Perspectives and Life’s Little Reminders

This morning, after I got to the airport in Boise, I found my ticket was not issued. It wasn’t too much trouble, but the travel agent had to issue me a ticket for the next flight, as the earlier flight I was on was oversold. The extra couple of hours in BOI were fine, as I had my shoes shined, read, spoke with Mom and had a nice cup of coffee. The next couple of unfolding items served to remind me how precious life is, and sometimes just how easy it is to lose track of the most important qualities of life: health, happiness, emotional strength, education and love.

Getting the cup of coffee the clerk that helped me had what I would characterize as a mild case of Downs. I am by no means a physician, as all reading this know, so I could be wrong. Whatever the case, the man that helped me was exceptionally friendly and kind, and his cheerful disposition served to remind me how important the basics in life are and how easy they are to overlook.

I have flown enough over the past year that I am Premier Exec, but not drinking, I felt no need to try to upgrade. Rather, I sat in the first row in Economy, in the aisle seat. Sitting down, the window seat guy moved along side me, and I said my hellos. We both sat down, and the window seat guy, Ryan, moved to fall asleep. I can take a hint, so I didn’t move on through conversation.

While sitting there minding my business a female flight attendant led a young boy, approximately thirteen over to our middle seat. The boy was crying profusely, and was inconsolable to the flight attendant. The flight attendant spent a few moments telling him that someone was going to meet him at the gate. During those moments I thought, “I wonder if this younger guy is afraid to fly?”

The flight attendant left him with his tissue, and I quickly introduced myself. “Hi, my name is Matt. How are you?”

The boy immediately broke into tears, and was so hurt. I could feel how sad he was by looking at his face and seeing his tears. I said, “I hope all is well. Are you okay?”

The boy went on to explain that he wasn’t okay, because he was leaving his mother from Christmas to go back to his foster family in Iowa. We talked further, and without my prying, he explained that he had four more months of foster care, where he had to be in Iowa away from his mother. The boy also expressed that he had been in foster care for four years.

While I started talking to him about his school subjects and what sports he liked, I thought to myself just how tough it had to be to leave one’s mother. I have no idea as to why the boy has to go to foster care in Iowa, but I cannot imagine the circumstances are particularly good. I could write about this indefinitely. My speculations are unimportant, he was a trooper. We spoke about the Presidents, and he said they studied Lincoln. I explained why Lincoln was our best President, as he was strongest when things were the toughest, which is why historians consider him the best.

I did what I could to tie that back to him being a tough young guy for facing such challenging circumstances in life. I had said to him earlier that I was proud of how well he was doing for the tough thing he had to do. That he would be able to get through it through his strength, and that it is how well one fares in challenge that shows how great they are. I related that back to Lincoln, and I quoted some Twain along the same lines. Please know I did so not preachy-like, but tried to make it as conversational as possible, so my message wasn't lost due to him feeling patronized.

Towards the end of the flight, I managed to casually bring the other man, about my age, sitting with us into conversation. We were talking about travel and business, and he said he studied Forestry in undergrad. Upon hearing that from him, I mentioned what the thirteen-year-old between us liked, some farming related things, and I mentioned what I suggested the boy could study. We then casually, as the "older" two guys there discussed things the boy could study to further follow his interests.

By no means am I suggesting that I helped change this boys life, but hopefully one little nugget of life’s truths will come back to him sometime when things are tough, about what a great President Lincoln was and why. Even if that doesn’t happen, that young boy, in his anguish and pain served to remind me how important and fortunate we all are for the love of those around us. How great education is for teaching us these important components of human experience from the past, and how it all ties in so well to our own lives. The same way the slightly disabled guy at coffee reminded me that health is something for which we can not strive hard enough to maintain, and to have the good fortune of good health is something not to be squandered.

Of course, all of those things dwell in the same category as emotional health and well being, which can be a challenge for everyone in their lives. For some, it comes down to circumstances, and coping with them through something like therapy to remedy their after effects. For others, it’s something physiological that requires rehabilitation, therapy, or psychopharmacology.* For some others neither of those circumstances are factors. Whatever the case, witnessing a truly random disparate sample of folks today, has me sitting alone in a hotel room thinking about just how fortunate we all are. Life is indeed too grand to articulate, it’s just amazing how it takes reminding sometimes.

*Rather than go tangential in the body of what I was writing, I would note my thoughts on psychological health predicate on a chairlift ride I had on Sunday. I was riding up the mountain with a guy about thirty years older than me. That man and I were talking, and he mentioned his being a psychiatrist and runing a psychiatric hospital locally. Those weren't his words, but for the sake of discretion (like referring to the boy as "boy" rather than his name), I feel responsible to keep it generalist. Whatever the case, the doctor and I were talking, and I took interest in his profession. I noted that they must have seen a sea change relative to psychopharmacology over the past few years, as stigmas have to be declining and the medications are treating more issues, etc... That ride up Bogus had me thinking about how quality of life is so well predicated on psychological health, and too often that is missed in self-evaluation. Perhaps that, like other very personal ailments, doesn't receive discussion over the water-cooler; ergo, remediation is kept secret. At the end of the day, being well is a full self inventory, it isn't just how well ones cardio-vascular works...