I just saw the world... and we almost died together!

I just saw the world... and we almost died together!


True story:

I'm a people watcher believing we are a fascinating observable group. So time spent in a crowded airport on my way to Dallas recently was no problem,  It was a typical scenario with people like my wife and I visiting grandchildren, business women and men on smartphones and computers, families with small children perhaps going to Disney World, young, old, stressed loners rushing to the gate, happy travelers laughing and giggling, African American, Asian, Hispanic, caucasion, Muslim and I'm sure, many denominations of faith or not, LGBT and other, tanned and tattooed, bikers, military and Boy Scouts, those who love, those who hate, those who don't care, dogs, cats and more, much more.

Hello world!

A random group of us--144 to be exact, plus crew got on a plane destined for Dallas. The plane had an emergency. Nose wheel broke. Firery crash or what?

When we burned off the extra weight of fuel for two hours circling around Raleigh at 3,000 feet altitude, it was decided we would fly by the control tower at 200 feet, ala Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and the people there would scope us out.

We studied the brace positions as requested. We were advised the fire trucks, ambulances and rescue personnel would be visible beside our runway on the fly-by. The airport was on hold and the TV crews were filming--just in case. We made the television news as "a plane in trouble," perhaps like the movie "Airplane!" but not as funny.

Would we die together as people burned or mangled with bodies strewn everywhere? Or would we survive and continue to define ourselves as 'different?"

As the TV story showed, 144 people and crew landed safely. That's the tip... 144 people and crew, not 144 souls. and crew However, when you think about it, 144 souls and crew does unite us far more than just 144 people and crew. Maybe souls is good in every case.

I'm sure we in the plane were all different in lots of ways, just like as we were when we walked the terminal to board. But we all shared the same fate, whatever it would be, in the end. One for all and all for one.

At that moment, we were much more the same than different. And we lived. All of us.

Our world is not very different from a busy airline terminal.... or a plane. If given the option, we see ourselves different in too many ways. We fight wars, shoot, kill, hate, judge, bleed, but to what end? We really are one... as in the plane... as in the world sharing the air we breathe. 

You'd think we could do better... can't we?

At this moment, we all shared our world,: American Airlines MD-80 to DFW.

Elvis died in 1977...or did he?

The King at a young age

In looking back, I found something I wrote 10 years ago when "The King's" craze was nearer it's peak. I found it absolutely amazing in how prophetic I was.

When Elvis Presley died in 1977, there were 48 Elvis impersonators. In 1996, there were 7,328. If this rate of growth continues, by the year 2012, one person in every four will be an Elvis impersonator. And it will be just our luck that one of those will someday run for President.

Whoa! Was I close or what? Today, there are at least four Elvis impersonator associations: The Professional Elvis Impersonators Association (PEIA), The Association of Professional Elvis Presley Tribute Artists (APEPTA), Elvis Presley Impersonators International Association (EPIIA) and the National Association of Amateur Elvis Impersonators (NAAEI). I'm not kidding.

Now about one of them running for President, the only person I could rule out for sure last election was Dennis Kucinich. He just didn't have the voice.

 



Ten years later, I was sadly proven right.

Two examples of perverted logic (NOT COUNTING POLITICS) both proving It really is "Nuts Out There."

Good example No. 1 (in the comics):

You read the comics in your local newspaper? (If you ask, "What's a newspaper," you are under 30... not that there is anything wrong with that.) Well, you should.

The comics are a wonderful parody of life, lest you take life too seriously. We saw ourselves in almost every Seinfeld T.V. episode which ran for an astounding nine years. ("What's T.V. and who is Seinfeld? C'mon, play along with me just for this blog post.)

Jeremy and his best friend Hector

Zits is a comic strip by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman. It's main character, Jeremy, age 16, sees life as a high school sophomore who pretty much knows all that is important to him. So he asks:

"Dad, can I have twenty bucks?"

"No, but if you wash my car I'll pay you twenty."

"Okay, but the last time I washed your car it cost you fifty dollars to have the scratches buffed out."

"Good point. Here's twenty bucks to leave it alone."

"Make it thirty and I won't vacuum it, too."

Best example No. 2 (in real life):

Billie Sol Estes was a close friend of President Lyndon Johnson, our 36th president. Estes was a colorful character alleged to be involved in several crimes of fraud and deception. He did serve prison time more than once.

In 1962, information came to light that Estes had paid off four Agriculture officials for grain storage contracts in silos he did not have. He was noted (at least by comedians of the day) to probably have said (paraphrasing) "If you are going to pay a farmer not to grow corn, then you should pay me for the silos not to store it in."

And if that doesn't make some perverted sense, then I'd eat my hat... if I had one.