Horrendous airline experience vs. Helpful Strangers

Where you place your focus makes the story.

Photo by Arnold Lee on Unsplash

Have you ever stayed enough with a horrible experience to have it alchemize into something good? When I sat, breath regulating, in grateful shock that my son and I had made it onto the flight that we paid for; stood in line for 90 minutes to check-in for; have two airline attendants shoulder shrug and avoid eye contact at us that we would not “be able to board the plane” that didn’t leave for 40 minutes… I had to take a moment. A deep breath to realize that we were indeed on the plane we were told we couldn’t board, all fingers, toes and hopefully luggage accounted for.

I turn to check in on my son for the hundredth time.

Check, he looks good. He catches my mom-scan.

“That was a little scary Mommy,” he says, eyes wide and peering at me.

“Yup, it was.” I agree and pause. “And we made it,” I scrunch my face in disbelief.

This gives him some space to shout, “That was crazy!!!” and shake his little fists, laughing, but also releasing a little fear from agreeing to run down the airport, duck under security tape and be “brave like an eagle” while his mom asked a security line of over 200 people for help.

“But what about the people that didn’t make their flight?” his face clouds as he asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “What about those people? Should we send a prayer to them that they make it home okay?”

“Yeah,” he nods solemnly. So we do, and his hands squeeze mine and I am grateful that sometimes pure honesty is enough for him.

If you told me an airline would silently stop announcing a destination so that people in line would find out when they stepped up to the check-in counter that their flight gates were closed, I wouldn’t believe you.

If you told me that I had a better chance of asking 200 people I didn’t know for help in an airport, repeatedly, kindly, and with faith because I was traveling with my son, I wouldn’t have believed you either. I would think —no, the people in charge would help.

Spoiler: The people in charge did not help. That doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon on any storyline these days.

However and this is a very big and precious however— worth every breath of confusion and running with a small person — strangers helped.

People choose kindness. People choose to defend us over other people who chose apathy — and all but one — was doing it freely. The paid employee had to defy her company’s edict to help, so I have an even higher regard for her.

I don’t normally urge podcast listening here as a place that I write, but if you want a good story… I have one:

The day I returned to Philadelphia, I found one of my first business cards when I started to travel and teach healing work. I had my name, lomilomi practitioner, and a quote:

Small acts of kindness change everything

The more things change the more the stay the same. That business card is at least nine years old, yet there it resurfaced as a reminder of the timeless power of truth, and of a belief that I used to rise each morning and hang my day, my life, and my livelihood on. You know I don’t believe in coincidences.

I don’t know about you, but I have been looking for answers that I am being shown are right in front of us. It is us.

The airport run (although very true) is but only a metaphor or a homeopathic dose of what is needed today. I’ve been marinating my mind in Rudolph Steiner. It helps. Here is one of his verses:

Oh, but rest assured I got this in my email, and I not only filled out my entire thought process and experience, but sent them a link to the same podcast, because that also is who I am.

So get out there, claim the storyline and share small acts of great kindness in this world that desperately needs a remembrance of the power we hold to perceive and transmute our stories, individually and collectively. Of how good people are, like the way this song makes you feel the sunshine, people’s kindness can light us from within.

See you back here soon & if you want some help with your own story reach out & check out the 1:1 bonus for paid subscribers.

Kate

p.s. You are hydrated, right? Ok good. We need you hydrated & dancing

*this is the song I have my son dancing to these days (wink)