Airports

The year I turned 21, I made my first flight. I flew from Philadelphia International to Boston's Logan. Both airports seemed huge to me and, even though it was an evening flight, they were both very busy. That same year, I was in and out of Penn Station in Philly, Union Station in Washington, D. C., and Grand Central Station in NYC. I got lost more than one time in the Port Authority terminal in NYC. I suppose that many people found the crowds aggravating and depressing. Except for the couple of times in my career, when I was flying every single week, I found them to be great places to be, full of energy. Once, in Atlanta, I got to sit and talk to Senator John Stennis (D-MS) for about an hour, just him and me. There is no way I would have been able to get a 1 hour audience with him in his Washington office. My favorite thing to do, in the whole world, is to meet and talk with new people. Some of you are friends because of this and some of you probably wish I had never even said "hello". People are always waiting in airports, train stations, and bus stations. They are either going somewhere and waiting for their outbound ride or they have come from somewhere and are waiting for their baggage or they are waiting to pick up someone who is coming to their location, all of which intrigues me. I've found that most people will talk about themselves, to an interested person, if they have even a few minutes. I love to hear their stories. Earlier this week, I was picking up my friend, Paul Kennedy, at PTI (Greensboro, for you non-natives) and got to the airport about an hour early. I took a book in with me to pass the time waiting, but didn't get a single page read. Instead, I talked to some really neat folks. Person number 1 was a Continental flight attendant. She was waiting out an east coast storm before taking her scheduled flight out. I found out from her that her flight, originating in Atlanta, had not even left the ground there yet. That meant she wasn't going to join the flight crew for that airplane for at least another 2 hours. Is there a lounge for flight crews? Not at PTI. You would think that the airlines could band together and open at least one small lounge. She and her co-workers were going to have to "just hang out" until time came to finally go to work. Another thing that made her memorable was that, about age 35 to 40, 3 years ago, she completely changed careers. She had been a kindergarten teacher for 13 years, had been worn down by parent, paper, and policy problems, and had decided to try a new direction. I'm sorry that we lost a kindergarten teacher, but as I told her, I have a great deal of respect for her decision to try something else. I sure wasn't that brave. Person number 2 was a faculty member in the Wake Forest University Department of Religion. There are rocking chairs scattered around the waiting area at PTI, a really fine idea. There was an empty one beside this gentleman (young, long hair, shorts and sandals) and I asked him if it was taken. When he answered, he didn't sound like he was from the South! I was wrong. He was from southern New Zealand. He was waiting for a flight to arrive, so we talked about the courses he teaches and about NZ. I am going to look at the possibility of auditing one of his classes before too long. I found out that he has lived in the USA for 13 years and is actually an American citizen. As I said, he talked funny, but he looked just like you and me, if you know what I mean. SPOILER ALERT! I am about to make a political statement. Feel free to scroll past it to the next paragraph, if you want. Under the new illegal alien challenge law in Arizona, do you think for a second that, should he be stopped by the police, he would be asked to prove that he wasn't in the US illegally? How stupid! Of course he wouldn't. He doesn't look Hispanic or sound Hispanic, so he must be here legally even though he is obviously different. Can you say "racial profiling"? Person 3 and Person 4 were sorta together. Once Paul arrived, I went down to the baggage claim area with him. I spotted Person 3 holding a sign for one of the nicer places that Wake Forest puts visiting dignitaries. He was waiting to drive the expected person back to Winston-Salem. He let me know that he is retired and works this job part-time. Wow! I told him that I had been looking for a job just like his and asked him how he found it. Oops! A family member already worked for his employer and gave him a foot-in-the-door. I guess I'll just have to wait on my sons to come through for me. Person 3 confessed that he had driven various VIPs, but was instructed to never talk about them and, for goodness sakes, don't ask for a picture or autograph. What fun is that? Person 4 arrived on the same flight that Paul was on. I had stepped away from Person 3, but not so far that I couldn't overhear Person 4 introduce himself as a doctor, a very young looking doctor, I might add. While the driver was going to get the car, I asked the young doctor if he was a medical or PhD. Turned out that he is a 34 year old PhD coming here to interview for a faculty position at Wake. He had only heard about and applied for the position the previous week, was flown here for a single day of interviews in a matter of days, was met by a car and driver, and was going to be put up in a very nice place. I'm just guessing, but I'll bet that the job would be his to loose with a bad interview rather than get hired through a good one. I found out that, should he be offered and accept the job, he would be here for at least 3 years with his wife and 2 young daughters. I'm going to get a couple of WFU friends to watch for his name being announced as a new faculty member. I believe that he and his family would be great additions to our town and WFU and maybe they could try my church or I could help in some other way. I would like that. So, I spent an hour doing what I like best (that wasn't always the case, but I'm older now) at no cost to myself except being willing to sometimes be rejected or make a fool of myself (pro wrestler, Andre the Giant, just shook his head no when I asked for an autograph.) I'll take an hour like that anytime. Try it. You might like it too. God is good.