This is a short story about how a delayed flight serendipitously put me precisely where I needed to be to save an old lady’s life, and in doing so, changed mine.
On a recent trip to New York, I woke up to find that my afternoon flight home was delayed. I tried to make the most of the experience, and almost made too much of it, missing a train and then getting off at the wrong terminal at Newark International Airport. Just as I was beginning to stress on making my delayed flight, I received notification that the flight was further delayed. I slowed down my pace, and instead of berating myself for my inability to follow signs, I took the opportunity to channel my negative energy into bad thoughts towards the seemingly constantly delayed airline industry.
Walking casually through the terminal, I heard some gasps as people turned to watch an old, overweight, and VERY frail lady about to topple backwards down an escalator. Her bag was on the ground tripping her feet while her hands clutched to the moving rail as she slowly started to fall over backward on the climbing escalator. I’m not sure what inspired my action, but I sprinted to the escalator, bounded up the stairs, and grabbed on to both railings right just as she lost her grip and fell backwards… safely into my body. I thanked my lucky stars that climbing has given me a strong grip, as it took all I had to keep her from sending us both down the metal steps.
We finished riding the escalator to the top, her body still collapsed against mine, and I was able to help her safely stand up and step off the escalator. She had tears in her eyes and couldn’t stop saying thank you. She had just missed her flight back home to Florida and was so frustrated from the experience that she wasn’t paying attention as she got on the escalator. She had stumbled, dropped her bag, got her feet caught on the handle, and was free-falling backward right when I arrived. We stood talking for 5 minutes at the top of that escalator until she was settled and smiling, and then parted ways with a hug.
I am sitting at the gate now, waiting for a flight that keeps getting delayed. People around me are visibly frustrated and anxious, but I’m relishing the moment. In the foreground I see planes taking off, whisking people to places that not long ago people could only reach in their dreams. In the distance, One World Trade Tower, still under construction, stands again as the tallest building in the NYC skyline. Out of all the things to get frustrated about, a delayed flight seems so trivial. Besides the obvious fact that flying is a miracle that we should be blessed to experience just once in our lives, waiting for an airplane can actually be a golden opportunity.
No matter how bad things seem, the fact that you’re in the ~.1% of the world’s population that has the means to read this post and have access to air travel implies that you are incredibly fortunate. Now, I’m not saying “don’t get frustrated”. Inevitably, whenever you tell yourself to not do something (like don’t eat dessert) you end up doing more if it. I am preaching something much simpler… anytime that you have to wait for something, think of one thing you CAN DO to reflect on and express your gratitude for. Then do that. Immediately.
On a recent trip to New York, I woke up to find that my afternoon flight home was delayed. I tried to make the most of the experience, and almost made too much of it, missing a train and then getting off at the wrong terminal at Newark International Airport. Just as I was beginning to stress on making my delayed flight, I received notification that the flight was further delayed. I slowed down my pace, and instead of berating myself for my inability to follow signs, I took the opportunity to channel my negative energy into bad thoughts towards the seemingly constantly delayed airline industry.
Walking casually through the terminal, I heard some gasps as people turned to watch an old, overweight, and VERY frail lady about to topple backwards down an escalator. Her bag was on the ground tripping her feet while her hands clutched to the moving rail as she slowly started to fall over backward on the climbing escalator. I’m not sure what inspired my action, but I sprinted to the escalator, bounded up the stairs, and grabbed on to both railings right just as she lost her grip and fell backwards… safely into my body. I thanked my lucky stars that climbing has given me a strong grip, as it took all I had to keep her from sending us both down the metal steps.
We finished riding the escalator to the top, her body still collapsed against mine, and I was able to help her safely stand up and step off the escalator. She had tears in her eyes and couldn’t stop saying thank you. She had just missed her flight back home to Florida and was so frustrated from the experience that she wasn’t paying attention as she got on the escalator. She had stumbled, dropped her bag, got her feet caught on the handle, and was free-falling backward right when I arrived. We stood talking for 5 minutes at the top of that escalator until she was settled and smiling, and then parted ways with a hug.
I am sitting at the gate now, waiting for a flight that keeps getting delayed. People around me are visibly frustrated and anxious, but I’m relishing the moment. In the foreground I see planes taking off, whisking people to places that not long ago people could only reach in their dreams. In the distance, One World Trade Tower, still under construction, stands again as the tallest building in the NYC skyline. Out of all the things to get frustrated about, a delayed flight seems so trivial. Besides the obvious fact that flying is a miracle that we should be blessed to experience just once in our lives, waiting for an airplane can actually be a golden opportunity.
No matter how bad things seem, the fact that you’re in the ~.1% of the world’s population that has the means to read this post and have access to air travel implies that you are incredibly fortunate. Now, I’m not saying “don’t get frustrated”. Inevitably, whenever you tell yourself to not do something (like don’t eat dessert) you end up doing more if it. I am preaching something much simpler… anytime that you have to wait for something, think of one thing you CAN DO to reflect on and express your gratitude for. Then do that. Immediately.
Perhaps the down-time of waiting for a flight can be used to slow down, call a friend, or just close your eyes, relax, and reflect on all the things in your life you have to be grateful for.
Inevitably, our lives are a sequence of events that we can barely control, and never predict. Things will continue to happen as they will, some good, some bad. The only certainty beyond uncertainty is that you alone can make wrong things right.
I’m not sure what would have happened to this sweet lady if she toppled backwards down an escalator, and I’d rather not think about it. What I can’t stop thinking about is the turn of random, disconnected events that put me in exactly the right spot at the right time.
It's good to have an end in mind but in the end what counts is how you travel.
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