As I entered, momentarily gazing
at the many faces of those seating
on the vehicle I would settle
until our destination was reached
a couple that spoke together softly
while holding their hands together
a man drowned out all the noise
while his eyes roved like mine
a small blonde boy walked the isle
his mom followed closely behind
a bearded man swallowed pills
and closed his eyes in preparation
I wondered how we were able
to have such trust and surrender
to the abilities of human beings
who are imperfect just like us
we were able to set aside
the fear of everything possible
how often did we do this
consciously or unconsciously
close our eyes and fall back
and hope the universe will catch us
Two days ago, I took a flight with my family across the country. As I walked down the aisle to reach my seat, I couldn’t help but look at the faces around me in wonderment. In my anxiety, I thought at first, “These all are the people I could die with.” I scanned the faces, saving them to my memory.
A man, a women, a couple, a family, a mother and child. All on the same plane, the same destiny for the time being. They fastened their belts, and awaited for liftoff. As I took in this scene, I realized something very significant.
These are people of faith. All of them really. Why else are the potentially surrendering themselves to the capability of those in the deck? Having trust in a vehicle that defies gravity in a way they can’t even fully grasp? This was interesting to me.
Humans are creatures of faith, trust and hope constantly. Whether we notice it or not. It is an odd but beautiful thing. We know what could happen, the negative possibilities or even life threatening consequences of our everyday choices. Often, we have to set aside fear (I am very afraid of heights) so that we can fulfill our needs, dreams, and ambitions. As humans, we evolve each moment we surmount our nature in this manner, and trust that by doing so we getting closer to reaching our purposes for living.
I found that even being thousands of feet in the air was quite a wonderful experience after all, and I would quite like to do it many more times over.
9/9/19
Bookish Behavior 
It is all too easy to dwell on those thousands of feet between the plane and the ground as we soar above. I think with planes its more a matter (at least for me) of probability rather than faith. I still hate the take of though, horrible experience every time!
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Probability is definitely a large factor- I definitely agree. But I would say, don’t you have to “believe” that the odds will mostly be in your favor, although it is possible it might not? Even if it not faith, maybe I will use “logical hopefulness,” since to some level you have to hope you will land safely, even if probability is on your side. 😊 Yes, I think I enjoyed reflecting on the plane very much, and I really loved the view as well. This was my first time on a plane since I was very young, and I don’t remember my first experience much.
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I don’t see the need to believe anything about the odds. They are what they are, if I’m more likely to get to my destination safely then that is all I need. The view is always wonderful, except for when turbulence hits. That I hate!
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I understand what you mean. And thankfully I quite a smooth flight. Turbulence sounds terrifying.
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We dropped 1000 feet flying from Palawan to Manila, that was horrible. So far I have been lucky though, apart from that.
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That doesn’t sounds fun:(
Hopefully I won’t have to experience that because I think I’d probably not fly again afterwards.
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