How much does your life weigh? - A 10 second car and reducing baggage from Up in the Air

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) makes the following speech in front of an audience. By the way this is from the movie, Up in the air.

“How much does your life weigh?” , he says as the crowd retains the staggering silence.

“Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack.

I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders. Feel 'em? *pauses*

Now I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life.

You start with the little things, the things on shelves and in drawers the knick-knacks, the collectibles.

Feel the weight as that adds up.

Then you start adding larger stuff - clothes, table-top appliances, lamps, linens...your TV...

The backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. And you go bigger.

Your couch, bed, your kitchen table.

Stuff it all in there.

Your car, get it in there.

Your home, whether it's a studio apartment or a two bedroom house.

I want you to stuff it all into that backpack.

Now try to walk. *laughs from the audience*

It's kind of hard, isn't it?

This is what we do to ourselves on a daily basis

We weigh ourselves down until we can't even move. And make no mistake... moving is living.

Now, I'm gonna set that backpack on fire.

What do you want to take out of it?

Photos?

Photos are for people who can't remember.

Drink some ginkgo and let the photos burn.

In fact, let everything burn and imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing.“

One of the first things I did after I saw this movie, I never could have done all alone. I gave up windows and installed Linux. I was contemplating this move for a while due to slow startups, and because of which I sometimes was too lazy to switch on the computer. If everybody wants a 10 second car, why not a 10 second Laptop? (My Linux boots in approximately 13 seconds though, after which it is perfectly ready to launch applications).

If you are unaware, a 10 second car is a seriously fast car which completes a quarter of a mile in 10 seconds.

“The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living.”

I love Clooney in the movie. Nobody else would have pulled off the acting he does in the movie. His charisma and the flavour he adds to every dialogue he speaks was too much to resist.

If you havent seen this movie, it's definitely worth a watch.