一リットルの涙 (One Litre of Tears)

For the entire day today, I sat in front of my computer and cried. Okay, I'm not THAT depressed. It's the J-dorama : 一リットルの涙 (One Litre of Tears). It's the best Japanese drama I've watched ever. And it's the only drama that had me crying at every episode. Watching 'One Litre of Tears', I've cried 1L of tears myself.

One Litre of Tears follows the story of a 15-yr old high school girl, Ikeuchi Aya, whose life was taken a cruel blow when an incurable neural disease, Spinocerebellar Degeneration(SCD), robbed her of her normal life at 15. This drama is based on a true case: SCD manifested in Kito Aya's body at 15 yrs and took her life at 25 yrs. In the J-drama, every detail of the account was impressively delivered: from Aya's shock and hopelessness when she slowly loses control of simple, routine actions, to her courage and optimism to simply continue living; her family's strong yet gentle support throughout her most difficult and miserable times of the illness; her friends' company and help throughout the trying times; the determination and helplessness of the doctors who tried every way to find a cure for her disease.

I must say, this drama allowed me to view life in a different light. It would be a lie to say I never entertain thoughts such as, "What is the purpose of my living? It wouldn't make any difference if I had died, so why am I living? Wouldn't it be better if I had been dead? What is the purpose in life?" After watching this drama and seeing how things that I take for granted are slowly being robbed away from Aya, I am terribly ashamed to have actually thought that my life served no purpose. Like Haruto Asou said, human are greedy and selfish. When I watch Aya slowly lose her ability to walk, run, speak, eat and breath, I couldn't help the tears that keep falling, and thought "What does it feel like to have your life slowly taken away from you, piece by piece? What does it feel like to slowly lose the ability to walk or speak? How does it feels like to live on for 10 yrs while your body slowly give away, as you slowly lose control over simple actions?" The magnitude and intensity of pain imagined is unbearable. And yet, Aya bravely faced the life that is slowly shattering before her. If it were me, I would not have the courage to smile and face life or the people around me. For her to be able to smile and inspire the people around her to keep on living and treasure life, I have my utmost respect and admiration for Aya. No matter how afraid she feels in her crumbling body, she struggles to find a reason to keep on living and did not give up until the end of her life.

From her story, I learnt to treasure life, to appreciate the fact that I have the chance to keep living, to be thankful for the simple fact that I am healthy, to be grateful that I can do the things that I want to do, to cherish the people and things that are important to me.

Because of Aya's inspiration, I will remind myself each time when I lose hope, that I must continue living, because "Just being alive is such a wonderful and lovely thing" (Kito Aya).

～みはる～

Official site:
いちリットルの涙