There’s a line written by Katherine Mansfield, later reused by Yiyun Li as the title for her memoir, that stays with me most days: dear friend, from my life I write to you in your life.
This line stays with me because it’s the answer to a question that I had a hard time answering while I was in school. It’s a question specific to me, and yet I think it applies to anyone who’s ever wanted anything from their lives. Why do we dream what we dream? Why do I write, why do you do what you do?
In her memoir, Yiyun Li says, “What a long way it is from one life to another, yet why write if not for that distance.” I don’t know if everyone explores this distance through writing, but I do think it is why i continue to write and why others might continue to paint, or run, or translate films.
There’s obviously a lot to love about Run On, but something that will probably stay with me is the show’s commitment to navigating this inevitable distance between its characters. There is acknowledgement that this distance exists and that most of the human experience is an attempt to bridge this gap, to understand and be understood — but at the end, we must accept that it’s impossible to close this distance completely.
It is impossible to know someone completely, but what I think love is, as explored by this show, is the willingness to try anyways. Even when failure is inevitable, the attempt is what remains. It’s what helps us bridge the gap within ourselves.
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