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Essay © dopesick 1998
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Airborne Philosophizing
By: dopesick
After a thirty-minute delay, the plane finally began its take off. I watched out the window as the airport quickly passed by. The force from the plane's acceleration was quite similar to that of a roller coaster going downhill; minus the screams of exhilaration and people with their hands up in the air. I have been in an airplane many times before, so I am used to the feeling. Aside from the fact that I also love roller coasters, although I prefer to keep my hands on the rail. =)
The plane quickly lifts off the ground and it is at that precise moment, when there is nothing between you and the quickly disappearing ground, except air, that I get nervous. It doesn't last that long, the nervousness that is, although, come to think of it, neither does the planes ascension either. What am I nervous about? Well, I just find it highly unnerving to have such little control over a situation that I am in. Here I am; a baby in a metallic womb. The elements of nature my mother. All it takes is for mother to get nervous, to lose control over her storming emotions, and BANG!! The womb is aborted in a descent that ends with nothing but fire, twisted metal, and burnt bodies. One can say the same about a car, but at least in that womb I have some form of control, I can at least hold onto the umbilical cord. In a plane, I just sit and watch the world go by.
As the plane reaches cruising altitude, the bleak and grim metaphors subside, and I just enjoy the view. It is nighttime. I stare past my reflection in the window and gaze out at the night sky. Nothing but black. The light at the tip of the wing is the only visible intruder amongst the darkness.
After a while another intruder enters the darkness. Paths of civilization light up the black terrain as we fly over major cities. They look so meek, so insignificant. Yet I know that within all that brightness exists individual minds. Going about their lives, feeling important, feeling necessary, and not even knowing that all it takes is to be thousands of feet above the ground and their lives lose all significance. One could say looking out the window of a plane is like being God, but that feeling only comes when you have the lights of civilization below you to elevate your status. Once you are enveloped by the pitch black of nature, with civilization no longer in sight, then the tables are turned and the God you once were becomes a frightened puppet. Nature has taken control of your strings once again.
I continue to watch the world go by as I sit here with my metaphors and philosophy hoping everything will turn out all right.