“what’s in your backpack?…”
Yeah, let’s think of all those things important to us — shoes, cellphone, bags, books, pens, our pillows, slippers, our clothes, let’s even include the bigger things like our house, our refrigerator, TV, computer, bed, dining sets and many many many more. Let’s also think of the people we love, — parents, siblings, aunt or uncle, cousins, boyfriends or girlfriends, our children. Then imagine putting it inside your back pack…
Done? Don't worry, I won't ask you to burn it..
Now, imagine carrying that back pack with the straps on your shoulder…
Then walk…
How does it feel? Yeah, it’s heavy. isn't it? And you know what? it slows you down…”
Okay! Now you can put that back pack down!
I saw that scene in the movie UP IN THE AIR, where George Clooney played the role of Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer (someone who earns a living by firing employees of different companies around the world). Ryan Bingham also gives a talk about how relationships and things slows you down and make it difficult for you to move forward. He emphasized this thought with a simple question, “what’s in your back pack?..”
That entirely makes sense. I guess what we are, where we are right now, the places we are looking forward to reach and how we get there has a lot to do with what we carry in our journey.
But although some people really looks and feels like a baggage, most of those people we love and those who love us may prove otherwise. Although Ryan Bingham in this movie, talks about commitment being a big word, and how most of the time we gain nothing from it, at some point of our lives, that word may prove to be more than just something to fill in our backpack.
In a time where commitment and marriage already seem old fashion, and family is nothing like the basic unit of society that it was, Up in the Air did a brief, and honest view of life, and relationships that people may somehow find it fulfilling in the end.
Be careful, and be sure to remove people who are beginning to be a burden in your backpack, but take care of your belongings for they may seem handy and helpful most of the times.
