A knower of the Truth
travels without leaving a trace
speaks without causing harm
gives without keeping an account…”
- Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching: verse 27
“Excuse me, is
that middle seat taken?”
It started like this…
It was the second leg of a Southwest
Airline flight from San Diego to Orlando, Florida – with a stop in Austin,
Texas. The day had begun early and the
prospects of a one-stop 5-hour flight brought, as it usually does, mixed
emotions. No phones, faxes, email – great,
but it is a long time to sit.
I don’t often fly this airline, because I
have lots of miles on a different carrier. Lots of miles means I get on flights
early and usually find myself in a pre-assigned exit row with plenty of legroom. When you are 6’41/2” (1.93m) tall,
exit rows are golden. On Southwest, you
don’t get assigned seats, but rather 24 hours prior to your flight – to the
minute…no to the second – you check in via the internet.
One imagines thousands of people, just like
me, anxiously sitting by their computers with the Airline website open,
counting down the seconds. At the strike
of the ‘24-hour window,’ you sense the collective and synchronous clicking of
the ‘check in’ button hoping to get a low boarding number. You see, the lower the number, the sooner you
get on the aircraft. The sooner you get
on the aircraft, the better the seat.
There is no assigned seating…it is truly, first come first served.
At the airport, as the flight is called, passengers
line up according to their number and file on.
You see furtive glances trying to see assignment numbers on the tickets of
fellow passengers, making sure someone doesn’t jump ahead in the queue. You hear conversations like, “I’m sorry I’m ‘A
45,’ what is your number?” ‘A 46’ may have
slipped ahead of you, and might say something like, “Oh, the number is close,
it doesn’t really matter.” You might
smile and say, “Yeah, you’re right, one person doesn’t really make a difference.” That may be what is said, not what is being thought!!! “What if they get my coveted
seat?”
On the plane and in the air…
The flight from San Diego had provided an aisle
– not the exit seat, but the first leg was okay. From Austin to Orlando, I captured it…it was
mine…I owned it…Oh Yeah, legroom!
The other person on the aisle in my row was
also a pretty big fellow. The center,
however, remained empty long enough that I thought it might stay that way. People don’t like center seats; unfortunately when
one gets a high category number on this airline, the center seats are pretty
much the only option.
An aside…
I can truly sympathize…I once took a flight
across on an airline I seldom use. It
had assigned seats and I found myself in the back row middle seat. The woman on my left was quite large and the
woman on my right even larger – both had mild hygiene issues. You know that thing about how you may not be
able to change the circumstance…only your thoughts? This was one of those ‘opportunities’ for me
to exercise that principle…I repeated the phrase uncounted numbers of times on
that flight. You know, “…physician heal
thyself…!”
Back to the flight…
Austin to Orlando turned out to be unique
for an immediate and what turned out to be a delayed reason.
The immediate reason had to do with a
fellow in the row behind me on the aisle.
He was a little noisy, in fact, quite loud. Suddenly, two airline security people quietly
appeared and asked him to come with them – they removed him from the flight.
If one finds themselves being removed from
an aircraft, it is a really good thing to not resist and just take your
medicine. This fellow understood, and
while clearly annoyed he picked up his belongings and got off the plane. He would be allowed to take a later
flight. Had he resisted, he would not
have flown that day.
With the man behind me gone, it looked like
the center seat on this flight was going to remain open, meaning I would have legroom
and good shoulder room…HOT DOG! This
comforting thought had just settled in when I heard, “Excuse me, is that middle
seat taken?”
I looked up and there was a big fellow
about my age looking longingly, and I suppose since it was the last seat on the
aircraft, a little desperately at that center seat – it turns out the flight was
oversold! When I say a big fellow, I
mean he was well north of 6ft (1.8m+) and big boned. He wasn’t huge, just a healthy sized man
looking for a seat. Yep, it wouldn’t
have been his first choice, maybe so far down his list it wouldn’t have been a
choice at all, but it was what it was and here we were!
The unexpected…
Bob, as I later learned, settled in and
there was little doubt we would dance shoulder to shoulder for the next two or
three hours. Airline seats seem to have
become a bit narrower over the years.
When people with fairly good sized shoulders sit side by side, there are
a subtle and ongoing series of adjustments that occur… backward/ forward and
side to side movements as one tries to be both comfortable and
accommodating.
During the climb to altitude, I asked Bob
if he were heading out or going home.
This is a great way to take the temperature of the person next to
you. A lot can be read by the response
to that question.
Then it happened…
Bob was going out…he was going out to a meeting
of ‘Fun Park’ exhibitors at the Orlando Convention Center. Fun parks…fun park exhibitors??? What??
There was
little doubt he had ‘set the hook.’
I have met lots of people on airplanes in
the two million plus miles I have flown over the years…milk salesmen, button
collectors, artists, musicians, tons of computer sales/service people, leather
experts, moms/dads, students and athletes, but this was my first Fun Park
owner…shoot, I have never even heard of Fun Parks. Sure I knew of big amusement parks, traveling
carnivals, and maybe a smaller water park or two, but a Fun Park AND companies
that supported this business was a revelation…both entertaining and
informative.
He had begun with a small service station,
built a restaurant, put in another service station, along with a couple of
franchise businesses (Subway and maybe MacDonald’s – those parts of the
conversation a little hazy)…but it was the piece of land he owned in rural
Texas, where he put in a Fun Park, that I found almost mesmerizing.
He spoke about his business and how in an
economy that was hurting, a Fun Park provided a few hours of recreation, at a
price point that met a need.
What made it better was the quiet and
thoughtful way he talked about it. He
was one of those small business entrepreneurs who don’t get noticed in all of
the rhetoric of Washington and Wall Street…one of those small business
entrepreneurs upon whose shoulders this country has been built…one of those
small business entrepreneurs who loves his country, his business and the people
he serves. The kind of fellow you would
like to see talked about on the news as an example for other citizens, rather
than those who have caused us such enormous problems through greed and
selfishness.
While learning about his business, I pulled
out my computer and shared a little of what I was going to be presenting the following
day. Even though it was a clinical level
presentation, Bob got it and said, “You might not think I learned anything from
our conversation, but I sure did.” “Me
too – from you.” I thought.
Is this going anywhere?
You know, life brings things in the most
unexpected ways. Here were a couple of
fellows, about the same age who just ‘found a place’ with each other. It wasn’t about Fun Parks or my work really,
although those topics provided the vehicle for our interaction. It was one of those moments in life where two
older guys, who had a fairly common ‘time on planet’ and ‘cultural exposure,’ found
a comfortable and engaging resonance.
The conversation didn’t need much extra explanation to set contexts, it
was just like putting on an old pair of tennis shoes…you know, comfortable on
the feet.
Life gets busy…there are lots of things
still, gratefully, to do. It is just a
really nice thing when you find one of those friction free mature interactions
with another human being…where after you have spent some of your spirit, you
feel refreshed.
Sometimes it’s the middle seats in life,
the places where the legroom is not so comfy, when you find yourself shoulder
to shoulder with a stranger, that provide the reward unexpected. I had the legroom, but I’ll bet if you asked
Bob, a comfortable flight was had by all.
- ted
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