Human nature - good or bad... or perhaps indifferent ??

2/10/2011

Recently, there have been several occasions where I have been confronted with the notion of good vs bad in its various forms, and it is a subject that holds my attention and to which I try to find answers that satisfy me. One of the things that really made me go "WOW" in more than one way was the following real-life "story" sent to me by a friend. Apparently the actual happening made headlines in the US sometime early January. I confess not to have seen the message before.Personally, it made me swallow several times - I had a hard time holding my tears back, but failed miserably, I admit without shame.

There's an awful lot of BAD out there in the world - I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new here.
But once in a while we find that there are still people capable of showing what it means to be human, and in fact are prepared to bend, indeed go against the house rules, even if their job is on the line.
Don't let me hold you any longer - judge for yourself ... remember, it's quite an emotional story, so keep the tissues handy!

Quote++
Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.
He is being taken off life support tonight at 9 o’clock and his parents have opted for organ donation, which will take place immediately.
Over 25 people will receive his gift tonight and many lives will be saved.
This morning, after only a couple hours sleep, my husband and I began to make all arrangements to get him to Denver to be with our daughter.
He is currently on business in LA and is flying Southwest.
While his employer, Northrop Grumman, made arrangements to get his ticket changed so he could get to Tucson today (which he had to do in order to not spend any extra money) I called Southwest to arrange his flight from Tucson to Denver so he would be stepping off one plane and getting on another.
He has several free flights with them so I couldn’t really do it on the website.
The ticketing agent was holding back tears throughout the call.
I’m actually her step mother and it’s much more important for my husband to be there than for me to be there.
In LAX, the lines to both check a bag and get through security were exceptional.
He got to the airport two hours early and was still late getting to his plane.
Every step of the way, he’s on the verge of tears and trying to get assistance from both TSA and Southwest employees to get to his plane on time.
According to him, everyone he talked to couldn’t have cared less.
When he was done with security, he grabbed his computer bag, shoes and belt and ran to his terminal in his stocking feet.
When he got there, the pilot of his plane and the ticketing agent both said, “Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”
The pilot held the plane that was supposed to take off at 11:50 until 12:02 when my husband got there.
As my husband walked down the Jetway with the pilot, he said, “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
The pilot responded with, “They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.”
My husband was able to take his first deep breath of the day.
I don’t know any other airline that would have done this.
Unquote++

... I'm sure you're touched...

Undoubtedly, there will have been many grumbling and unhappy passengers on that plane, wondering "what-the-hell-is-happening-now" or words to that effect, while they sat and waited to be airborne, and many among them would have had valid grounds to protest against the delay - late or even missed appointments, missing connections...to name but a few.
Yet the airline pilot made a very conscious decision to hold that plane... he knew that the most important person on that plane was not some VIP or company CEO on a business flight, but a bereaved father who desperately needed to be with his daughter in her hour of need to help her through the pain of losing her child.
I cannot possibly venture a guess at how many pilots would have made the same decision... all I can say is that this man deserves my absolute respect for refuting the rules and showing what it means to be "human".

The world could do with more of these "human" pilots that steer us safely through all sorts of difficult moments ...
At the same time I also wonder about the other people at the airport who were in a position to show "human kindness" and miserably failed to do so... I'm not implying these people were bad or doing someting bad. It's more a case of being "indifferent"... It makes me wonder though how they slept that night...

As Einstein said: "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

I hope I have given you something to reflect on...

As always,

Smiles,

Emm

~ The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul. ~ Walter Raleigh

4 Comments

Andy Moore link

2/10/2011 10:13:50 pm

Hi Emma,

This is a very sad story and reminds me of a time when I was younger.

In my early 20's I was a Despatcher/Redcap/Operations Officer for an airline based at London's Gatwick airport. One morning, I was given the job of collecting, by car, a lady who had arrrived from Houston. She was to be taken to the Glasgow flight where she lived.

I was told she was young, had very recently been married and her husband and her had gone on honeymoon to Mexico. Very sadly he drowned on the honeymoon and she was returning home.
Husband was in a coffin in the hold of a Boeing 707 on the same flight she was on from Houston.

I duly picked her up and as expected, she was in a very sorry state. I offered her my sincere condolences and drove her out to the aircraft to Glasgow. I had previously spoken to the air hostesses on the flight about this lady so they knew about her and what had happened. I put her straight onto the flight and lefft her in the hands of the very competent and understanding aircrew.

The coffin with deceased husband was transfered across the airport from the Houston flight to the small aircraft going to Glasgow. All the passengers were now aboard the aircraft and were waiting to depart. All we were waiting for now was the cofffin to go into the baggage hold underneath the aircraft.

The loaders were taking a very long time to load this cofffin and the Captain and crew were a getting anxious about the delay. I went up to speak to the Captain to discuss what was happening. After hearing the story of the honeymoon, he was adamant that the coffin should go in the hold and travel with the wife to their home in Glasgow.

After many attempts to load the coffin and after half an hours wait, it became plainly obvious to all that this coffin would not go into either hold - fore or aft.

I went to tell the Captain that it was impossible to get a coffin into a hold of such a small aircraft. The differences in size between the two aircraft was huge. Someone had clearly messed up and the coffin would not now be travelling on the same aircraft.

I told the Captain and Senior Flight Hostess that we couldn't do it. The Captain was very dejected at this news and the hostess, already getting grief from the 'businessmen' that the flight was delayed, and clearly in tears, went off to tell the lady that her husband would have to travel separately. (I heard later from the same hostess that the wife was totally distraught - understanably so - and wanted to get off the flight to travel with him).

Meanwhile, Operations Control were going nuts at the delay and I was getting it in the neck from the MOCO - Manager Ops Control - over the radio about what was going on. There was no emotion from the ivory towers other than get that aircraft into the air. Never mind about the coffin, it would have to be trucked up!

I was told to get the flight off without the coffin - which was after all just another piece of cargo - and that is what I did. The doors shut, she started up and departed. One of the last things the captain said to me was, "Thank you for trying so hard, Andy. It would have meant so much for the wife if we could have done it." He was plainly upset, as we all were. I felt so sorry for this beautiful young woman, just married, starting out in life with full expectaions for a very exciting future with a man who had drowned in an accident - on their honeymoon!

This has stayed with me for well over thirty years. Since that day, I have always had great empathy for those in need and emotionally troubled. We can never really tell what angst people are experiencing. As you mention in your blog, most people don't care about anything that doesn't affect them immediately.

Yhere is a good quote from a book I read many years ago and it goes like this:

"We have become a race of technologically advanced imbeciles, living in a world we don't understand or care about other than what affects us directly and individually."

Sadly....

Best Wishes
Andy Moore

Emma link

2/11/2011 03:57:58 pm

Hi Andy,

Wow... thank you for sharing that.

I applaud you for doing your utmost to try and get the unfortunate young man's earthly remains transported back home on the same flight his widow was on; it's sad to know that it couldn't be done.

Sadder still is the fact that those in charge of operational matters, being totally aware of the circumstances surrounding the "delay" displayed no understanding whatsoever. I realise “life” must go on, but like you and those who were emotionally connected, feel the matter could have been handled more delicately and humanely.

I'm always thrown back by so-called "human" lack of being "human". If we could all stop and think about what is happening and then apply that situation to ourselves, I'm sure we'd behave in a totally different way toward fellow man. A more caring and understanding way. The quote you include in your last lines is unfortunately quite accurate and applicable to most members of the human race.

It's also interesting to note that in difficult times, as most of the world is experiencing these days, there appears to be a distinctly more selfish trend toward, let's call it, "self-preservation" at the cost of compassion toward people in need. We have several friends from former East Bloc countries who have remarked that since The Wall came down, people in communities who used to work closely together and help one another out whenever necessary would now no longer even greet their former neighbours or friends. Those who had attained a certain "status" after the changes had become "acclimatized", for lack of a better word, to the New Ways of living the high life. Where before people shared, they now had learned to envy and be jealous of their former friends' success. This is by no mean an attempt at entering into the political arena here... I’m talking “human” only!

Difficult to understand...
As a German proverb says: One does evil enough when one does nothing good...

Thank you again, for your contribution - much appreciated.

Smiles,
Emm

I

Phillip link

2/15/2011 02:12:52 am

Wow some storys there I would normally say how enjoyable and inspiring this post was when I normally comment on blog posts but in this case I am inclined to say that these 2 storys were not only emotional but also very inspiring.

There is a lot of evil in this world and the news channels, the tabloids as well as blogs seem to be full of it. I personally thing that where every evil arrises there is also an opportunity for good to arise. like in your quote about Emm the workers below the Human Pilot seemed only to be interested in doing their job and not going above and beyond their Job description to help a fellow human being! It was however refreshing to know that the guy at the top did go above and beyond.

The world of ours need more do-gooders like the people both you Emm and you Andy have mentioned here, I think this will be a much more wonderfull and amazing place we all have to live on and share with our fellow human! thank you both for these very inspiriting storys!

All My Best
-Phillip Dews

Emma link

2/19/2011 12:20:34 am

Hi Phillip,

thank you so much for your input - I truly appreciate it.

Unfortunately we live in a world where the "human" factor is in rather short supply. I have often wondered how well a "good-news-channel" would do in real life, because I am convinced that deep down it is up to us, each and every individual, to make a difference and be human, and promoting this by means of showing the "good" side of people rather than practically glorifying the negative happenings in this world might just tip the scales in favour of "beautiful" people, not necessarily in appearance, but definitely in the way they carry themselves and behave in their environment.

We can only continue on our quest and never give up believing that it is possible to make a difference, no matter how insignificant it may appear to be...

Thank you once again Phillip, for your input.

Smiles,
Emm xx

Human nature - good or bad... or perhaps indifferent ??

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