A quick glimpse of reality during real life

Tris and I went to the movies tonight.  We watched "The King's Speech" in one of the new malls in a nearby city.  Great movie (recommended, although not a lot of action), good company (went with friends), and excellent venue (the Premier...lazy-boys, delivery service to your chair, blankets...all for $3.50).  It was a good, spontaneous way to spend a free evening, and traffic was great, which is a bonus in a world where the traffic can make or break a good idea.

While I was lazing in my armchair, my mind wandered from the movie a bit.  I began to think of the first few times that we went to the movies here in Lippo Village.  I remember how it was a bit of a treat to get away from reality for a while, and to put my head into someone else's life if only for 1 1/2 hours.  I'd think to myself "wow, you're sitting in a movie theatre in Indonesia, halfway across the world, and when the lights go back on you won't be heading outside to garden on Copperfield Road...you'll be heading to your new house in Danau Biru."  Actually,  I wasn't THAT far into someone else's head or those thoughts wouldn't have had a place to land!

I had the same thought tonight, of how here we were, sitting in a movie theatre in Indonesia, watching a movie about an English king and an Australian, in a brand new, shiny mall.  I was no longer trying to get out of my head and escape reality for a few minutes, but I was realizing the irony of where I was sitting.  I will never get over how there is always poverty just a few steps away from any big mall in Jakarta and the area we live in.  Always.  What influenced this post specifically is when we were driving home, discussing the movie and the history surrounding it, I saw a man.  We were rounding a bend towards an on-ramp, in an area where people are less likely to be found.  He was squatting next to the road, a white plastic bag that had probably been thrown from someone's car window billowing near his knees, and its contents spread out in the dust so he could sort through the rubbish to find something to eat.  I remember pausing for a split second, watching him rub his eyes (it almost looked as if he was wiping away tears like a 2 year old would do), and then continuing on with my discussion.  For some reason that image stuck in my mind, and is likely to return again.

It's those split second moments in my life that cause me to think again, to check what I'm doing with my days, and to appreciate the goodness in my life.

Thanks for reading.