Darkness had fallen over the San Diego sky as I found my seat on my flight home to Chicago. I was exhausted from a weekend full of training, and hoping to take the airplane nap of champions. The key word here is hoping. That nap didn’t actually happen.
As we were taking off I imagined what the city looked like from a few miles up in the air. Small dots of light filled my window as we climbed higher and higher into the air. It was too dark to see actual buildings, but you could see the lights, and for a while, you could even see the lights of cars as they moved up and down invisible roads.
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All of this got me in the mood to start contemplating the significance of humanity and how truly beautiful it can be. I mean, why not?Doesn’t an airplane ride make everybody become consumed by deep philosophical thoughts about the beauty of humanity?
Have you ever heard the expression “if it bleeds, it leads”?It’s a media phrase meaning that the stories that are the most drastic or violent or exposing are prioritized over anything else that may or may not be newsworthy on that particular day. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even want to watch the news. It brings me down. Seriously, I get so much in my own head after watching too much of the news that I struggle to find the good in humans. That is especially true given current events. Sometimes, people can be straight up mean to each other.
I promise this has something to do with the view out my airplane window. Remember those cars I mentioned?A good friend of mine told me once that when I became overwhelmed with the world’s evilness, I should think of a highway. In order for people to get where they need to go they need to drive on highways. There are millions of drivers in the United States. In order for highways to stay civilized, the drivers of these millions of cars must follow a common set of rules.
What this forces me to realize is that not every person can be bad or have poor intentions because I can safely get from point A to point B in a car driving down the highway. Sure, you have those occasional or not so occasional depending on your day, drivers that break the rules and get away with it, but overall, in the grand scheme of things, the majority of people follow the rules and coexist in what could ultimately be an extremely dangerous situation. We all get along. We all make it work.
I am well aware of the state we are in as a country. I am left questioning so much about morality and ethical behavior and simply put human decency. People are tearing each other apart and it’s really easy for me to narrow my focus to the bad. I don’t know what our future holds, but whatever comes our way, we have to remember that not every person in this world is a bad person.
I don’t think the world is perfect, I don’t think humans are perfect. I’m not living in a bubble, and I’m not trying to shelter myself from the realities of our world, but when it becomes too much sometimes I’m more than happy to take a step back and shelter myself for a second. Our world is beautiful, humanity is beautiful, and we’re all lucky to be here living the lives we live. I’m really happy that I had the reminder of that from the tiny little flecks of light that passed underneath me as I flew by.
