Equality for all at the airport

While planning an upcoming family trip to none other than steamy Universal Studios in Florida, I am caused to think of the impending airport gate waiting time.  If there is a better place to observe people and behavior, I don't know where it is.

It used to be that air travel was considered special.  But that was a long time ago.  Well before my time.  While I do recall smoking and non smoking sections on airplanes, I do not recall people dressing up to fly.

Air travelers are no longer a special group.  Instead, we are all just scrutinized and dehumanized sheeple shuffling to our gates after saying goodbye to our non traveling loved ones at the first security hurdle.  If you don't have a boarding pass, then you get no further than the ticketing desks (at American airports that I have been in.) 

I have been through security at a Midwestern airport a couple of times in the past few years.  Each time I have refused to raise my hands and be irradiated by a guy posted behind a lead wall.  I always go rogue and ask for the Fourth Amendment violation treatment.  Every time, the same white haired, handlebar mustached gentleman with gentle hands explores for... Heck I don't know what he expects to find.  When I show up with my wife and my two kids, he must be expecting at least a Lego figure, but he hasn't found anything yet.  He smiles when he does his work on me because each time I go through I hum God Bless America while he probes my pant cuffs, crotch and belt line.  He always smiles and asks if I have any questions.  I always ask if he is aware that my Constitutional rights are being violated.  He always says "no they aren't.  Have a good trip."  We part ways satisfied that we did what we could.

After the security performance, it's the quick trip to the gate.  You don't want to be late, even when you are early, so you go fast.  We almost all do.  Look around.  People in airports rarely saunter.  When you are trying to get from gate to gate at a large airport, it does not matter who you are or what you do, or what your problems are at home .  The crowds won't part for you because you are rich, or if you are in a hurry.  People hurrying to their gates see you as just an obstacle in their path, as much as they appear to be one in yours.  It is best to understand that nobody is personally trying to make your trip difficult (except for United's very efficient customer antagonists, they really are trying to make your trip a nightmare).  Deepak Chopra says that you should try to remember that people are doing the best that they can with their own level of consciousness.  I try to keep that in mind.

Once there, sitting in a gate area reveals people for what they are.  Which is to say essentially the same as everyone else. They are tired grandmothers, lawyers and salesmen, families, all speaking innumerable languages, dressed in various garb, often munching on  overpriced airport food ($12.00 for a turkey sandwich on wheat?!) while staring into glowing screens of various sizes, interrupting their digital diversions only to case a suspicious glare aimed at the potential luggage thief sitting in an armed vinyl chair two rows over.  (Armed chairs!  Why?)  This observation describes what any  traveler will see when they look at any other travelers.  Travel, especially air travel, shows that no matter what language we speak, or where we came from or where we are going, that the journey and life itself is mostly the same for all of us. 

So try to enjoy the trip, even the wait, and take solace in the fact that you have a great deal in common with every single person you see going from gate to gate, literally and figuratively. Talk to someone sitting nearby.  Trust me, they will know what you are talking about when you ask "Can you believe how much they get for a sandwich here?"