John Ford

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Before I landed in Omaha I had a bit of a prequel story to the trip on my flight from Chicago. This was a small plane so I was hoping to get my own seat to avoid squeezing, but the universe had other plans. Instead a large sized man around his mid 50’s had the seat next to me so it was going to be a tight ride. My bag couldn’t fit in the rack so I had to put it in between my legs, which was not comfortable. As the plane was about to take off I was told to try and fit my bag under my seat, and with a little help from my neighbor I got it under. I’m usually the one to throw my headphones on, and go over my thoughts when I’m alone, but for some reason this case was different. We started with small talk, which eventually led to a conversation that lasted the whole flight. I told him about my plans, and he did the same. He was a teacher with a few kids from Boston MA looking for something new. He was going to Souix city IA to have an interview for a job with blue bunny ice cream, which I had never heard of. He told me a great story about his son who went to Liberty University, and got a job with an NFL team simply because he decided to have a conversation with the right person. He beat out kids who had great resumes from Georgetown and other top of the line schools only because he had the right attitude. Because he went up to ask questions and talk about himself the person thought that was enough to give him the job. That might sound ridiculous, but sometimes you can get a better understanding of a person from a conversation compared to a piece of paper. He also brought up a story about he was able to meet a great jazz musician because he was presented with the opportunity to simply go up and talk. This made me think of all the times I missed out because I decided to just not talk with people. I’m a pretty social person, but there are definitely times where I will shy away from talking to new people. I blame myself because I have the ability to do whatever I want, but at the same time It’s easy to tell that society has showed signs for years now that communication between people has diminished. You would think technology would help, but we have used it to stick to our own agenda, and leave no time for anything new. People are content with what they have; this laziness keeps them uninterested in meeting new people. Communication is the spread of information, and although technology has increased the speed it has also increased the spread of hate and intolerance. We need to get back to our roots of simple communication between people face to face. Think about this last time someone asked you want you want do with your life, or what really makes you happy. Even deeper what is the meaning of life, or are you okay knowing that your wealth is because of others suffering. We are all very complicated beings, but at the same time I believe we all have similar intentions; to be happy. We have been tricked into thinking that we need more, more, more to make us happy only to fill the pockets of the greedy.. A goal on my trip is to try to see if people are willing to open their eyes and make change for a more peaceful and sustainable world. One that will bring comfort and security while knowing that others don’t have to suffer for it.

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