If Cats Disappeared from the World

by Genki Kawamura

I wonder why people always expect from others things that they themselves can’t or won’t do. Did I really want her to be stricken with grief or shock?

“There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” That’s a line from The Matrix.

I realized then that when a person talks about something they really love, there’s a kind of thrill to listening to them.

“You only realize what the really important things are once you’ve lost them.” That’s what my mother would say at the end of La Strada.

You don’t have a family. You make a family.

I was never able to be myself completely or live my life exactly how I wanted to. I’m not even sure if I ever figured out what exactly “being myself” and living out my dreams really meant. So I guess I’m going to die with all those failures and regrets: all those unfulfilled dreams, all the people I’ve never met, all the things I’ve never tasted, and all the places I’ve never been. I’m taking all that with me to my grave, and I’m okay with that. In the end, I’m satisfied with who I am and the life I’ve lived. I’m just happy to have been here at all.