Four airports and counting. Everywhere you turn there is someone holding, carrying, pulling or rolling luggage. Luggage just like people in all colors, shapes and sizes.
In Brazil, I’ve seen luggage in a way that I would never see in the US. Luggage in all types of conditions from brand new to barely resembling luggage at all. Dilapidated luggage only held together by the plastic wrap covering the baggage. Luggage with so much plastic wrapped around it that if one did not know better they might think the luggage was a slab of meat being prepared for the freezer.
Luggage whether it is backpacks, baggage on wheels, suitcases or another instrument to carry your belongings; luggage particularly at an airport connotes something more than clothing packed for a trip. Luggage at an airport seems to be just one of the many items that heightens the appreciation of our relationships, causes us to live in the moment and conveys a feeling of foreboding.
The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself
Foreboding, a strong unpleasant feeling that you have when you sense that something terrible is going to happen very soon. On deeper reflection, foreboding might be a bit too strong of a description. Apprehension may be the better depiction of the look that appears on so many of the faces I have witnessed in the airports.
It doesn’t seem to matter if it was the person traveling or if it was the person staying who is just waving goodbye, one if not both of the people looked outwardly troubled. My sense is that packed in the luggage is not just gear and clothing but an authentic feeling of disappointment and regret.
As the traveler goes through security, the non-traveler watches longingly as if there is some real possibility that they may never see the traveler again. From the elongated embrace to the tunnel vision stares, time seems to stand still for the traveler and non-traveler. Even after the traveler clears security, the traveler and non-traveler – despite being separated by bullet proof glass and security – appear to remain inexplicably and inseparably connected.
What causes this phenomenon? Is it the statistics about plane fatalities? Is it the travelers fear of flying?
Please Don’t Go
I have my suspicions that the airport emotional spectacle that I have witnessed in every airport has little to do with anxiety about plane fatalities or the dread of flying. Sure planes crash and people on the rarest of occasion die from flying but overall air travel is safer than driving.
Given the increased odds of dying from an automobile accident, you might expect us to act similarly each time someone we care about grabs the car keys but we don’t. We drive every day and don’t remotely experience anything like what we undergo when it comes to watching a loved one pack for a flight and prepare to board a plane.
I believe watching someone we care about pack and carry luggage ignites our emotions and provokes some paralyzing feelings deep inside of us. Literally, each personal belonging the traveler places in their luggage is one less item at home with us. Figuratively, the more items packed, the further it feels that the traveler is going away from us. Symbolically, the more things packed, the more convinced we are that the traveler won’t need us any longer or we won’t be a significant part of their life in the fashion we had grown accustomed or worse a realization that we should have treated them better but now it might be too late. A real fear – an impending doom – grows from the slightest probability that their plane could crash which would keep them from ever coming back.
The packed luggage holds an emblematic significance. The filled luggage doesn’t just hold any old belongings for the traveler. The loaded luggage holds the hearts; best and fondest memories for both the traveler and non-traveler.
Every Day Of Our Lives Should Be a Travel Day
The goodbyes I witnessed have been incomparable and inspiring. Hugs so tight that both parties’ hearts began to beat in unison. Stares so intent that an image of the other person was burned into the onlooker’s retina. Kisses so long and passionate that I wanted to yell out “get a room already”. Waves continuing until arm cramps would not allow either party to wave any further. Tears – yes there were many tears – so many tears that planes were being delayed from flash flood warnings.
This travel experience is the way I wish all parents would approach their relationships with their children. The airport spectacle as I am now fond of calling it is the way adults should approach their relationships with those friends and family members we all profess to love. This is proof that not enough of us are living in the moment.
Instead of complaining about the bed that wasn’t made or the dishes in the sink – maybe just maybe – we should embrace each day with our children and with our loved ones as if they are packing to take a trip and about to board an airplane. Maybe if we lived each day with great passion, a true sense of urgency, a sincere gratitude for another chance to be better than yesterday, a laser focused attention to detail to live a purposeful life and never ever taking a potential traveler for granted, we wouldn’t look so despondent each time someone we care about packs a bag and prepares to board a plane. In lay terms, maybe it’s time to start living in the moment.
Keeping It Real
Keep this reality in front of you. As our children prepare to go off to school each day, there is a greater chance that they will be injured or killed at home before or after school, during the school day, participating in some afterschool activity or while commuting to and from school than there will ever be the likelihood that they would be a casualty of an airplane crash.
Given the exceptionally low odds that a loved one would be a victim of a flight crash, why don’t we instead replace the emotional spectacle exhibited at the airport for a similar emotional display each day in our kitchen, living room, family room, basement or in any room that our children or loved ones happen to be? Why don’t we start loving and living in the moment?
Life is unlike any other travel destination. Life is a journey that need not be feared when we learn to truly appreciate our loved ones with every breath and begin loving and living in the moment. When we love and live in the moment and with complete appreciation of others, the traveler’s luggage that is packed and carried onto an airplane will only contain the clothes, shoes and other personal effects. The traveler’s heart; best and fondest memories will always remain home with us.
Did you embrace your child today the way you would if they were about to board a flight? Are you setting yourself up to live a life of regrets? Are you living in the moment?