As many people today are constantly on a phone, laptop, or tablet, they forget to disconnect from the virtual world and look around. Currently I am writing on a plane where I see quite a few interesting characters. I look around me and I see a woman listening to music while avoiding eye contact, and the man next to her is watching a movie on his iPad paying no attention to the flight attendant trying to tell him to stow it away. It’s astonishing the way we interact with people today, or lack there of.
I remember my first trip home from college on a flight from Orlando to Appleton. On a small, crowded, rickety plane, I sat in the middle seat between two older gentlemen. The man to my right by the window seat was working on a Powerpoint. He asked me questions about how to make a chart look better with his figures, and because I didn’t have headphones in, he felt comfortable talking to me. This was just chit chat compared the man on my left. All he had on him was his chunky, old cell phone. When I was about to grab my laptop at the beginning of this flight, he started talking to me and asking me about my life. My mom raised me to be polite so I responded but our small talk had grown into a conversation and a true getting to know each other. He asked me about my family and I asked him about his grand-kids. I spent the whole flight unplugged from social networking, media, and work and you know what, I didn’t miss out on anything. The world didn’t end. My friends were still talking to me after 3 hours. Plus I felt more positive and that joy I felt beamed through my smile, spreading to anyone who passed. It made the world a better place, one grin at a time.
If we learn from this experience, take out your headphones once in awhile, look out for your fellow neighbor and for goodness sake, smile. It won’t kill your reputation, it’ll bring joy to this unemotional world.
