What would you do?

Almost a decade ago, our lives were upset by the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01.  A week ago, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that bin Laden had been killed.  In some ways, my life had moved on after the terrorist attacks to the point of seldom thinking of bin Laden or the al-Qaeda network of terrorists.  The thoughts mainly popped up while traveling by air, with all the security regulations, scanning, etc.  I would find myself surveying the fellow passengers waiting to board the plane.   Are they a threat to my safety?  I reasoned my "paranoia" to the better-be-safe-than-sorry philosophy.

Easter Sunday, a week before the news of bin Laden's killing, we were boarding a plane to return home after a week's vacation in Arizona.  Standing in line to board, I heard shouting and I turned to see four men running towards the gate.  My heart leaped into my throat and my first thought was, "I don't want to fly on this plane!"  The men were of mid-Eastern descent with full black beards and turbans on their heads.  They were shouting, "We need to get on the plane." 

All the fears, warnings, racial profiling... whatever came to my mind.  Luckily, the gate agent quickly intervened as the crowd parted for them and we all were silent.  I am sure others had similar thoughts and we are all dumb-struck.  At this time, I noticed that they were all wearing blue hockey jerseys and laughing at their predicament... being late for the plane.  It seemed like a oxymoron... "terrorists" wearing hockey jerseys and laughing???  The gate agent told them that there had been a gate change and their plane was leaving from another gate and directed them across the gateway.  RELIEF is what I felt.  I can't deny it! 

Yes, I'm glad that bin Laden is out of the picture.  I think I speak for many of us when I say that our lives were affected by the 9/11/01 attacks.  We will never be the same and maybe there's a lesson to be learned.  Maybe we don't take things quite as much for granted.  Hopefully, we don't take our freedoms for granted. 

If those four men would have been flying on my plane, would I have gotten on the plane? 

Yes, and I would have probably called my parents and as many siblings as I could, to say "I love you" before they told us to shut off our phones.  Then I would have prayed that if it was my last flight, I was ready to fly to heaven.  I have had a good life!

Fears

Today my jet just taxied down the concrete runways of my neighborhood. See yesterday's blog if you are wondering what I'm talking about.

We live less than 5 miles from the airport so the jets taking off usually go right over our neighborhood. I always look up when I'm outside to gaze at the awesomeness of something that large being in air. Of course I wonder where the travelers are going? Most flights go to Houston or Dallas first as there's only a couple of direct flights from here to Los Angles, Las Vegas and Atlanta. The second reason I look up is to make sure that the luggage compartment door has not let loose and it's "raining" suitcases or chunks of frozen waste water. I know, call me "chicken little" and the "sky is falling in." Through the years, I have seen articles or heard news about pieces coming from planes & hitting people or houses. I probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting hit by anything from a plane, but you never know! What if?

Some people may say I have a "fear," but I choose to call it "cautiousness." It got me thinking of what fears I do have. Like my sisters, I have a fear of snakes. I have somewhat conquered that by forcing myself to watch TV shows about them without closing my eyes. However, I DID NOT see the movie, Snakes on a Plane; that would be a little too much for me.

I have a fear of falling and a fear of drowning. I love high places where there is no real threat to falling, but get me 4 feet off the ground in a rickety ladder and I start shaking. I love the water and as long as someone is not pulling or pushing me under the water, I'm fine. These fears have been with me for years, probably precipitated by almost drowning and falling down stairs at the age of two years.

A "fear" that I have that I don't talk about with anyone is the fear of what actions I will succumb to when I lose weight and get in shape? From the age of 21 - 31 years I was quite promiscuous and I have always had this fear that if I got back to my original healthy weight of those days, that I would become that person again. I'm sure there are people reading this that would say, "No way! Unfounded fear!" Maybe? I can use all the logic that I can muster to try and forget any of my fears, but when the pedal-hits-the-metal, I am shaking. Regretfully, fears are not always logical, they are often just there. Just there to bug us now & then. Make us wonder, what if?