Twilight zone
In recent years I have flown less often although I normally still managed several flights a year. Today it is October 1 and it is my first flight this year. Several factors forced me to cancel travel plans even prior to the acknowledged arrival of covid-19. Although covid-19 is still very much a constant companion, I decided it was relatively safe to take a flight today. I arrived at the airport security check in to find one other person several feet ahead of me. When I reached the terminal it was if something or someone had suddenly sucked up almost all the other passengers. It was only when I reached the gate for my flight that I found an area full of masked people and, for the most part, practicing but social distance. Boarding the aircraft I found that all pretense to allow social distance had been abandoned. There was no longer the empty middle seat. I did and do appreciate the fact that airlines have suffered enormous financial loses as fewer people travel for business or pleasure. It makes sense they would want to decrease the cost of personnel, fuel and other expenses. Yet, I must admit being a bit concerned about being crammed into the middle seat within inches of those on either side of me.
Once again, the visit of covid-19 and the current political climate in the United States and the world has reminded me of how easy it is for me to fall into the trap of thinking the reality I normally experience is both a shared reality and something other than a temporary stage set. For the most part, I can allow myself to live in a reality where climate controlled housing, a full refrigerator, hot and cold running water, comfortable furniture, and a freedom from rats and other uninvited guests. I can take no credit for being able to enjoy this reality. An accident of birth - perceived race, gender, place and the absence of an acute mental or other illness -allows me this protected slice of reality. I do not have an active addiction to alcohol, other drugs, gambling, things, sex, or food which severely limit my ability to work and claim priority in the distribution of wealth. I do not have a medical issue which affects my motor control or other physical functions. Unlike many, I am not burdened with conditions which restrict my physical movement.
Of course, I know that much of the world, including some close neighbors, have a very different reality. Some live in homeless camps which the city officials have decided must be demolished because their crimes are more obvious and thus embarrassing than those of some of us. Their crimes are related to immediate needs, exhausted frustration and the need to appear grateful for the restricted access to health care and the largely unhealthy gifts of sugary and starchy food. I live in my 1000 plus square feet of clean, pleasant space free of rats and other unwelcome visitors with all the aforementioned luxuries. If I am tired or not feeling my best my negative energy does not intermingle with that of others causing eruptions. While I experience a myriad of emotions I am not likely to act in a manner which causes someone to call the police who will then record yet another “crime”
It does no one any good to rent my clothes and beat myself for occupying this slice of reality. In am, however, responsible for any attachments to thinking I earned and, thus am deserving or more deriving than others. I am responsible for falling into the trap of self righteous attachment to the illusion of the twilight zone.
In my mind the twilight zone is the metaphor for the disconnection experienced by most of the world’s population; the disconnection by those who some might label the right wing white supremists who search for another reality in the illusion that they need to be something more than who they are - a small and temporary part of the whole we can call god or the universe(s); the disconnection of those who live in their guilted cages; the disconnection of those whose illnesses leave them floating, floating, floating.
What some of us are now experiencing as the twilight zone is a metaphor for what most of our brothers and sisters have always experienced. The question is: “What will we do with this glimpse into the twilight zone?” Surely we do not want to wallow in shame or self righteousness. “Will we stop pretending as if some can be free if not all are free?”
“How will this reminder affect if and how citizens vote when they go to the polls? Will we vote to draw the curtain or take it down.”
Written October 1, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coach Pickett org
.
RSS Feed