In the midst of inconvenience you can learn a lot about people.
On my first flight where I was “carry-on-challenged,” my seat mates were most interesting. The young woman next to me had the same problem I had. We were in bulkhead, right at the front of the plane, and our seatbelts would not “click.” Our gentleman seat mate could not get ours fastened either. What did we do? We agreed to not say a word, thus flying without being strapped in properly. We didn’t want a mechanical called as we had tight connections. Ha!
Anyway, the man sitting with us had two astonishing stories. First of all, he was a survivor of the “Miracle on the Hudson.” He relayed the story of the bird strike which stopped the engines, the rescue, the reunions they have each year, the movie with Tom Hanks. Fascinating story. After his first tale of survival, I was curious about the bracelet he wore and queried him. It looked like those old POW bracelets we wore in high school.
The bracelet commemorated his brother, a firefighter who lost his life entering the World Trade Center tower on 9/11 to save others. It was a humbling story he told, even more so when he relayed that he was in the financial building across the street during the attack. He survived when his younger brother perished. That story proved just as extraordinary in all aspects as the first one.
I felt like I was traveling with a man both blessed and inspirational. I thanked him for sharing his stories and returned home with a renewed faith in humanity.