Live Outside of Security

The international terminal is unlike anywhere else in the airport.  The curbs outside the domestic terminals are just casual occurances.  The cars pull up, the trunk pops open, the passenger gets out, grabs the suitcase, waves through the window and off they go.

I sometimes each lunch here in the international terminal, just outside of security.  I can't help but notice the mother as she hugs her adult son and buries her head in his chest because no matter how old he is, she wants her son close.  Couples kiss and try to leave each other but just can't let go, and kiss just one more time.  Entire families wave as the college age girl moves hesitantly away into the security line.  Last minute advice is thrown to "stay safe"  and "have a great time".  Then tears are wiped away as the families turn and walk away.

I don't know why this place is so different.  Maybe it's because of the distance that will be jammed in between them in just a few minutes as the plane hurtles into the sky.  Maybe it's because the future is uncertain and the return flight isn't yet set.  Whatever the reason, true geniune love is apparent here.  There are very few casual goodbyes.

I want to bottle this up.  I want to take this love and appreciation and give it away in bulk to the world.  If we could, throughout the day, have this feeling toward our loved ones when they don't do this dishes or leave the light on for the fourteenth time in a row, our day would be different.  And when we continually have days that are different, that are better, the world begins to change.

I know that it feels overwhelming to try to change the whole world, but what if we all did it, one person at a time, one moment at a time, by always living just outside the security gate.