back around
If we could just start again from the first
I'm sure we could not do that much worse."

As the universe listens to our complaint
And tho it realised its fault it ain't
It grants us all a chance to cheer
365 new chances in a happy new year.