People are Special.

Really, they are. And, I don't mean that in the usual sarcastic they're all idiots sort of way. They really are something. I find that if you ever need a reality check that you are not the only one in the world, and what's normal to you may not be what's normal to others, you just need a private date with an airport. Airports really snap me into the reality that people are far more complex and versatile than what small glimpse I am used to in Spokane or Rexburg. When you fly over the vast lands of the world, seeing it from a different angle than you are used to, it's surprising to see how incredible people really are, by what they've created. Airplanes for example: next time you are one one, think about how intense the mechanics are behind that thing. People can fly. WE CAN FLY!!!! That's kinda awesome. Also, have you ever noticed how perfectly organized our land is? Detailed with circles and squares. It's art really. I show you.

During my hour and a half delay in the Portland airport I find myself sitting across from people of all sorts of walks of life. For privacy purposes I've changed all to-be mentioned peoples names (and primarily because I do not know them.) There's "Mr. Ling Ling" and his wife, with his camera probably permanently attached to his neck. I imagine him with a thick Asian accent, and because all Asians look the same to me, I couldn't begin to tell you what nationality is his. Despite this bystander judgment, I'll bet he's from Brooklyn. I hope I don't hear him speak, I much enjoy my imagined background for him. Then there's Mr. and Mrs. Brown. They sit next to eachother, reading their separate books, eating their separate snacks, and appear to have attempted to keep their lives as separate as possible throughout the last 30 years of marriage. They both look tired, bored, possibly of each other. Throughout the entire time I watched them from sitting down, to boarding the plane, they did not utter a single word to one another. They appeared to be attached by some invisible force (usually called marriage) but miraculously were able to ignore the other existed the entire time. Surreal really. There was "Hazel", she was a personal favorite. Kind eyes, sipping her Starbucks coffee, sitting by the window where the sunlight accentuates every wrinkle on her content face. Every line with a different story that made her who she is today, whether it's happiness or sadness that created those wrinkles, we may never know, the point is they are proof that whatever put them there, she survived. And this brings us to "Abala-kuzanistan-hamid-aladdin". Every airport has one... most people just know him as the guy in the turban who may or may not be concealing a bomb, and who they pray isn't on the same flight as them. I decided he had no explosives on him, but rather was an accountant from Boise. Additionally we had all walks of life, every color of hair from purple to gray, every style of clothing, and every nationality you could think of. Yep. An airport is all it takes to really make you realize the world is a lot bigger than you thought. So does Disneyland... but that's a different story.


AND For your viewing pleasure: Mr. Ling Ling. Yes I'm a creep. Illegal? Probably. But who can resist that fanny pack?!

Chou

Pin It