What Airplanes and Airports Taught Me About Humanity

It has been a long 30+ hours full of nothing but excitement and anxiety, allowing the tears to finally roll out, so I shall make this brief. I believe humans are beautiful. I always have. Not beautiful in merely physical appearance, but personality-wise—mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Whether this trip broadens that perspective or enhances it, I am not sure, but that is exactly what I have come here to find out.

I arrived a little over three hours ago by means of three airplanes and through four airports, and what little knowledge I gained from the journey over is that human beings are unapologetically willing to show their personalities, especially when it comes to kindness. On my first flight, I'd fallen asleep and woke groggily to the cookie and drink cart rolling up. The lovely flight attendant was handing me my cookie, and the lady beside me, in a motherly fashion, had opened my tray table for me and placed the cookie on it, smiling brightly afterward as though proud she could continue to take care of people. On my 13-hour flight, I was seated by the window, and an older woman sat in the aisle, nobody between us. We would simultaneously and anticipatorily look behind us at the washroom signs in order to figure out if they were occupied or not, and every time I'd asked her if I could sneak by, she stood up enthusiastically and paced until I had returned to kill two birds with one stone—stretch her legs and wait for me. Later, when she'd gotten bored of movies for 10 hours straight, she would peek over and watch off of my screen. I did not mind, and we'd become anonymous friends for that long flight, but a small amount of time. Just two people coexisting in one another's presence and neither one opposed to it whatsoever. The final bit of the trip, I learned how welcoming Nepalis are. I'd told a man we were exiting the opposite way he was facing, and he turned to see and got all excited and giddy, jumping out of his seat with a smile and thanking me with laughter. On the bus ride from the plane to the airport itself, strangers were sitting together and laughing at one another, conversing with each other. There'd been an issue with my visa registration, and the man continued to calmly smile at me, reassuring me as he solved the problem. 

Thank God, thank fate, thank whomever you believe in for people. Yes, there is consistent evil among our species, but such love and presence as well. They are everything, and being everything is so devastatingly beautiful sometimes.

Good night!