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Maybe even a businessman. Anything that pays well and is a prestigious position to be in. In our society, we raise our children to aim for the six digit paycheck, so they have to work hard, do well in school, and then get a job, and do the same thing there.
This is a monotonous, repetitive, and essentially colorless life. There’s no art, no creativity, no culture. How many times have you taken a day out of your life to simply experience the world around you? The beauty of the sunrise? The glory of the sunset? The soft change in colors of the bright yellow of midday to the chocolate black of dusk? When was the last time you simply basked in the splendor of the universe?
I know it’s been a while for me. It’s school, work, school, work, and all spent trying to have a life worth living without anything worth dying for. Madrid-based animators, Daniel Martínez Lara and Rafa Cano Méndez, created a Pixar-inspired 7-minute short that tackles this very subject.
It is critically acclaimed, made by an open-source 3D rendering program known as Blender. They dedicated it to their families with the caption, “to our families, for helping us not to lose our colour.”
A great president, fondly remembered by his “Four score and seven years ago”, once wrote a letter to the headmaster of his child’s school. It is an incredible message that you can find here, but I would like to select a few choice sentences from the document to show you.
“Teach him if you can, the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tell him they are wrong.”
Abraham Lincoln, renowned as one of the fairest and just presidents, one of the most inspiring and loved by all, realised the necessity of going to school and learning not just what is taught there, but to look around and learn from the world around you. The birds, the trees, the skies, the earth, the day, the night, they all have valuable lessons for us if we just look closely.
This 7 minute short shows you exactly that. Our time is precious, our life is precious, and we shouldn’t spend it trying to die with as much stuff as possible. Live a little.
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