Promt: “Simplify, simplify, simplify” intoned Thoreau. If you were to follow Thoreau’s advice and scale back your possessions, what would you keep and why?

Personal Statement

In the corner of my room is a three-level video rack that contains many video tapes and one handy camcorder. In the case of my camcorder and videos, I cannot easily follow Thoreau’s advice and throw it away. They have and always will remind me of how I grew up, who I have lived with, and what I will do in the future.

On the bottom shelf, I have a video record of my life from birth to junior high school. In these videos taken by my parents, I can see myself singing with my friends, acting like a queen at my birthday party, playing the piano, playing with the piano, and many other shots of my smiling face. I enjoy looking at my past, and sometimes get surprised by the vulnerability of my memory. These videos remind me of my roots and background. At the same time, I also developed a strong interest in video recordings, something that captures and preserves memories which otherwise might be forgotten.

The middle shelf is occupied by videos I have taken myself. After my parents stopped taking videos of me, I started recording my daily life at school. I soon found myself fascinated by the way the world looks through a camera lens. I studied editing and began making many films, such as videos for advertising school events, funny dramas, serious documentaries, memorial videos as gifts for my peers. Before I knew it, the number of films I made had increased to more than ten. In these, I can see what I thought and how I felt at a particular moment during my high school career. These films are more than just a record of the actual events of my high school days. They are the record of my inner thoughts and emotions as a 17 year-old Japanese high school student.

On top of the shelf, there is a pile of blank tapes and one camcorder. I continue to record the new people I meet and exciting events I experience. It is my dream to, some day in the future, create a film and convey my ideas and opinions through motion pictures. Although nothing is recorded on them yet, these blank tapes will soon be filled with my future. Every time I see these blank tapes, I am encouraged to face my dream.

Although human memories are very fragile, these videos will remind me of where I came from, direct me towards the future, and inspire me to achieve my goals. These scrap books of the past and maps for the future are something I will not, and should not simply “simplify”. As I glance at the bottom shelf containing memories of my past, I take a blank tape from the top shelf and insert it inside my camcorder.

(489 words)