Life Imitating Art: The Sando Bag Moment

It was Wednesday, March 28, when it happened. I never knew that something like that would ever occur in my life, but, well, it happened. It's not anything life-changing but you can say that it had an effect on me.

Have you watched "American Beauty?" That Academy Award-winning film about "romantic and paternal love, sexuality, beauty, materialism, alienation, self-liberation and redemption" (Wikipedia, not mine)?

Well, there was this scene in that film which really struck me (and stuck with me) when I watched it years back. It's up there (favorite cinema sequences) with "Magnolia's" Wise-up scene and the one in "Ordinary People" where Timothy Hutton breaks down. 

What happens in this scene?

"Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world 

I feel like I can't take it, 

like my heart's going to cave in."

Yes, it's THAT scene. 

Now, would anyone believe me when I say that I witnessed a scene exactly like that while waiting for a cab in Tektite (Pasig)? 

I was so surprised at that time that it didn't occur to me to get my camera (I always carry my small Canon wherever I go for moments like this... well, it's obvious that my camera failed me this time) from my sling bag. 

It was a two-part sequence. The first was when the white plastic bag (I'm sure it was a Sando bag and believe me, had it been a different color, it would've been less dramatic) zoomed past me and disappeared behind the Tektite water fountain. After a few seconds, it re-appeared. And this time, the bag wasn't in a hurry, it made a slower entrance. More dramatic.

It just glided. It took it's sweet time. Passing cars would blow it in different directions... up, down, up, sideways... this went on for about 10-20 seconds. Maybe longer, before it decided to exit from my view.

Was this what screen writer, Alan Ball, called an "unexpected emotional response?" The same thing he felt when he likewise saw  a plastic bag blowing in the wind? The same feeling (among other things) that inspired him to start writing the film? 

In my case, will it push me to make any life-changing decisions? Will it make me sit down and start on my next screenplay and come up with my own version of "American Beauty?" 

I doubt it. Sorry.

So, what did I learn from the experience that actually affected me to blog about it? Nothing, really. 

Except that I realized that in spite of my growing cynicism and distrust (of people and things around me) that I'm still moved by such moments... moments like a floating Sando bag. 

It was my "unexpected emotional response" moment.

That's good news, right? Because if I don't get moved that way anymore then, I must say that I'm already doomed to a life of misery, to a half-empty life. Who wants a "Walking Dead" existence?

I was touched. And I liked it. 

And that for me was enough.