Expectations

I fly a lot for my job. Once a week, or at least one every couple of weeks, I pack my bags and head off to the airport to travel around the country. To an extent, I see flying as a very common thing. It’s really not a big deal for me to have to fly.

Often times, I get a little annoyed at the people that are slow at security, or doesn’t know where to go or when to get on the plane. I used to wonder, what’s wrong with them, this is so simple.

On my flight out to Vegas last week, I sat next to a couple from Georgia. They said they’ve never been so far out west before and that this will be their first time traveling flying away from home. They had just retired and they were spending a week in Vegas. They were going to rent a car and drive to the border to say that they’ve been in California.

Just imagine. They're in their mid-60s and they've never left the south! Never seen the Pacific. There has been several times when I've seen the Atlantic and Pacific ocean in the same week.

I didn’t really think much about it at the time, but then something dawned on me later. I shouldn’t have been as shocked at this couple as I was. There are probably a lot of people out there that are in the same boat as this couple. They are probably more the norm than I think. People who live their lives in one general area and never traveled around. While that seems very strange to me, my idea of things are probably skewed.

This lead me to think about some of my other ideals. I wonder what else I think is/should be usual or something simple that really is not for other people. Is working a 12 hour day and then wanting to go out not the norm? Is it not a normal expectation that people not get tired? Is preparing for a zombie uprising not something everyone does?

I know this gets me into trouble. I have theses ‘expectations’ or ideas about things and how things should be. Naturally, they’re not always as I think. I know it shouldn't but when things are happening as I think they should be, it greatly upsets/surprises me.

I guess knowing is half the battle.