Downsizing

Life has not gone the way Paul Safranek of Omaha, NE planned. Wanting to become a surgeon, he dropped out of pre-med in his second year of college to take care of his chronically ill mother, he instead having become an occupational therapist. While he still feels he is doing societal good, he feels he would have done more as a surgeon and would have had much more purchasing power than what has ended up being his middle class life. Needing a kick-start, he is able to convince his wife Audrey Safranek that they should go through the irreversible cellular reduction process, more commonly referred to as downsizing, and live in the preeminent downsized community in the US, Leisureland, NM. Developed by Dr. Jorgen Asbjornsen at the Edvardsen Institute in Bergen, Norway to address what is deemed the ultimate threat to the human species, downsizing is considered the most inclusive and humane means to save humankind from overpopulation, it which reduces humans to approximately five inches in height, the downsized population which lives in harmony with the regular sized population. In addition to using fewer resources per individual, Paul learns that others that have already downsized have felt rejuvenated in not having to worry about many of life's problems, especially as one can take his or her middle class income and live like the proverbial top one percent without ever having to work again, leaving one to do as he or she truly wants in life. However, as soon as Paul goes through the process, he realizes that his new life is not as he envisioned. Paul will find that he will see the world in a new light in his encounters especially with two downsized people: Dusan Mirkovic, his neighbor who outwardly indulges in his hedonistic wants; and Ngoc Lan Tran, a Vietnamese dissident who was downsized against her will as punishment. Paul's new view is filtered through the lens of Dr. Asbjornsen's original goal of the bigger picture of what is best for society.