I was tapping my feet impatiently, berating myself for having missed that bus and as a result missed the train that just but departed with me staring at it. If only I were a piece of paper…

And because of that, I had to wait for the next train, which was supposing to be alright, except that the waiting time was an awful 10 minutes. I mean, 10 minutes! Gosh! In Hong Kong, that would translate to like, 6.5 trains, taking an average waiting time of 1.5 minutes for one train. And with such a super efficient train run service the people were still seen dashing for the train doors just say something, doesn’t it?

Every minute seemed crawling to me, and I would add salt to my own injury by imagining how far I would have gone by then, if only I hadn’t missed that train. At that instant, a thought came into mind - which I’d call it the “sliding door reality”.

Have you watched the movie “Sliding Doors“ with Gwyneth Paltrow playing the female lead? It was about how a woman, Helen Quilley is rushing for the subway when a few seconds of time-interruption causes another split version of her to be created. Hence, the viewer gets to see what happens when one Helen manages to catcj the train while the other Helen didn’t.

The Helen who takes the train meets a man James, and reaches home to catch her boyfriend cheating on her. They break up and she eventually lands herself another job and starts a wonderful relationship with James, the guy she met in the train.

The other Helen who didn’t get to slip in between the sliding doors of the train got mugged and is sent to the hospital. She returns home to find her boyfriend alone at home. She ends up getting some shitty job to support this worthless boyfriend while he continues having an affair with his ex-girlfriend, and she’s kept in the dark.

See how the two perspectives shift to present such dramatically and radically different outcomes, just by a split second difference?

I was mulling over this movie and saw how it was related to my case. I know, mine wasn’t totally like that, I only missed a bus that created the domino effect of missing trains (another one at the interchange) which ended up with me being late for a whopping 20 minutes. The cause? I was considering which pair, out of two, of shoes should I wear.

My missing the train was just something very trivial I suppose, since nothing dramatic took place as a result of that. I’d probably remember this the next time I spent that two extra seconds in front of the mirror deciding if I should change my mind on the shoe that I plan to wear (the irony part is: I only have that few pairs!).

It’s the insight I got from thinking about this movie.

Is this what people call “a twist of fate”? I’d like to call it the “sliding door reality” because the former sounds more passive and resigned. It’s a twist of fate, and things are meant to be like this. While the latter gives one an additional choice of looking at how things have changed and what are the options we have to respond better to it - in a way it’s more empowering.

Because I firmly believe that in life, perspectives lend colour, variety and richness to events that happen. This in turn, leads to more choices.