A perfect state of mind can be achieved in so many ways, one of which is finding ones own purpose. Purpose tells the tale of a man’s struggle with depression who found true meaning in a place he least expected.
FADE IN:
On screen: PURPOSE
NARRATION:
Life as we know it has little meaning without goals. Simply put, it’s the fuel that drives our very existence.
Screen begins on a camera lens, pans out to a young man standing and busyness and traffic going on in front of him.
NARRATION
Like a car. Without one, our very being is just a hole. An empty hole, with nothing but air. This fleeting air.
Scene pans to busy fast-forward view on Times Square.
Changes to: Young man lies in bed, his alarm goes off. He gets out of bed, washes his face.
NARRATION
Purpose. The very bone that holds our skin.
The young man does push ups, brushes his teeth, showers, goes through morning routines.
NARRATION
My very 9-5 holds no clue akin to its place. Going through this boring breath. Rising to repeat these actions like a zombie. Just going through the motions with just one instinct. Survive.
While the narrator is speaking, the camera follows scenes of different people throughout a city – someone playing guitar for money, someone playing drums in the subway. The young man stands in front of a subway car and looks around.
NARRATION
Round and round, I see souls living without souls. Boys roaming the streets in search of what they call peace. Tapping triggers like guitars in the hands of ones who make them glitter. Like a substance, we are lost in the shadows of the unreal. Lost in the winds. The very music that life brings now bores me.
The young man sits in a convenience store behind the counter, looking bored. The scene follows him serving customers.
NARRATION
Did I just serve a man, or a woman? Was her change a ten or a twenty?
I have become a machine. Going through this routine these sounds have become the clock that takes my very life away. As time passes I can feel my breath slowly fading.
The young man looks down at a customer’s camera. The scene changes, pans to black screen for a moment and continues to follow the young man’s commute in the city.
NARRATION
But now it makes sense. The world around me, the empty stairs on the train. The joyless troth of the masses to work each day. The way we all avoided eye contact. Afraid of what we’d see, and what we’d feel.
The young man has a camera, the scenes are now in slow motion. He picks up the camera and begins to shoot images.
NARRATION
So here I am, unable to move. My empty existence. All too real.
Like Adam and Eve. I once was blind, but now I see.
NARRATION
The young man takes photos of individuals he sees outside.
Through the eyes of a lens every pixel births joy. Shots by shots, I see life. The smiles from random strangers. The cute kid with the nice curls. The big, hairy dog. I see them all. Because at the end, when you’ve just had it all, all you just want to do is smile.
The young man continues to take photos and hug those around him.
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