My flight gets delayed, other than it being an inconvenience it doesn’t really bother me as I find a seat and become comfortable. I take out my book, sip on my coffee and find myself pretty chilled out. After a minute or two my eyes scan around wondering where people are going and where they came from. The reason behind their travels and the life they may lead. It’s then I realize, I quite enjoy people watching and my book becomes uninteresting. This exercise kick starts my imagination, the same way as when you get comfortable at the movie theater. The thrill of the unknown. It’s fascinating to see people’s behaviors, their attitudes, priorities, personalities, frustrations, it all seems to emerge at the airport.
I have to admit, traveling with children, although is probably the most entertaining of all journeys I’ve experienced, can also be the most stressful. So I sympathize with traveling parents. Children have the ability to test your patience and in some cases they even test your knowledge above and beyond your actual intelligence. There are two types of children at the airport; the sweet ones that sit occupied with games of some sort and the ones that won’t sit still, the ones that create an embarrassing scene.
It always fascinated me how folks love to talk on top of everyone and engage the entire crowd towards their conversation. They make you feel as if prying into someone’s discussion isn’t a bad thing after all. Businessmen walk arrogantly attached to their cell phones conducting important transactions, although sometimes I wonder otherwise. Uninteresting and for the most part not engaging, loners who sit with headphones morphed to the side of their heads. I always wondered how they read and listened to music at the same time; was I born without this seventh sense?
Families vacationing together have too much luggage to handle. They argue over who will watch the bags since no one wants to sit still and people watch like me. Some folks cling on to their bags as if it’s the last thing they’ll let go of. You can tell they are traveling for the first time, you can sense the anxiety. Couples sit together, munching on snacks and confiding sweet nothings. Young singles are everywhere, they are the ones that look well pulled together, a cup of coffee in hand, strategically handling their belongings navigating the airport as if it’s their office building.
Groups have discussions, friends are laughing out loud and parents discipline their children. Girls are decked out in their latest fashion and some people seem to have come dressed for bed. Folks fill their wait time with naps and books and others join the bar crowd for drinks or a bite to eat. I see how people struggle with weighted luggage and it hurts me to analyze the load. I love to scan certain people and have the urge to ask them if I’m right, you know, just to confirm that my opinion on them matched. I also wonder who is studying me!
We all are of the same species, yet how society divides us is unreal. Race, color, gender and even size matters to us humans to some extent. I’ve traveled to places where I just fit into the crowd and then other destinations have left me feeling like I am an alien amongst the crowd. I have struggled with a bad back when boarding a plane and people have just sat and scrutinized. I have given up my seat to assist someone else. I have conversed through an entire flight and on others I have sat silently next to another human who showed no fellowship. Showing that you are a respectful human being is so much better than displaying your attitude, yet we are confronted with all kinds of personalities. Some people own their space and display their importance and others sit disciplined waiting for instruction.
Even when we fly together we are segregated by our financial capabilities. Yet when we come together to board a flight, whether it’s first class, business or coach, we all follow the same procedure. We all purchased that same amount of space to transport us to another setting for us to complete our journeys. We’ll all share that space for some time and whether we like it or not for some time we become equals.