Photo by Mark Chan on Unsplash
I'm sitting a few thousand feet up in the air, heading back home to California from Austin, Texas. I’m coasting through the darkening sky with a group of people I’ve never met.
It’s silent while passengers sleep and watch movies, like the person next to me watching Christmas Vacation. We’ll always seek our comforts.
Flying seems normal, because it is. It’s is an everyday occurrence in our modern world, from the birds to the sailing clouds. Still, I hope always to find joy in the phenomenon of flight.
The ground which was home a mere minute ago turns into what the sky was prior. It’s something to look and marvel at, but instead of passing planes, I watch the stoplights of seemingly invisible cars, inching along like an army of red ants.
We’re travelers, doing what we’ve always done. Once a ship and a train, now a car and a plane, humans moving across time as we rise, nearer and nearer to the vastness of space. But for now, we stay within our realm.
I find it gratifying to write on a plane. Something about being in this abnormal state of flight, looking out of the window at the stillness of the world fuels my imagination.
I wonder what those around me think. We’re quick to judge; how people look, how they act and treat each other, their mannerisms, what they wear. But I’ve found this ride of life to be much more enjoyable when giving others the benefit of the doubt.
When I was a kid, I remember thinking to myself, I just won’t bring my kids on a plane. It would be too embarrassing to have them crying the whole time.
Ha, if only. We grow up and begin to realize that we’re all doing our best with what we have. The very person I’m judging will be me someday. We must live our lives, and flying with babies is a part of life.
I smile and make a face at the crying baby I feel I’m always sitting by, hoping to cheer him up. I’ll just turn my headphones up a little louder.
The flight attendant is a kind human being. People like him make the world turn instead of burn.
He’s going the extra mile to make people smile; he’s assuring us that the plane is clean and safe. He’s living from a place of love. No matter what our job is, this sort of genuine person-to-person interaction is possible.
We get the worst of the worst of the news, and this darkens our perception of humanity. When we get out there and live, we see how good people really are. I have faith that we’re heading in the right direction.
I have nothing to do but release my thoughts from my head and put them on the page. Up here, life in the sky passes by. Kick back, grab a pen and a page, and enjoy the flight.