Have you ever looked out of a plane’s window? Okay… I’m sure most of you have. But did you appreciate it? How small did you feel? Could you count the square miles of clouds your eyes lay on? And did you ever wonder, “where the hell am I?”
Flying is simply beautiful. I mean, how could it not. You are literally soring a mile above the surface of the Earth, going the fastest speed your body will ever move. And all the while you are aboard this magic skyrocket, you can’t help but find your eyes wandering to the nearest window.
Cramming and angling yourself to get even the slightest sliver of those plastic ovals in your line of sight is all worth it. Because as you gaze into the far and wide, you are reminded just how large our home is. Seeing the clouds that ring around the beginning part of our atmosphere stretch farther than the eye can see, we are left with nothing to say. Sometimes not even because of how grand it is, but simply because we can not process so much area without contrast. Without a point of comparison or something to divide the area into chunks, we are left utterly dumbfounded.
But let’s not jump ahead. These planes don’t start in the air, somehow, they start in the same spot us mere mortals reside. We climb aboard, find our little numbered seats, put our safety strap of fabric on (because that makes a difference), and let the skyrocket do its thing. And as this 175,000-pound hunk of metal accelerates to the air, we all turn our heads to the nearest window. Why? Because it’s really freaking cool.
Eventually propelled into the sky, we all watch together as the cities that some of us spend our entire lives in, or reluctantly drive and get the hell out, come into full view. First with the buildings turning into shapes, and then with the lights turning into an organized light show, we watch as the city comes into full view. And just as we begin to take it all in, it runs away as we travel on our mind-blowing journey.
And so, as our little brains try to understand just what we are seeing, we can’t help but feel okay. Okay because at that moment it is no longer about where we are going, but instead where we are. We are in the clouds. We are above the world. And we are doing this all sitting on our stinking butts.
So next time you fly, look out the window. Think about its significance yet casualness. Think about its power yet fragility. And most of all, think about its impossibility yet reality.