People on Planes

I hate flying. I really, really hate it. I hate the lack of control, the uncertainty, the inherent danger, the tight spaces, and I hate that it generally sucks in terms of people watching. Planes are the anti-cafe, no one is really relaxed on them, and no one really enjoys being there. Sure some people may have trained themselves to sit quietly, read, sleep, or watch a movie but all of these activities are by no means reflective of their natural states. Planes should actually be compared to prisons; where we bide our time with the hope of freedom in the future. We're trapped and our sole objective while on the plane is to pass the time as quickly and painlessly as possibe. We don't revel in the experience.

There are two types of people on planes, those who chose to make conversation with their neighbors and those who do not. I fall into the latter category of persons, by the way. A plane in theory should be an excellent time to meet a whole variety of people, but most in-flight bonding occurs on the behalf of only one side - there's always going to be that person who feels forced into the conversation, who prefers to pass her sentence in solitary than mucking about with the other prisoners. Yet, they are ripped out of what will be the closest to a comfort zone to them and made to converse with a fellow traveler who is more than likely going to be completely uninteresting. Fascination aside, in-flight conversations are just plain awkward. They are fleeting, sterile, invasions of personal space of which I decline to engage.

The role of the silent observer, noticing all, but herself remaining unnoticed is impossible to play while on a plane! This primarily because very rarely are people doing anything of interest on them. Conversation is scarce (due to the aforementioned hatred I believe people have or at least should have of them), it's hard to see what people are reading and if you manage to sneak a peak, usually what you'll find is the latest Dan Brown book. In addition, you can't hear what music the passengers are listening to and clothing choices are even pretty standard travel fare... it's like the whole world has been sucked dry of its pazazz! This kills me.

People aren't meant to fly, our home isn't thousands of feet up in the sky. I think that this act of man, this bold defiance of the natural order, forces us to lose our human character in the air. We become literally and metaphorically vacuumed packed creatures; lacking all of the flavor that makes us a beautiful species; for better and for worse.