PER ARDUA AD ASTRA

Air travel is such a kaleidoscope of experiences, serving a flavourful dish with a potpourri of pyscho-social condiments - some spicily educative, some saltily annoying, and others so blandly humbling that it evokes nothing but acceptance. First, we all need to agree that air travel is one of the greatest proofs of the limitlessness of the human spirit. An airplane remains one of the inventions which pushed human advancement to the next frontier, cutting down travel time across the planet, leading to easier and better collaboration, and of course facilitating the growth of the global economy. Interestingly, the ease with which humans readily trust aircrafts to always take us home is a successful psycho-social experiment which should never be taken for granted. For context, we are expected to always look right, look left, and look right again before crossing a road, and for wider roads, we basically mount pedestrian bridges to help us cross, yet this requires less than a minute; but we have no qualms at all filing into a gigantic contraption which weighs thousands of kilogram, flies suspended at 15,000 metres above the ground, speeds at sometimes close to 1,000 km/hour, and sometimes stay in the air for hours on end, yet we always trust in the aircraft and the pilot to take us home. That is some mind-numbing reality when we really think deep about it.

The planet is very big, but in relation to the world, it is also a very small place, and everywhere at any time is simply a microcosm of the larger world. This is very true of an airport. The symbolism of age - children being carried in trolleys, teenagers acting with little or no care in the world, adults trying to keep everything and everyone together, elderlies needing help every step of the way, even needing wheelchairs - all of them with the sole purpose of getting into a plane to take them to the next place, which to some is home, and to others, another departure point. Every trip having a beginning and an end, just like every human has a beginning and an end. There is no place where the diversity of this planet is also as evident as the airport, well maybe in a Natural History Museum, but then those specimens don’t talk back to you, do they? Different Races, Tribes, Languages, Attires, Food, etc are always a staple at every airport. Sitting at the airport is always like watching an episode of a reality television series where the goal is to make the society’s diversity stand out, by following the rules and blending in.

Interestingly, this idea of "blending in" leads me to the next perspective of air travel - processes, procedures, and interconnectedness. Air travel has as much must-followed process as a high-stake surgical operation. From having an International Passport or a National ID, to obtaining a Visa (where necessary), to ensuring your luggage is the right count, weight and size, to knowing when to get to the airport, to knowing how to and where to check in your luggage, to knowing what is permissible on the plane, to how to navigate Customs and Immigration, to how to find your boarding gate, to how you find your seat once you have entered the plane; and how to walk back the entire process in a reverse order after landing at your destination is one long unbroken chain of processes, procedures, and interconnectedness. This same surgical precision applies to lifting off, flying, and landing a plane. A deeper perspective of this is understanding that air travel perfectly mirrors how Natural Laws and how Social Norms work, and any attempt to tweak or twist always leads to chaos and catastrophe.

Finally, it would be remiss of me to talk about air travel, and not highlight the glaring classism that air travel lay bare, especially the in-your-face way it reminds those of us still flying “Economy” or "Coach" that we still have some way to go. From the luggage check-in where the “Sky Priority” Class, the code name for “First Class”, “Business Class”, and “Frequent Flyers”, can carry excess luggage for free; to the waiting time where they can have access to Lounge Services, as complementary perks; to the actual boarding of the plane where they are allowed to go in first, and the masses like us in Economy have to see their faces and the comfortable seatings they have in the front of the plane, as we trudge to our chairs at the back of the plane; to the food and drink served on the plane, where they get served like they are at their homes, and we get served like we are in a boarding school; and how when the plane lands, they get to disembark first, before we peasants are allowed to stand up, because they have somewhere important to be, and we just have to wait in line. This is not me whining, this is me just pointing things out, believe me, I am far from whining.

I am realistic enough to acknowledge that the human society is divided into strata, and each stratum has its costs, perks, and accoutrements, and that the appeal of inter-stratum-mobility is one of the driving forces of human prosperity. Do we need to do better in reducing the gaps between the strata? Of course, and that should be our primary focus as humans, and that should be your takeout, or is it takeaway, from this post. How do we do better? I know the one of the ways is to always be a good neighbour, and to always live by the age-old maxim “do unto others as you would have them do to you”. If you can think of yourself less as the centre of the universe too, I bet that will also help. Long story short, I do not have the answers, but I am open to making the world better, and I am willing to make the sacrifices required, and I would be glad if you can do to. It will not be easy, but that’s the whole essence of “per ardua ad astra”.

Thank You!

God Bless Us All!!

See You Next Time!!!

~ SirRash

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