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comment by ButterflyEffect
ButterflyEffect  ·  2689 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: November 16, 2016

I'm still struggling with a lot of things (life, love, work)...here's something that happened yesterday.

    <Rant>

    Had a flight from LAX to SEA today. Near the back of the plane, lot of children back that way. Had the window seat next to an elderly couple who were bickering a bit and had a bunch of food and such, lady was wearing a mask and all I could think was "well this is going to be fun".

    Midway through the flight the drink cart comes by, I order a coffee and ask the man if they're from Seattle or heading that way. Ended up talking to him (and his wife much later on) for the rest of the flight.

    Turns out his wife of forty three years has cancer (50% survival rate) which is why they were en route to Seattle for six weeks of treatment; one of his sons passed away two years ago; and a whole host of other things interspersed among some really cool things like going to his brothers A-frame house somewhere in the mountains of Washington; or how a surviving son recently got married.

    From the looks of him and his wife I wouldn't have really talked to them and just minded my own business on the flight, but I'm so incredibly glad I opened my mouth and learned a new story.

    Why's this matter? It doesn't, really. But I'm seeing all these posts about politics and labeling everyone as an "other" of some sort (even liberals and "other" liberals or feminists and "other" feminists", so on and so forth) and I don't think it's very healthy. Not after today. I get it, things aren't looking good, and there's a lot of work to be done. But we can do it. We're all dealing with the things right in front of us. Talk to the person next to you on the plane and drop the preconception. You might be surprised.

    </Rant>

Which made my problems feel insignificant. And yet here we are.