Old Faithful's Song
How do we store memories? Can film capture emotions?
Rita sat watching the kids sing and dance. It was hard to believe that 5th grade students could sing in such harmony and dance with such synchrony. Rita let the experience soak into her senses - hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling and even tasting the joy. She looked at her fellow parents, some with their cameras out, recording every single moment for posterity, trying to find the right angles and the perfect zoom. It reminded her of a morning three or four years ago.
They were at Yellowstone National Park waiting for the "Old Faithful." The "Old Faithful" is a highly predictable geyser that erupts every three quarters to two hours. It was one of their bucket list trips, and Rita had her expensive camera to record the huge rush of water. She wanted to make sure that she would get the whole eruption as it got progressively taller with the best available light and angles. Rita got her wish after a small wait. The "Old Faithful" is so named because it will faithfully erupt on time and the video she made is one she still shows her friends when the topic comes up. She had got the perfect angles, zoomed at the right times and panned out brilliantly at the end. As the geyser died down to a sputter of a few wisps of steam Rita felt a sudden disappointment, a feeling of disconnect almost. She had just seen and recorded a geothermal marvel, but she had not felt it, not been enthralled by it. She had been so engrossed in filming it, she hadn't processed the emotions it had produced.
Rita smiled as the 5th graders left the stage, so the next group could come out to perform. She went back to that day at the "Old Faithful." As Rita sat on the bench overlooking the geyser, she thought of another day a few years ago. Her child was performing on stage, in preschool, as a lion. He had a role that he was proud of and she had made Neil take the day off, so they could both go. She made sure she had lots of pictures and videos of the event. On the way home, her little one asked her how she felt about the sheep's stumble. Rita couldn't answer, because while the sheep stumbled she had been busy filming the lion standing in the background. That day Rita had promised to not just focus on a specific part of a situation but the whole. A promise she kept often, often broke. But, the disconnect at the "Old Faithful" had her shaken and stirred. She remembered smiling at the prospect of putting the video on Instagram while she filmed it. But she wasn't sure what to take away from the overall experience. What did it mean to watch the Old Faithful erupt?
There was only one way to answer that question - ask Old Faithful itself. So, Rita sat there again, waiting faithfully for the geyser. This time when it went up she had all her gadgets in her bag. All she had were her senses - seeing the steam rise higher than the water, feeling a few drops on her face while she heard the melody in its roar and tasted a slightly pungent smell of the fumes. It was one of those moments when time stood still and sped up all at once. It was magical. The Old Faithful had not just given her an answer, but given her a life lesson. Since that day at Yellowstone to this moment sitting there laughing at the compere's silly joke Rita has tried to live in the moment rather than record it for the future.
Don't get the wrong impression of Rita though, she still takes a lot of pictures and videos too. Her expensive camera still goes on trips with her. She doesn't look at the parents taking pictures as if she knows something they don't, and she never bores anyone with Old Faithful's teachings unless the topic comes up naturally. However, Rita now has learnt to live something she had told her son when he was little. The brain is the film, the eye the lens and the recordings are your memories. Amazingly, this faithful camera we call the mind also adds emotion and feeling to the pictures!