What Makes Life Worth Living: A List of Beautiful Things

This is the first in a series of (at least) 30 posts I’m going to write this month as part of what Wesley Zhao and I have dubbed No-Blog-Sloth November Challenge. One post will appear here a day from now until the end of November.

There’s a great scene at the end of Woody Allen’s late-1970’s masterpiece Manhattan where the main character, Isaac Davis, reflects on the things that make life worthwhile. You can watch the clip, which is probably one of my favorites from any movie I’ve ever seen embedded below. 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTQ4a3BR5c]

I love this clip because of how unbelievably personal and heartfelt its contents are. Although Allen is playing a fictional character in the movie, I think at a certain point it becomes crystal clear that he is in fact talking about himself and what makes his own life worthwhile. And that’s what makes the clip so beautiful.

There’s a lot to be said about the definition of beauty, and whether the experiencing of beautiful things is actually what makes life worthwhile (in fact I would argue that there are other things that do so in addition) but for now I’d like to start where Allen left off and list a few of the beautiful things in my life that I think make it worthwhile. Continue Reading