Mini Rant

Winds and rain stopped all flying for the day.  At one point we had a wind gust so hard that it rattled our wall and knocked a knick knack over on a shelf on the wall.  That's pretty wild.  That is not a time to be in the air, thank you.

Kaylee was supposed to go out to dinner with Meredith, who backed out on her.  So we decided to go out together, and Kaylee wanted Thai food.  We went there but they had a sign on the door that they were carry-out only.  So we went to an Indian place instead.  I have never been there before, none of us had, so it was a new experience.  It is called "Lucky Indian".  It's in an older building, but they took a lot of care with details, and it's very nice inside.  Steve nor I had *any* clue what any of the food was, so I picked one by the description as best I could and chose "mild" spice chicken because I'm not a spicy food kind of girl.  Kaylee got "medium" spice lamb, and Steve got a spicy egg noodle thing.  Oh and "naan bread" which was *really* good.  It was a nice little family outing at a new place for us.  The server was really kind, and the place was clean and with good food.  I think we'll be back.  There were only two of us in the restaurant the whole time we were there.  I'm sure they could use the business.

Last week there was a social media movement where everyone was supposed to post a black square, to show solidarity to black lives matter.  If you didn't, you were told you were part of the problem of systemic racism.  That your silence was consent for bad things.  It was a hard push.  Many of my friends and several family members posted their black squares.  I didn't, and I had a hard time articulating why, until I saw this post from a tv personality who had been asked why she didn't post her black square, and the answer seemed to speak a lot for me too.  Here's what she had to say:

"Hi Danielle, I really appreciate you writing to me and following our story and our show.  I want you to know that my social media quiet is not a difference of opinion, it’s just a difference of expression. I think taking a “bigger” stand lies in the small opportunities we meet every day as we go to the post office or order food in a restaurant. I live in a 60% African-American city. I go to church with people who are not my color. I’ve loved those people and worshipped with them and I’ll teach my daughter the same. I believe Jesus teaches us mercy, love and empathy. And I believe social media posting under duress from the world is not the answer. It is artificial. It will not heal what’s wrong. Because a week from now, most of these same people will go back to posting the best summer sangria recipes and photos of their dogs because they feel they did their part with their post on Monday, and it’s a little sickening to me. So I just pull away from any mass movement. It feels insincere. I guess it’s the rebellious streak that worried my parents in high school now makes me wary of anything that “everybody’s doing.” But know this: I think what Jesus teaches me is to show mercy and love and kindness and compassion to every person I interact with every day of my life. I don’t have to post a black square for that to be true, and virtue doesn’t happen by demand of a mob."

That's pretty much exactly how I feel--that being blackmailed or pressured into going along with the mob on what's "in" at the moment is about as sincere as being told "You WILL say you're sorry" whether or not I actually am sorry.  Even if I was sorry, being forced to say it makes me not mean it.  Telling me that if I don't post a black square on my Facebook page means I'm a racist makes me inherently and immediately and firmly feel about as much like posting that picture as going to the dentist.  Maybe less.  And you know how I feel about those.  People who know me know my heart.  People who don't, I don't much care what their opinion is.  And it's a lot more meaningful to live your life walking the walk, not just posting a social media "trend of the day" and then feeling virtuous and self-righteous.  It's not just this one I didn't do.  I didn't post the "yanni" viral thing, or the black or blue dress, or the grey or pink shoes, or the ALS bucket challenge (and ALS is a lot closer to my heart than shoes), or change my profile pic for the "support this issue of the day" or anything else that is ever the current hot button on social media.  Ever. I don't even usually post "happy whatever" on holidays.  If everyone else is doing it and posting it and my feed is filled with it, the more I see it, the less interest I have in participating in it.  I'd feel like a sheep, just baa-ing along and doing what everybody wants me to.  Bleh.  I am against racism.  If you know me, I don't even need to say that.  I support everyone else's right to post it if they wish to use that as their voice of support, and I support my own right to not be shamed or forced into it.

Tomorrow's weather is questionable for the people I'm supposed to be flying with.  We shall see.  I got my exercise and my Spanish in today.  I'm on a 72 day streak.  It's getting harder to do now that I'm having 12-14 hour long days sometimes.  I am busy enough I don't care any more about my Spanish word of the day.  In the last 30 days I have done almost  75 hours of flight time.  The previous three months, I averaged about 10 hours per month, for a total of 31 hours in 3 months.  Yeah.  It's comforting though, because our industry is a barometer of economic well-being.  When times are hard, recreational flying and business flying both drop off a cliff.   After 9/11, and in the depression of 2008, our industry died, and we barely hung on.  I was afraid this would be like that.  Instead the stock market is up, the NASDAQ is at a record high, jobs are coming back, and whether some people like it or not, confidence is still high in the economic strength of our country.  And people are starting to fly like gangbusters again.  It relieves me to see.  :)