Well, yesterday I told a horrible story about seeing a dog get hit by a car. Yes, that was horrible. So I feel compelled to balance it out with something really cool that happened.
First, to appreciate this, you have to know something about the movie American Beauty. In it, there is this character, this high school boy, who is always walking around with his video camera. He has a favorite video that he shot of a plastic bag being tossed about by the wind. I know, I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but he waxes poetic about how *beautiful* it is, and when you watch it, you kind of know what he means.
So anyway, ever since seeing this movie, if I ever see a plastic bag “dancing” in the breeze, I always think of this movie, and I always manage to find beauty in the sight.
Now, the other day, I’m going over the bridge into work, and traffic is a little backed up, we’re just crawling. And I see, on the side of the bridge, just a little ahead of me, this plastic bag dancing in the breeze. It’s one of those long, clear plastic bags that newspapers are put in. Anyway, I watch this, and I’m thinking how beautiful it is, and then I see it get swept up on the wind in front of my car, and pass directly in front of my windshield, and then float over to the passenger door…and quietly slip into the front seat of my car.
Because I drive with my windows open. I almost always drive with my windows open. I just thought it was kind of cool that this plastic bag chose to come and sit down beside me, probably the only person out there on that crowded bridge who, if they were looking at it at all, would have been thinking “Oh yeah… the bag dancing in the wind! That’s so cool!”
It made me feel like the bag had *picked* me, that something beautiful had chosen me. It was a very silly, but very special moment.
No, not silly at all. This is probably the most awesome thing I have heard of in a while. The world is so magical, and I forget sometimes, but then things like this happen (to me or other people) and I am reminded. Thank you! 🙂
Also, on that kid in that movie, there’s a lot of references to him, making fun of him as an emo fruit with a creepy streak, and while I can totally see how that would come off, I was thinking how he’s a step above a lot of the world who can’t find beauty in absolutely ridiculous places. I have always kind of found myself to be one of those people because I spend a good deal of time finding really odd things beautiful, things most people find either unspectacular or downright unaesthetic. One of my favorite pictures I have ever taken is just a black and white photo of a fall leaf on the concrete and I am just so irrationally in love with this photo. Now, to be fair, it means a lot more to me because I took it in Rome, but that’s not the point. I have other photo’s like that which most people are bound to find mediocre and I place so much stock in the memory or image which inexplicably appeals to me.
Basically, I think that being able to find beauty in unexpected places is wonderful, and being able to see the world as a magical place is more wonderful still. 🙂
Haha! “an emo fruit wih a creepy streak” Yeah, that just about explains it. But it IS a good movie, is it not?
And I’m totally with you on the beauty in unusual places stuff. But maybe I’ll write more about that in another entry soon. Right now, got to go clean out the car!