FADE IN
Act 1
Sitting in a sofa with a smartphone in hand, PETER scrolls through his Facebook feed. A post with a black-and-white picture of a man catches his attention.
PETER (V.O): The author is boasting his connection with a distant relative who sacrificed his life over a century ago.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): If that someone doesn't boast, would anyone know or care about his distant relative's sacrifice?
Peter leans back, lost in thought.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Days ago at a luncheon, I heard an academic mentioning a percentage of republicans in US may resort to violence to get the election right.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Is that what would happen in a civilized democracy?
Pulling the corners of his mouth down, Peter smiles subtly.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Seeing a WhatsApp notification, Peter checks it, and sees "Happy Easter" and an image depicting a lovely couple posting at a single railway track.
PETER (V.O): Easter is happy for my elder son and daughter-in-law as they can have a break from their professional work.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): I've just done my March travel. My wife, our younger daughter and I will fly out to Japan on the last day of the Easter holidays.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): This time, we'll be away for 11 days and our daughter will stay in Japan, doing what she wants to do, artistically.
INT. BEDROOM - 10:00
Sitting up in bed by the side of his sleeping WIFE, Peter scrolls through his Facebook feed again.
PETER (V.O): Why do we have to sleep away one-third of our time on Earth?
A post on cosmology catches Peter's attention.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): The theme is about the rarity of human intelligence among planets.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): In the grand scheme of the cosmos, the Earth is just a pale blue dot, not to mention the humans living on it.
Thinking critically.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): What's the meaning of life? Does it even have one?
Peter sees images of galaxies.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): The meaning of life, if there's one, is dependent on life ie if there's no life, there's no meaning.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): However, it doesn't follow that when there's life, there's meaning.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Anyone who can't think critically can be manipulated by politicians to sacrifice one's life for a political cause.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): If one doesn't treasure one's life, whatever meaning one finds to end it unnaturally can be a self-deluding one.
Philosophizing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): My theory is that to sacrifice one's life for politics is only meaningful in the stupid sense.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): In cosmic time, human history is insignificant.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Is there any significance of human civilization on Earth as the Solar system will eventually end?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Taking an earthly view, life can be a quest for pleasure, fame or glory...
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): It's said that the search for life's meaning is personal rather than universal. I develop my following thesis that's logically irrefutable.
Framing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): My thesis: As the search for life's meaning is personal and not universal, any meaning found by one isn't universally meaningful.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): If life is meaningless universally, what on Earth do I questing for one?
Act 3
INT. STUDY - 23:00
Peter inserts an AI drawing entitled "The Quest for Meaning..." to a draft.
PETER (V.O): The quest for meaning in life is subjective. What is meaningful to one may not be meaningful to another. Sacrifices may go unnoticed or unrecognized.
Pondering over an image depicting the cosmos.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): The rarity of human intelligence and the vastness of the universe lead me to investigate my meaning of life, philosophically.
Philosophizing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): As the search for life's meaning is personal and not universal, my thesis emphasizes that any meaning found by one isn't universally meaningful, as it's contingent upon one's experiences and perspectives.
FADE OUT
THE END
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