Live From Portland:
Sinus infection and out of state.
I can’t decide if it’s the sweet putrid odor of cheap kung pao or the steady
line of customers ordering coffee drinks in the form of milkshakes. Perhaps
it’s the stale aroma of too many bermuda shorts, pajamas, and sandals. Whether
it is one of these or all of the above, the airport is making me sick.
Maybe that is too harsh. It seems the airport is the final melting pot of any
big city. The last place where people from nearly every walk of life grace the doors
and exist in the same space. Yet we still manage to maintain our strong sense of
isolationism. It’s incredible to me that we can sit less than four inches from
one another for six hours and not know each others name by the end of it all.
Please don’t misinterpret this as a claim to martyrdom. I am just as uninterested
in talking to them as they are to me. But it remains curious. Has this always been
the way of the airports, or has it become more secluded as the level of common hood and accessibility increased? I’m not suggesting we change it, in fact I
think that ultimately
airports are far too interactive. Our airports should take que from the libraries
and discourage all speech or any sudden or loud noises. Imagine the
euphoria that would be nearly silent airports. Not to mention the efficiency. Call
me facist, call me old fashioned, or just call me a cynical handsome asshole, but we
have put up with screaming children and obnoxious adults in the sky for far too long. I’m not necessarily endorsing anything too drastic, but whatever it takes to eliminate
these nuisances, I will blindly follow.
My point is this. Flying is a stressful and dangerous activity. Eliminating children
alone greatly reduces that risk and stress level and pushing out the obnoxious
will drop it substantially more. I say we either learn to keep our mouths shut and
our eyes to ourself or we lose the wonderful privlage that is public flight.
Until then I will contine to don my yellow raincaot and scream ”Stranger Danger” at
the first sign of trouble. This is my commitment to America.
