Before the criminal horde rises up and storms my house, I have left people in place to defend it–and watch the kids. That being said, I am presently soaring through the skies in the belly of a Southwest Airlines 727 filled with 120+ souls all directed at Seattle. The vacation I wrote about yesterday is taking place in Olympia, Washington, a small town an hour or so outside of the Seattle sprawl and home to The Evergreen State College. The moments leading up to the trip reminded me how haggard I have become as a parent with no real separation from my kids in a year, and highlighted a peculiar phenomenon I only really see in airports: The binary division of humanity.
There are two types of people in airports. There’s the extremely cute and well dressed set who, even if lowered to the comfortable flight wear of jumpsuits, still manage to look bright, alive, and energetic. Then there is the other crowd, the gray swath of humanity trudging through the airport proper as though, regardless of destination, the act of flight is a toll as great as that of Atlas forced to shoulder the world. These people not only dress in the dark and worn colors of the defeated, but they look beaten, and tired, and old. Sadly, I joined that rank years ago, so I am going to focus on the other crowd.
What makes them look so vibrant? At first I honestly thought it might be a socio-economic class thing. For the most part these folks are nicely dressed, leading to my presumption. However, I grew up in NYC where class mixing is a prevalent as breathing and this clear distinction never appears to me outside of airports. Suspicion aroused, I thought about this distinction longer and came to a conclusion, the separation is psychological. It isn’t even coming from the people who seem happier. It is coming from the people who don’t.
Often times people tell me when I walk into a classroom I seem happy and unburdened. I might not always feel that way, but that environment does as much to raise my spirits as it does to crush the spirits of those who notice my apparent carefree glee. That separation of attitude inspired by space is the very thing I must be observing in airports. For some folks the ‘port is a happy spot. For others it is the onset of a long and uncomfortable flight. I’m 6’3, so you can guess what camp I fall into.
So there: mystery solved.
Some Thoughts:
1. One thing that the show Newsroom talks about is the idea that nobody reports straight news anymore. Instead the message is bent to reflect a position or spark an argument. News people large becoming creative writers. They spend more time contextualizing than reporting. I noticed a headline re: the jobs report that exclaimed, Weak Jobs Report to become a problem for Obama’s Message? What made this all the more difficult to digest is that this was the first and only article the paper did explaining the Jobs Report. I would have preferred an article that read, “Jobs Report Flat” and went on to explain what that actually means as opposed to putting it into a political context and then speculating on how it could affect the November elections. Just tell me the dang facts.
2. I have about 6 usable shirts. It is time to go shopping and get some big boy clothes.
3. I will be starting a gym membership as soon as the vacation is over. The goal is to shed 20 lbs. Then I will go shopping again and get more shirts and even a pair of pants or two.