Airline travel seems to be an endless money grab. Aisle seat $35, drink of water $4, it’s enough to make me reach for the motion sickness bag! It is comical: people complaining that they don’t get airline food; it wasn’t all that good.
Maybe the airlines are greedy, maybe incompetent– or maybe they are actually on to something important.
There was a time when the flight itself was part of the adventure – something to look forward to; people got dressed up to fly. Today most 15 year olds have been on more planes than trains; in fact, an outing on Chicago elevated tracks would be more novel than a flight to Los Angeles.
The airlines are dropping the “Queen Mary” mentality, embracing the “public transportation” persona. They are competing with Greyhound and Amtrak – offering to get you there as efficiently as other modes of transport; that’s it, no frills. Thirsty, $4, hungry $5, bring along luggage, want better seats, like anything in life – the more you want the more it costs – simply want to be in Philadelphia by 6:00 PM – here is the ticket price.
There is a significant lesson here about differentiating between what we are doing and what we are doing it for. Think about your day – all the steps from point to point – where are we going? Does our destination get lost in the process of the journey? We can get so enwrapped in what we are doing that we forget that it is only the prep before the objective. Couples date interminably, forgetting that they are supposed to be creating a home. Perpetual students, too engrossed to finish their degree.
The Jewish people are susceptible to this attention diverter. We have been in exile for a long time – we are here to enrich the world; like a shaken spice box we spread a delightful aroma when we are dispersed. But “this” – our current world circumstance -- is only a precursor – a warm up for the objective of creation – a time when the world can apply all it has learned – the time of Moshiach. We are so busy stretching we forgot to exercise – so busy getting there we forget where we are going. With Moshiach around the corner we are at the end of the beginning.
So stripped down transportation has a message – get from point A to point B as efficiently as you can – the destination is the objective. World – we are supposed to transform this place we call home into a place in which G-d is at home – don’t be distracted by the tiny bags of peanuts.