IN THE SAME SEAT

 The picture has gone viral. A new flight attendant sat in the aisle beside a frightened passenger as the plane experienced turbulence. A major kind action, particularly as we have read of so many hostile confrontations between flight attendant and passenger of late. A breath of fresh air and a reminder that there are kind people out there, just a bit more difficult to find.

Saturday night I ran into both types. One was the uncaring professional who seemingly could not handle the discomfort of one person along with the discomfort of another. Prioritizing in her mind, maybe, but that does not mean to ignore. A second to reassure one that her pain and discomfort are acknowledged goes a loooong way. Ignoring, cold shouldering - uh uh. Not in any way. For those of us who have made it into the ER for one reason or another, we know the frustration of being ignored, unseen, invisible, of no account. To then be told that an xray of a battered joint would take another two hours, already in the middle of the night, already there for over two hours, well, time to go home. Time to take care of myself until office hours on Monday. And so I did and so we are doing as we trudge slowly through the medical process. Please note that the quickest one to report to my room was the person in charge of getting my insurance info before I left. Says something! 

As I waited for Gerry to bring the car around, a lovely young woman noticed me standing there kind of lopsided and brought over her hair so I could sit. She did not know, how could she, that sitting was even more painful than standing, but sitting was definitely safer. She did not know me from Adam nor Eve yet did a kindness for a stranger. When I thanked her, she said, "It was nothing. Kindness doesn't cost."

She was right, is right, but so few among us acknowledge that or could care less. We live in our own world where we are center, the focus of all within that circle. When we lose that attention, well, we revert to the infant and toddler stages of life. Not pretty at all. That bit of unexpected small act of kindness goes a long way to calming, soothing, and letting one know that invisibility isn't the issue but rather willingly blinded eyes and uncaring heart, poor professionalism at the very least.

Apparently, we have all devolved in recent years, straight back to our SEE ME stages of life. We think that we are the 'right' ones, our opinions the valid ones. Our thoughts the proper ones, our philosophy of life the way to go. We forget there are forget there are other viewpoints, equally valid, and bury, way down deep, the necessity to parry and debate, to compromise and legislate fairly, to move forward rather than backwards.

We need to hear and understand and apply the words of that very kind flight attendant. We need to internalize the philosophy, so simple, and then maybe, maybe, we could even get to the point where we can be civil with each other and work together to unravel the Gordian knot we have made of it all.

"As a flight attendant, you set the tone," Dean-Shannon was quoted saying on Delta's website. "As a passenger, I would want to be treated the same way. I have to remember; I was in that seat, too."

We all share seats on this voyage through life. The earlier we recall that fact and act upon it, the better off we will be.