Few select movies that I’ve watched actually make me think many hours after watching them. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of them.

For some reason this movie has had a profound affect on me. It has once again reminded me that life is magical and sacred. And yet it is short and abrupt and surprisingly elusive even as we live with almost complete authority over it day by day.

I’ve always compared old age with young. And why not? My grandmother of 88 years is still alive to see and hold my 9 month old son Ryan. Four generations living and sharing the same time line live in my home. My grandmother is toothless, so was my son until a month ago. Her short-term memory is failing, sometimes demanding breakfast, say, twice. Although she’s still strong for her age she is forced to take carefully calculated steps when walking. The list goes on.

For my grandmother, life has all but ceased to be glorious and it does not matter to her. She has climbed the mountain of life, reached the top and is now almost at the bottom – on the other side. For my son, he’s staring at the steep treacherous climb in front of him, full of opportunities, promises and glorious moments. And I, well, I am at the cusp and in possession of a unique power: the power to look at the ascend and descend – and influence the ascend.

While we talk about afterlife and what is beyond death, in essence the supposed immortality of us humans, I think we fail to recognize one very important fact about life. That while life is full of opportunities, life itself is the grand opportunity. From the moment we emerge from our mothers protection and are able to make our own decisions the opportunity that is life starts rolling. How we make use of that opportunity determines how we will ultimately achieve immortality – regardless of whether there is a life after this or not.

We achieve immortality in how we impact and influence the lives of those around us. We do this in creativity, in good deeds, in influence, in kindness and in evil. Both Hitler and Ghandi have achieved immortality in living memory and is likely to hold that position for a long, long time.

Yes, I was deeply moved by Benjamin Button. It has made me realize, once again, how precious each life is and how even more precious each moment. Life brings forth many opportunities but it helps to realize life itself is the big opportunity – an elusive one at that.