On the flight back from Miami, I found myself sitting beside a couple — a man and a woman, probably in their thirties.
I was worried about them right from the start. We were sitting in row 7, just two rows behind first class, but they had made their way to the back of the plane, assuming seat numbers descended.
This isn’t a terrible mistake, especially if you don’t fly often, but to make it all the way to the back of the plane without looking up even once at the seat numbers is a little disturbing.
After squeezing through a row of passengers still heading to their seats, they finally plopped down beside me, popped an iPhone into the tray on the seatback in front of them, and began watching a movie together without headphones.
Thought it was perfectly okay to play a movie at full volume beside me.
I was listening to a book on my headphones, so the blare of their movie only penetrated my consciousness a couple of times, but still, I wondered:
“What the hell are these lunatics thinking?”
“What is wrong with people?”
“What the hell is happening to this world?”
I thought about saying something, but decided that since their movie wasn’t disturbing me, I would ignore it.
We needed to share the same space for the next two hours, so why create animous when it wasn’t necessary?
Little did I know that things were about to get a lot worse and very awkward for me..
An hour or so into the flight, the sound of their iPhone had disappeared, so I turned to see if they had decided to put on headphones and behave like civilized people, but instead, I saw that the iPhone was turned off, and they were making out.
Really making out. Hands and all. The kind of making out that often precipitates the removal of clothing.
I opened my mouth to say something, but shockingly, couldn’t find anything to say.
This almost never happens to me.
So instead, I turned, closed my eyes, and returned to my book.
But again, I wondered:
“What the hell are these lunatics thinking?”
“What is wrong with people?”
“What the hell is happening to this world?”
Love is beautiful.
Passion is admirable.
Time and place are advisable.
Selfishness and incivility can make this uncomfortable.
