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Pinoy Street Portrait: The Happy Hunter
I was driving on the roads of Roxas Boulevard in Manila. The heavy traffic gave me time to observe the world outside the comforts of my air-conditioned car. Amidst the confusing road signs and vehicles haphazardly zipping past each other, I spotted him.
He stood about five feet in height. He had floppy overgrown hair that was tinged orange. His polo was about three sizes too big for him and it hung loose like a sail on a mast. He had a genial gait, almost like he normally hopped to get to where he was going. Though his face showed marks of hardship, he wore a silly childlike expression.
From out of nowhere, a half-empty water bottle flew out in front of him. He gamely picked it up and smiled a wide grin towards the jeepney driver that threw it at him. He waved thanks to driver and skipped away. This man was a vagabond garbage collector, the kind that would go around collecting recyclables as a means of survival.
His gracious reaction hit a nerve and made me think of how lucky I was to be in a country where a person can still find value in a half-empty bottle of water. Maybe for him, it was half-full. Or maybe, he’s not the kind of person who thought about concepts as silly as half-full or half-empty. Because as I was internalizing all of that, I saw him walk away emptying the water on the pavement, putting away the bottle in his sack, and bouncing off to his own happy beat.