The funny thing about me and airplanes is that I never seem to be able to stay awake through takeoff, and sometimes landing. It probably goes back farther than I can remember. I began flying shortly after I was born. My mom told me that she would take me in her arms on the plane and as she approached her seat, the nearby passengers' eyes would widen in horror at the same time speaking to her their thoughts of displeasure at the thought of being stuck next to the lady with the baby. By the time we had landed, their horror had faded to relief and their displeasure to admiration for my mother.
As I sit here on this plane now, the air rushing by, sounding against the outer hull like so many tiny marbles hitting a tin plate rhythmically, every nano-second, I dwell about what's going on in the world. We have a president who has just spent billions upon billions of dollars trying to temporarily allay the fears of so many Americans. We are at war in other countries and there seems to be no end. We are at war in our homes fighting against weapons such as pornography and struggling to keep our families strong and safe. People are scared, wondering where the money for their next heating bill will come from. Jobless Americans are everywhere to be found. Our politicians are dishonest: to a greater degree than normal. Hollywood is perverting truth, honor, integrity, and delving into sacredness, displaying pearls before swine. All this negativity and yet, I feel calm. I still have my own burdens and stresses, yet right here, right now, I return to that little child on the plane. Calm, quiet, waiting for fear to be allayed and for positivity to take its hold in the lives of those nearby.
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