Fatmanonice
Banned via Warnings
Link to original post: [drupal=1821]Why I Love Airports. [/drupal]
I love airports. In America, that's an outstandingly unique statement. They're crowded. They force you to go through tedious security procedures. You're usually forced to wait in multiple lines and interact with people you normally wouldn't on a regular basis. Throw in the high chances of delays and boarding procedures so long that they almost make you miss your flight and you have a very stressful environment. Despite all this, I've come to see airports as extremelly fascinating.
I didn't begin to see them in such a light until I traveled out of the country for the first time in 2006. Shortly after graduating high school, I traveled around Japan for about a week and a half. At the end of the trip, the group I was traveling with went to the Narita International Airport to return home. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours so during my free time, I watched, no, observed people as they went by. I watched their movements, noticed what they were wearing, and even paid attention to their facial expressions. It was like I was in an art mueseum and trying to interpret every line and stroke of a painting.
There I was, 18 years old, just graduated from high school and, in a sense (although debatable to this day), about to begin adulthood in the fall having completed the first major excursion of my life and, suddenly, I felt less self aware than I ever had before. "What's their story," I thought as I watched them walk away, knowing full well that I'd never truly know. "I know why I'm here but why are they?" It was during that time that I realize how limited the human perspective truly is.
Every person's life is like a movie. Obviously, you're the star where after watching the film, the viewer would be able to say the most about you out of the whole cast. People like your parents, siblings, closer friends, etc would be the co-stars who the viewer may or may not chose to pay that much attention to. Last of all, there is everyone else who have ever seen and/or interacted with as the extras, the people who are entirely forgetable even when they show up as "exploding hooker" or "disgruntled hotdog vender" in the credits. In an odd twist of fate, it turns out that you are the viewer and have an infinite amount of insight on your own performance but what about all the other performers? Don't they have a story behind them? What makes them so much different and less important than you? Things are made infinitely more complicated when you realize that everyone is the star of their own movie and that, despite being the star in your film, you're just an extra in everyone else's.
With this all being said, I see airports as places where you really come in touch with the essence of the human spirit. People coming. (How'd you get here?) People going. (What's the hurry?) Faces beaming with excitement. (A family vacation?) Faces scowling with dread. (Visiting inlaws?) Faces drooping from lack of sleep and long commutes. (Trying to get the kids through college?) Faces with eyes downcast as they keep to themselves. (First time going out of the country?) What is their story? If you could stop any random person and have them join you for lunch, what would you say and what would you ask? What would they say and what would they ask? How do you know they didn't think about you as they passed by, knowing full well they'd never see you again. That's the thing, you don't and it's simply maddening when you stop to consider it. Like Socrates once said, the only comfort we can take away from our ever-stretching ignorance is that the truest form of wisdom is knowing (in comparison to the universe in it's entirity) that you know nothing.
A couple of months ago, I finished a video game called "the World Ends With You." In the end, the title is basically the moral of the story. "The world ends with you" means that the "world" is limited by your perspective. As you interact with other people, this world expands and some of the fog starts to clear away. It could be said that the human race is a collective mind. The way you think is original due to the combination of your thoughts but those thoughts themselves were influenced by other people who in turn were influnced by others and so on and so forth. In a way, this connects everyone in the world, past, present and future. If you close off yourself from others, your perspective is made more narrow and the fog remains just as dense as your way of thinking. We may be the stars of our own lives but we have to remember at the same time that so is everyone else in their's.
I love people. Living in today's world, that's an outstandingly unique statement. People can be rude. They are the cause of a the majority of hardships you'll ever face. You're often forced to interact with those you normally wouldn't by choice. Throw in innate human selfishness and the constant clashing of egos and you have a very stressful world. Despite all of this, I've come to see humanity as extremelly fascinating.
I love airports. In America, that's an outstandingly unique statement. They're crowded. They force you to go through tedious security procedures. You're usually forced to wait in multiple lines and interact with people you normally wouldn't on a regular basis. Throw in the high chances of delays and boarding procedures so long that they almost make you miss your flight and you have a very stressful environment. Despite all this, I've come to see airports as extremelly fascinating.
I didn't begin to see them in such a light until I traveled out of the country for the first time in 2006. Shortly after graduating high school, I traveled around Japan for about a week and a half. At the end of the trip, the group I was traveling with went to the Narita International Airport to return home. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours so during my free time, I watched, no, observed people as they went by. I watched their movements, noticed what they were wearing, and even paid attention to their facial expressions. It was like I was in an art mueseum and trying to interpret every line and stroke of a painting.
There I was, 18 years old, just graduated from high school and, in a sense (although debatable to this day), about to begin adulthood in the fall having completed the first major excursion of my life and, suddenly, I felt less self aware than I ever had before. "What's their story," I thought as I watched them walk away, knowing full well that I'd never truly know. "I know why I'm here but why are they?" It was during that time that I realize how limited the human perspective truly is.
Every person's life is like a movie. Obviously, you're the star where after watching the film, the viewer would be able to say the most about you out of the whole cast. People like your parents, siblings, closer friends, etc would be the co-stars who the viewer may or may not chose to pay that much attention to. Last of all, there is everyone else who have ever seen and/or interacted with as the extras, the people who are entirely forgetable even when they show up as "exploding hooker" or "disgruntled hotdog vender" in the credits. In an odd twist of fate, it turns out that you are the viewer and have an infinite amount of insight on your own performance but what about all the other performers? Don't they have a story behind them? What makes them so much different and less important than you? Things are made infinitely more complicated when you realize that everyone is the star of their own movie and that, despite being the star in your film, you're just an extra in everyone else's.
With this all being said, I see airports as places where you really come in touch with the essence of the human spirit. People coming. (How'd you get here?) People going. (What's the hurry?) Faces beaming with excitement. (A family vacation?) Faces scowling with dread. (Visiting inlaws?) Faces drooping from lack of sleep and long commutes. (Trying to get the kids through college?) Faces with eyes downcast as they keep to themselves. (First time going out of the country?) What is their story? If you could stop any random person and have them join you for lunch, what would you say and what would you ask? What would they say and what would they ask? How do you know they didn't think about you as they passed by, knowing full well they'd never see you again. That's the thing, you don't and it's simply maddening when you stop to consider it. Like Socrates once said, the only comfort we can take away from our ever-stretching ignorance is that the truest form of wisdom is knowing (in comparison to the universe in it's entirity) that you know nothing.
A couple of months ago, I finished a video game called "the World Ends With You." In the end, the title is basically the moral of the story. "The world ends with you" means that the "world" is limited by your perspective. As you interact with other people, this world expands and some of the fog starts to clear away. It could be said that the human race is a collective mind. The way you think is original due to the combination of your thoughts but those thoughts themselves were influenced by other people who in turn were influnced by others and so on and so forth. In a way, this connects everyone in the world, past, present and future. If you close off yourself from others, your perspective is made more narrow and the fog remains just as dense as your way of thinking. We may be the stars of our own lives but we have to remember at the same time that so is everyone else in their's.
I love people. Living in today's world, that's an outstandingly unique statement. People can be rude. They are the cause of a the majority of hardships you'll ever face. You're often forced to interact with those you normally wouldn't by choice. Throw in innate human selfishness and the constant clashing of egos and you have a very stressful world. Despite all of this, I've come to see humanity as extremelly fascinating.
