A Boy

Flicking His Dad's Ear

Dear friend,

The wings of the plane look a little worn. I’m jammed in the window seat next to a mother and son, the airline moniker has most of the Y missing and the wing’s flaps are streaked with what looks like caked oil.

The combined weight of our tube of bodies and bags lifted by the knife thin wings. High up above the clouds, while we browse through magazines and watch movies on our phones.

Pressed back into the uncomfortable bare bones seats, we’re miraculously aloft flying blindly through dense luminescent cloud. And then we’re looking down on them from above and the light makes you squint as we climb higher and higher and you can see blue.

We’re invited to relax and buy things.

“A great selection of drinks and snacks.”

I’m not sure that’s how I’d describe what’s on offer. I tuck into my birthday chocolate. It’s pretty much a rule of thumb for me to keep my debit cards in their wallet while anywhere near a plane.

Why over-pay for sub-standard products?

At the passport control the officials were grilling a young guy about his visa. It occupied both of the guards, on the other side of the glass, for a good while. Eventually I end up stood side by side with him while they explain that he’s committed a crime in Germany by over staying a work visa.

The guy had kept his cool all the way through but was just starting to get concerned. His voice shifting up half an octave.

“Do I have to do something?”

He asks.

I’m smiling at the officials. Under my breath I mutter “Don’t worry he’s gonna stamp your passport, relax.”

The uniformed guard has the stamp placed on the guy’s passport with his hand hovering ready to go, he’s waiting for reassurance it’s going to be okay. He’s handsome and burly. His colleague is sincere and intelligent. She kind of shrugs and the tension pops as he slams the ink onto the page.

It’s easy to be there for others when we’re in a calm state. Sometimes all someone needs is to feel like they’re not alone.

All four of us wanted to do the right thing. Turns out being civil and bending the rules was it.

Earlier a woman had approached me and Chiara in a bit of a panic looking for the flight to Istanbul.

It was a simple thing to find her gate number and point her in the right direction. Her brain was running in reduced capacity due to the stress.

I’m thinking of all the times when a kind stranger has done the same for me.

The accepted estimate is we lose about twenty percent of our cognitive function when we’re freaking out.

Frightened people are more likely to make decisions that go against their own best interests. More biddable to the dictates of authority.

The air hostess looks bored holding up a first fist full of scratch cards.

I’ll give them a miss too.

You just have to love people. It makes life so much more enjoyable.

There’s a boy in the seat in front flicking his father’s ear. The dad doesn’t react and the boy rests his elbow on his father’s shoulder.

You don’t realise how precious these moments are until they are gone.

Whoever you encounter. Whatever the relationship, we can’t go wrong if we’re guided by compassion and appreciation.

If we can’t do that, then maybe we can forgive.

The practices don’t change, but they do change us.

Till tomorrow

Love

Mikey