THE SELF-REALIZATION ISSUE: VOLUME 26, ISSUE 44
FLASHING, LIGHT
by Malik Isasis
On Tuesday morning I was at JFK airport taxiing down the runway on a commuter plane. As the plane sped up to take off, it suddenly lost power. After coming to a stand still, we sat for about ten minutes before the captain’s voice came on over the speakers.
“Sorry folks, it appears we’re having some mechanical problems, we seem to have lost power. The ground crew are going to pull us back to the gate where they’ll inspect the plane, fix the problem and get us back on track.”
Mechanical problems are not what you want to hear just before taking off on a plane.
“What if this had happened while we were in flight? I thought.
I began ruminating about my and the other passengers’ deaths. It would have garnered a brief mention in nightly news, probably a half minute. A news anchor would have dispassionately said, “A plane crashed in the Atlantic today in route to Washington D.C., there were 70 people on board, all perished. United is investigating the crash. And in other news, Golden Boy Michael Phelps has won another gold metal…”
I couldn’t remember the last time I told my friends that I loved them and that cute woman I saw in the cafe last week, I should have asked for her number. Damn, I’m not going to finish the book that I’ve been writing. I’m single, and didn’t get married, or have children. I didn’t get a chance to travel to Africa. There were so many things left undone, unsaid…I felt if I’d died in a plane crash, my life would have been incomplete.
An hour later the plane was fixed and the plane again taxied down the runway, this time taking off. The forty-five minutes it takes to get to D.C. from New York, I thought about death and how it measures your life.
I am not living my life to its fullest potential, and most importantly, I’m taking my friendships for granted, hell I’m taking time for granted. So while on vacation at home here in Seattle, I’m telling all my friends and family that I love them and what they mean to me. I’m going to finish that damn novel. I’m going to live everyday as if it is my last. And for the next cute woman I see in café in New York, look out.
FLASHING, LIGHT
by Malik Isasis
On Tuesday morning I was at JFK airport taxiing down the runway on a commuter plane. As the plane sped up to take off, it suddenly lost power. After coming to a stand still, we sat for about ten minutes before the captain’s voice came on over the speakers.
“Sorry folks, it appears we’re having some mechanical problems, we seem to have lost power. The ground crew are going to pull us back to the gate where they’ll inspect the plane, fix the problem and get us back on track.”
Mechanical problems are not what you want to hear just before taking off on a plane.
“What if this had happened while we were in flight? I thought.
I began ruminating about my and the other passengers’ deaths. It would have garnered a brief mention in nightly news, probably a half minute. A news anchor would have dispassionately said, “A plane crashed in the Atlantic today in route to Washington D.C., there were 70 people on board, all perished. United is investigating the crash. And in other news, Golden Boy Michael Phelps has won another gold metal…”
I couldn’t remember the last time I told my friends that I loved them and that cute woman I saw in the cafe last week, I should have asked for her number. Damn, I’m not going to finish the book that I’ve been writing. I’m single, and didn’t get married, or have children. I didn’t get a chance to travel to Africa. There were so many things left undone, unsaid…I felt if I’d died in a plane crash, my life would have been incomplete.
An hour later the plane was fixed and the plane again taxied down the runway, this time taking off. The forty-five minutes it takes to get to D.C. from New York, I thought about death and how it measures your life.
I am not living my life to its fullest potential, and most importantly, I’m taking my friendships for granted, hell I’m taking time for granted. So while on vacation at home here in Seattle, I’m telling all my friends and family that I love them and what they mean to me. I’m going to finish that damn novel. I’m going to live everyday as if it is my last. And for the next cute woman I see in café in New York, look out.
posted by Malik Isasis at
6:33 PM
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