My apologies for the two week break I’ve taken from writing on this blog! Between injury and travelling, I’ve been out of the loop, but I’m back!
Today’s topic:
We’re going to go with how to behave
on a plane.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all
experienced that person who takes the middle seat right next to you, when there
are entirely empty rows, and who slumps over on you halfway through the flight,
open-mouthed, drooling on your shoulder. Or the person who coughs violently,
spewing their germs across the row and into the ventilation system to just
bombard you over and over again…because once wasn’t enough. Or the parents who
think that it’s absolutely adorable that their children are climbing over the
seats, throwing things, and kicking seats, while smelling of pee, poop, and
vomit…not unlike the person who makes walking down the plane aisle their
version of a walk of shame. You’re pretty sure that if they just wrung out
their hair, they’d have enough alcohol from last night’s party to fill up their
complimentary drink cup. And of course, there's the over-sharer, who is usually
talking so loudly that they don't even need to be right by you in order for you
to hear their life's story.
So my plea here is... just don't be
that person. And don't let your friends be that person. Or your kids, if/when
you have them. Be aware that there are one hundred or more people on the plane
with you. Form alliances with like-minded passengers so that you
can strategically guard your space from those
middle-seat-even-though-the-plane-is-half-empty takers. Or so that when that
little kid hauls off and kicks your seat like it's a soccer ball and he or she
is going for a game-winning goal, you won't be alone in the struggle. And hopefully,
you can ally yourself with someone who can offer Patient Zero of the Ebola
virus a tissue while you're getting out your hand sanitizer to douse them with.
Make friends, if you want to, but
don't infiltrate someone's time and space. Just because you're
trapped in a flying can with them does not mean that you are instantly
best friends. You do not know what another person may be going through. They
may be flying home to be at the bedside of sick parent. They may be flying away
from an abusive relationship. They could be facing any number of things, and it
is rude to assume that they NEED, nay...MUST hear about the drunken night and
the bad-idea-tattoos you got in Vegas the night before or how you have 8
children ranging from 4 to 40 and how you're on wife #5. *true things I've been
told on a plane...
I'm not sure if the plane issue has
gotten worse or if my patience level has dropped, but I feel like society as a
whole is just so self-absorbed and so caught up in their own lives and issues,
that they don't even realize what they are doing. And I'm not sure if that's
better or worse. Is it worse to know that you're doing these things but just
not care or is it worse to be so oblivious to everyone and everything else
around you that you don't even notice? A topic for another time, perhaps...
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