Grand Vistas of Lights

Grand Vista of Lights                    

By John W. Vander Velden

 

I once enjoyed flying more than these days.  Yet all the same, it is a way to travel great distances in a relatively short period.  There was two differences in our travels this year.  One, I sat by the window.  And two, the sky was clear.  Normally the aircraft takes us above the clouds and the world is pretty much hidden as we travel.  Our non-stop to Florida left after dark on a Saturday evening.  I watched the lights of South Bend as we rose skyward.  At first I could see the cars on the streets and the light spilling out of the homes, we passed over.  As our altitude grew, soon the moving white and red could no longer be discerned, but the street lights, line after line of them, remained visible.

From our cruising altitude of 34,000 feet the lights remained clear, bluish white pinpricks dotting the ink below.  I do not know how far the horizon might be from that height, but the lights spread as far as I could see.   Some scattered randomly, others following distinct patterns.  I found myself amazed at the sheer number – the thousands upon thousands of lights.

As I looked mesmerized at the view below I considered the lights.  To me the lights represented people.  For surely there would be no lights needed if no one lived in those areas.  I thought about all the people that at that moment were below me.  I wondered how many, if any, realized that a plane load of passengers crossed over head.  For as we flew toward our destination we passed over thousands – perhaps millions of people living their lives.  There may be some that noticed the flashing beacons crossing the dark sky, but most would be oblivious to our aircraft on its journey.  There were those at the dinner table, others with their attention glued to the TV, a few reading, some moving about in their automobiles, and I have no doubt others in bed.  People living their lives.  People scattered across countryside, cities, and towns.  So many lights – and more people.  Young people, old people, and all the ages between. 

Yes, that night, the lights revealed, that we passed over many people, all types of people.  And that thought came to me there as I looked out of the window of a plane at six and a half miles up.  For too often we pigeonhole people – like they were no more than different colored light bulbs.  We label people:  protestant – catholic, white –black, European – Asian, and hundreds of other categories used to separate.  We considers those like us – and those we see as different, and value others accordingly.

Is that right or fair?  What yardstick would we wish to be measured?  How are we viewed by others?  For each of us is an individual and each of us carry a unique-ness.  For people are like snowflakes – no two are alike.  It is this distinctive-ness that combined with the distinctive-ness of others which forms a society of grand possibilities.  Difference is difference – respected but not be feared.

So as I traveled across a dark sky seeing the grand vista of lights below and stars above, I once more understood, that in our unique-ness we are all different -- but in our human-ness we are all the same!

 (553 Words)