Character takes flight with you – if you have it. Men and women of character exercise that character when traveling via any public transportation. In flight, they may have even more opportunity to exercise it.
Character takes flight when you travel with children. An article in today’s news tells of a family who were booted from a plane because they had not exercised character – and had not built it into their three-year old daughter. Boarding an airplane in Florida, the parents bought the required 3 seats – one for the three-year old girl.
Federal Aviation Administration rules require all children age 2 and above to have their own seats. They require, too, that the children be in those seats, wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.
These parents, however, had not taught their daughter – even at age 3 – to submit to those in authority. She would not submit to her parents, and she would not submit to airline personnel. Instead, according to the airlines’ spokeswoman, Judy Graham-Weaver, the little girl “was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn’t get in her seat” during boarding. As a result, the entire family was ushered from the plane.
Was the airline being cruel? Not at all. They were showing character – exercising responsibility for the safety of every passenger, including the 3-year old and her parents. They were showing character – exercising punctuality and fairness to the passengers on a flight that had already been delayed 15 minutes, waiting for the parents to take control.
The airline did not leave the family stranded in Florida. They refunded the full price of the three tickets. They also offered the family three roundtrip tickets to any destination the airline flies. Again, the airline exercised character in being very fair and compassionate to the family despite the trouble caused.
Character takes flight, and it’s a lesson every child should learn. Even a little girl of 3 can learn if her parents read a book such as Little Zoh’s Submissive Trunk. She can learn the importance of doing what those in authority want her to do, trusting that they have good reasons for their requests.
Her parents should build character in their own lives, too. They should develop convictions about the rightness of their child obeying quickly and unquestioningly when they ask her to get in her seat. They should learn to exercise the courage of their convictions and not give in to the whims of the child.
Character takes flight when we show respect to others on a plane. We show that we value others by refraining from making noise. My husband and I traveled between the U.S. and Japan with 2 babies under 1 year of age, and kept both relatively quiet even though they had chicken pox. It took planning. It took effort. It also took a deep desire to respect other passengers.
Men and women of character will control children on planes. They will refrain from letting children crawl over fellow passengers. They themselves will not crawl over fellow passengers unnecessarily. They will not sprawl into neighbors’ seats. They will limit alcohol consumption. They will not intrude into another’s personal space in conversation or otherwise. They will not block aisles.
There are many ways that character can be exercised when traveling by air. Most apply to all means of public transportation.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?