In retrospect, this is one of the funniest events in my life, though at the time it was frankly, a tad frightening and at others funny in every sense of the word. It was both surreal and unfortunately too real, speaking much of the temper of the times in which we live. But first an apology to my patient readers for lacking the posting I promised early this morning, and I am doing my best to make up for the delay which was definitely out of my hands. Furthermore, this is not funny re Trump and his pathetic narcissism, wherein renaming the Gulf of Mexico is not nearly enough. Renaming half the buildings of America is not nearly enough. Nope. The man had to go and rename the Straits of Hormuz the Strait of Trump. His ego has no boundaries nor does it makes any sense as he assumes a greatness which is definitely not present nor of assured value. But be that as it may, this is not the day for him.
Yesterday, Sunday, a day of travel began already with an off footstep. Not having slept the preceding night, I began the day in a state of exhaustion. However, I was looking forward to an easy flight and an opportunity to rest and take a nap, for yep, we old people need naps, do we not? However, TSA, mega travel crazed people, cranky children, strange rules, grumpy people, all combined in a sinister synergy and set off the day with miscues and rather ominous omens of the day ahead.
A weird rule which turned out to be a false rule and a falsehood told to us began the day right off almost immediately upon entering the terminal. Evidently, without even opening my mouth I displeased someone and was wheeled off, consigned to a corner, told I would get there by the time the plane was ready to leave - and then nothing. Nothing but refusal to answer any questions Nothing as to when I would be taken to the gate. As the clock ticked off the minutes, by seconds, the tension within me rose as time of flight approached. And here I was, still on the wrong side of security, not even near it.
So, we took it upon ourselves to push the chair there ourselves, as we have done in many other airports in many, many other terminals with not a word of complaint. In fact, there have been times of thank you as they were overwhelmed. But nope, here they chased us down the road and refused to let us continue stating that we had another company's wheelchair and therefore none of them were allowed to push it. Very strange, as every other wheelchair in that place was the exact same wheelchair, the exact same company. I simply stated I was going to set off on my own feet knowing that I would never be able to walk that distance, nor would I ever be able to tread that distance in the amount of time left to us. But something had to be done. Certainly, I was not resting easy as I saw people crashing through the door to the security line. Others galloping in the concourse, so as to reach their flights on time as numerous announcements were made that doors were closing, people had better show up, doors would not reopen
So finally, I was at the gate, wheeled there by a lovely woman who went above and beyond, and all went well. We had indulged ourselves in first class seats with room in which to breathe, to take a full breath, to stretch out our legs and to sit in seats meant for humans. Merely a few minutes later and off we were, off to Chicago with smooth skies and a lovely crew, both in the cockpit and along the aisle. Perhaps a bit before midway on the flight there were three consecutive announcements of a request for medical personnel to please make themselves known. There was no answer to that request which in itself surprised me. I then told my rather disbelieving husband that we were going to set down at an emergency landing. He denied that would happen and guess what? So soon enough, we were told we had to make an emergency landing in Detroit. There they would remove this person who needed medical care. after which we would then go safely and smoothly on to our initial destination.
Well, then we heard the sounds of frantic male voice, shouting, "no, no, no, no, no". Repeatedly, determinedly. We then saw a flight attendant go by with what appeared to be a roll of duct tape and we then got more reassurances that, yes, once this gentleman was taken to where he needed to be to receive the help he needed, we would be on our way. Well, an hour and a half after that, we were still not on our way. In fact, we were sitting on a plane destined not to take off again, not to take us to our destination of Chicago.
What we had instead was "invasion” of the plane from the back door. A figure entered with a machine gun. Along with other personnel. From the FBI, the police, the firemen. What was then disclosed to us was that this gentleman, obviously in distress of some sort, had made a bomb threat. Well, that did it. It set all the bells ringing and then we were told to sit heads down, hands up. At that point the frightening entered. In this day and age, one cannot know for sure if one crazed person is alone or has others, accomplices alongside. I turned to my husband and said, "Maybe we're being hijacked."
In any case, the next few hours were surreal. Authorities came and went, with whispered conversations in the galley, even a dog. Finally, after a desert of information of any consequence, we were told that we had to deplane, get on the bus and be taken to the terminal and then, there, nobody seemed to know what would happen. The first to deplane were "witnesses", man, woman and child. Finally, row by row, working backward, we were all at the terminal, and I believe that we were the last to reach that destination.
Nobody seemed to know what was to be made of us and all the other passengers. Some statements telling us to do this, or statements telling us to do the other came through. We finally made our way through security and to the gate where we were told the plane would take off at 4:00. The same plane we had flown in on. No worry about getting the checked luggage. Well, over the next three hours we were told delay after delay and a plane was there. Was coming. Was in the air. Was not on the air. Finally landed. The luggage would be offloaded one plane and onto the other. Finally, after a century of waiting and whispered conversations and mysterious baffling 'paperwork' we were finally on our way.
However, for some, the journey was not over. Some still had connections to be made. Many of those connections were long gone and they were forced to make other arrangements, even to stay overnight. Blessedly, blissfully we were home, a daughter waiting at the carousel to meet us and to return to her home.
But awaiting us was one more needless issue. We were given the last carousel to collect our luggage. Evidently, they could not find another carousel of which there were many, empty, for our poor co- travelers. So tired. So exhausted. Forced to join passengers coming from Dublin and stand there in a throng of people almost impossible to weave one's way through and to reach and check the luggage coming along the way. Needless aggravation.
There are the highlights. It is quite interesting to see how many winds a person can produce on such a day The second wind, long gone. I think by the time we got off the plane and made our way to the carousel, I believe I had run out of new winds, any source of energy and rejuvenation missing in action. Simply sitting in a wheelchair demanded energy sorely lacking within me.
The clime of our days gives rise to some rather nasty individuals and groups, to hate filled rants and chants, to people shouting random threats of bombing, of something bad to fellow passengers, or not obeying some rule, putting others in danger. I believe our adventures of the day arose via that temperament. However, one could also be quite pleasantly surprised at what occurred.
People worked together, helped each other A wonderful fellow passenger helped us with our luggage. While waiting I engaged in a wonderful conversation with a man who was obviously different from me in ethnicity and appearance, most probably in raising, but we were as alike as two peas in a pod. We agreed on everything! Despite the obvious differences. Would that we could all understand and recognize that possibility of having sane talk without trash talk. And for that matter, shame on those passengers who, while awaiting our last leg of the journey, spoke trash talk re the flight crew who are actually in reality among the best that I have ever seen and major Kudos to that crew.
This atmosphere of camaraderie and concern continued within the personnel of the airport (other than the rather obstructive ones at the initial start). They went the extra step, the extra 50 steps to help us. From entry to last step into cars. Once again, it mattered not who or what they and we were. Gender, ethnicity, color, age and it gave rise to a rather interesting meeting of minds between me and two wheelchair attendants. Anyone who knows me will be as surprised as I was at this small piece of conversation.
Two young men. Clearly members of the Arab/ Palestinian population of Dearborn. They were quite pleasant and I was content to sit in the chair until we reached the gate. But then entered a little tinge of something. I heard and understood much of the Arabic exchange of talk between them and distinctly heard "Yahud", meaning Jew. For a while, I sat there quietly. I wondered whether it was worth the trouble of saying something or to merely keep quiet, minding my own business.
But then again, it was my business for I am Jewish and I am so tired of this constant enmity between the two peoples and those brought into the fray, those screaming of what they know not, those carrying forth stereotypes of deep untruths and of deep blockade to hearing and understanding each other. Do not get me wrong. I am not a peacenik, nor a denier of my own people. I do not apply disclaimers to those who wish to destroy me and mine nor do I take upon myself and my people guilt for this entire mess ongoing on for the millennia. But I decided I had to reach out just a little bit, maybe not making any kind of difference, but maybe somewhere along the line this little bit of reaching out might make some difference in a moment where it might count for a whole lot more.
Thus, I turned around in my chair. "Hey guys, Shalom, whether we are Yahud or Palestini, we are people and we need to remember that. So, Shalom and inshallah it will be Salaam as well. Those boys looked at me, a tad in shock and said, "Inshallah, Salaam Aleykim" to which I replied, "Aleykim Salaam. And added Shalom Aleichem to which they replied "Aleichem Shalom" as we parted at the gate. Meetings so small in a lifetime yet perhaps with more meetings like this we can better understand ourselves and stress our similarities, rather than our differences. Simple statements carrying within profound emotion and desire for peace, for better lives. Why can we not all do that?
Why can we not all set aside those misnomered leaders of ours who constantly immerse us into war, into situations of terror and death, into times of despair and blood. Why can we not find those who are truly meant, created, to be leaders? Has the ability and desire to find true leaders withered away through disuse, even via willful disposal? I don't know. But whatever it is, we all must do better. We need to do better, to reach out and to wish each other in interchangeable manner - Salaam and Shalom - Al Kulanu - on all of us.
Finally, the best moment of all. When my daughter awaiting us at the carousel gave me a big smile, waved the hand to show me the media crew waiting to speak to me, to speak to other passengers and as she held out a can of Dr Brown diet cream soda, a favorite drink.
Life was good again We were home. We were okay. We were able to enjoy seeing ourselves in the news. Would that we could all be OK in this world of ours. Would that all our journeys ended in peace. Would that all the troubles of our world be healed and we put aside feelings of anger and hate. A time of true peace in our time, of a true all-inclusive shalom.
I wish all of my readers a happy, healthy, peaceful and proper holiday, whatever holiday it is you celebrate. Let us share the joy of the holidays with each other and by its synergy, emerge better, more determined to make this world a better place for all of us.
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