Posted on July 17, 2009 - by Rasham

DISNEYLAND FOR THE EMOTIONALLY MATURE

I have always loved airports, and in passing through one today I suddenly understood why: it is as rare as a diamond in the rough that within the great architecture of this palace of mass transportation there beats a warm heart almost exclusive to this chaotic scene. The airport isn’t just an oversized expanse of tunnels and tubes, ports and terminals: it’s a cauldron of simmering emotions which emphasize the raw exposure of deep sentiment and feeling. Love is exchanged so freely, and its form is so real, so intense and without barriers.

 We are starved for love in our lives, despite our personal romantic engagements and familial ties. Everyday we hear of acts of evil, and of the inadequacies and shortcomings of our fellow man. Our encounters with one another are typically prefaced by fear, jealousy, or indifference, the result of a nation of people raised in a country which survives in a perpetual state of war, where the will to battle is always persistent, and man lives as an enemy to every other man. We lock our doors, the doors of our cars, we take caution when in public places, and we secure our belongings and valuables so that they may be secret and safe. We are told by the powers at hand to be aware of our surroundings, to report immediately all suspicious behavior. We have Neighborhood Watch and home security systems: we practice the distrust of our neighbor everyday, in ways of which we are hardly conscious, as we do so from an irrational necessity to protect all of our earthbound possessions.

 It is the nature of man in these modern times of industry and wealth to be in competition with one another: the resources, for which we strive, power, fame, money, are thought to be limited, and thus we struggle to win our competition in the attainment of these ends. When we are all striving for the achievement of the same ambiguous American dream, and when from the constant threat of war greed becomes characteristic of every human being, a society of quarreling people results, and the consequent is that daily confrontations with our fellows bear traces of anger, hatred, and resentment, being that he has what you want, and vice versa.

 We are needy, nasty, unremorseful and hardly compassionate. We are selfish and scared, taking more for ourselves and leaving none for our neighbors. We consume in quantities which exceed the means for suffiency, and hoard belongings with a mind that tells us that we someday may need these things. We offer nothing except at a cost, and give not until we know that we are to also receive. The life of man is short, plagued by an insatiable desire for more than he has, and a fear of losing it all at the same time.

 As such, our societies have become irrevocably corrupt, and such measures of concealment and self protection are undoubtedly practiced by the common man. Our society does birth thieves, murderers, scoundrels and scum: against the lustful and the conniving we believe we must ourselves protect.

 So where’s the love? It’s scarce, becoming a rare commodity, an almost extinct medium for human alliance. Within our dens, surrounded by the objects of our affection we are free to cycle and recycle love. When we step into an environment where we approach strangers and are burdened by the unavoidable confrontation with people of whom we know nothing we are usually short and impatient, having left empathy to rot on the shelf next to our hearts, which collect dust in between family gatherings.

 We cant help it: just tonight I caught a glimpse of the evening news, which reported the usual cause for trepidation: war, terror, death, natural disaster, pain, disease, and the weather, (and just in case you can tolerate more mental programming, stay tuned for the sports update and sit still for the commercials in between). We are victims of this tele-communication, of our government’s strategies and political relations. We believe our world is dangerous, and so we put on our super suits and game faces and roam the streets of our communities, isolated and self-seeking. We are satisfied in being capable of providing superfluously for ourselves and our families, and we are proud for the most part: but we are constantly aware, always looking out, watchful and defensive. 

 Poof! Like magic it seems that people are entirely free from the bondage of usual fear when greeting a loved one at the Arrivals Gate of the airport. Here, there are no conditions placed upon the common man; he is in a safe place, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he is weakened by emotion’s enchantment and charm. Watching that Hollywood embrace our similarities which were once shadowed by our tendencies to negatively judge and avoid are suddenly within focus, and we see that there is a greater common denominator which links us and that has the power to elude our cruel assumptions and wash away our antagonistic preconceptions: LOVE.

 I sat here for hours, in a state of absolute wonderment and amazement as my worries for the future of mankind dwindled in the presence of mass quantities of love. It is in the dramatic art of a romantic embrace, or the slight tears trickling down the wrinkled skin of an old face, or in the laughter of small children being lifted into the arms of a long gone but not forgotten relative that we are exposed and vulnerable, and humanity seems warm and kind and honest and so beautiful in this place, and its obvious, not tucked away in private corners or locked behind private doors. The smiles don’t fade so quickly here, they are not manufactured by any one of the seven deadly sins: they are badges of the purity of love, of humanity, of that which unites us all if even for one moment, in one place in this world.

 (Just outside the revolving glass doors of the terminal I stepped onto the curb of the sidewalk where a young man ran all four wheels of his suitcase over my sandaled toes. Without recognition from the chap or a simple “sorry”, I continued on, giggling under my breath, my ‘love high’ shattering before my bruised toes: “so much for that blog”, I thought to myself. “Oh well”, I said aloud, “it is what it is”.)