If you’re anything like me you’re quite aware that if you truly want to know someone forget about what they say, and watch how they conduct their lives. People might talk smart, but they can have the reasoning capacity on par with a pile of rocks.
I was struck or should I say dumbfounded this week by a few events that just made me wonder what are these people thinking. Then I caught myself and realized that was even more of a dumb question. Here’s what I just don’t get…
There was an incident reported that a 10-year-old girl was flying alone and missed her connecting flight from San Francisco to Boston. Where was her connection? Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. One of the busiest and hardest airports to navigate in the country from my perspective. If you’ve ever traveled for a living, there is no airport you would rather avoid than O’Hare. It’s a nightmare. However you don’t have to be a business traveler to understand this. If you’ve ever been on vacation and had to connect through O’Hare you instinctively realize this airport is HUGE! I believe Olympic marathon hopefuls could hone their endurance abilities here. Yet her parents decided that as long as they filled out the proper “Child traveling alone” information with the airline, then the safety and well-being of their child was now codified and in the hands of the airline. All I can say to that is, “You have GOT to be kidding me!”
I can understand in an emergency the possibility where you might need to send an adolescent on a plane. However, a caveat to this would include that the flight was a non-stop flight from one gate to another. Also I would not let the child even board that plane unless I had a real-time conversation that the person on the other end was currently at the airport, inside, and at the gate waiting. Regardless of how long it would take for the plane to arrive. The possibility of being stuck in traffic, or having a fender bender, or anything else happening would nullify releasing the child at the gate. Regardless of the cost of the flight or anything else. Period!
What was just as shocking about this story in my view were not only the parents comments about the incident, but also anyone whom commented or chimed in with their opinion. Almost everyone to a person blamed the airlines. Although the airlines were at fault and acted irresponsibly by reported accounts. All I could ask was; “What were these parents thinking? Airlines can’t even move luggage smoothly, but you’ll trust them with the life and well-being of your child?”
Sorry, and I don’t care what excuse someone wants to use. They were fools, and luckily the child finally arrived unscathed to her destination.
This type of thinking is not only foolish but can be downright dangerous. Personal responsibility demands clear thinking. People like this want to make you think they have a point when they’ll clearly point at someone else but themselves to blame.
If they want to point at the fools responsible for their problem. All they need to do is point into a mirror.
© 2012 Mark St.Cyr www.MarkStCyr.com
And just to prove a point on how much an airline or airport cares about you. Here’s a photo I took in 2010 when my wife was stranded at an airport overnight and no one would give her any information on if or when she would be able to catch her connection. I took this photo in an airport lobby as I was waiting for her. Serendipity can be amazingly poignant at times.
A pictures worth a thousand words.
