Love, American Beautiful

I hate flying. It’s not that I am scared to fly, or that I think something bad is going to happen. I just hate the headache that I get while on the flight. I hate the sticky feeling I have all over after getting off of the plane. I hate that I am so tall and the seats are so close together. However as much as I hate actually flying I love the people that I get to meet during the process. The airport is one of the only places where you can literally see people from all over the world, as well as see love displayed in all forms.

There is so much diversity in an airport. People from literally all over the world fill the airport every day. To look around and see people who you may have never seen before and may never see again for me is a memorable experience that doesn’t happen in many other places. From the very young to the very old, black, white, and in between, all mixed together in one place. There is no room for judgement or discrimination and everyone is there with the same goal in mind-to get to a destination. While I await my flight, I make up stories for the people I see. The mom with three kids may have been an olympic athlete. The old man reading the paper may have been a WWI hero. The couple huddled together are off to their honeymood in the bahamas. You never truly know where they are going or where they are coming from and the mystery of that fact always intrigues me.

And as I watch all of these people, something I have failed to notice before is how much love is displayed at the airport. Watching people say goodbye or saying hello to each other after or before a trip – the way that they hold onto each other refusing to let go or the way they take one more glance back before heading off to their destination. The way that people’s faces light up at first sight of their loved ones after a long trip, or the last phone call saying “I love you” before the plane takes off. It seems that many of our actions as well as our words at an airport revolve around love.  As we are faced with the unknown or fears of flying, we always want our last words to be those of love.

As much as I hate the actual action of flying, I have come to recognize the airport as diversity and love at its finest.