Wind

I have been dreaming of flying my underpowered Cessna over the Rockies for a long time. Whenever I drive home I see them in the distance and imagine me flying a tin can through them to the Pacific Ocean. I can not explain it, but they are calling my name. The biggest challenge is my plane flies about 100mph and the winds can easily be blowing close to that at the peaks. You can imagine what this does for ground speed and fuel reserves.

This has been making me think about adversity, and how it affects us all differently. If I had a bigger, faster plane, the winds would matter less. Isn’t that life? When a gas price rises it affects the poor disproportionately. Can you buy a steak when it costs 2 hours of take home pay? No. Do you care when it’s just a few bucks out of the extra money you have? Also no.

Why is this ok? Why do we accept this? Do the rich deserve better food? Please don’t tell me it’s because they made good choices, or earned it. True in some cases? Sure. But, I don’t care who you are the average drive thru worker works harder than you do.

I am tired of watching people work harder then me, and get less. I am self loathing on a good day, and this does not help. I well understand the flaws of socialism but can we stop telling ourselves we earned it? That how we live is ok? We did not, and it is not. The rest of the world goes with less, so we can live the way we do.

I am going to fly my 150 over the rocks. I am going to wait for a perfect day, blue skies to the ocean. I am pretty sure it will make me very happy. I see people with less doing the same thing. Having less, happier for it. More does not make you happier. It makes you weak. Soft. And I dare say annoying as hell. Ever listen to a successful man prattle on about his savvy business skills. Ever met a guy you liked less? I remember sitting by a megalomaniac who was worth millions at a function and all I wanted to do was go outside and talk to the kid who was parking the golf carts.

In hindsight the years I had the least I was the happiest. So maybe it’s fair after all. Maybe as always God has those with less in his sights and gives to them in ways we can’t understand, only feel.

Maybe wind is the best thing for us. Maybe less is truly more. Maybe the the beggars are already kings. I am damn sure when/if I land my 150 on the west coast I will feel a lot better than the fella who walks out of a private jet into a private terminal. While he is in an air conditioned cabin, drinking expensive Lysol, I will get to look at every canyon for a suitable emergency landing spot.

To those of us that have things other people do not have, can we stop saying we deserve it and they don’t? That is such bullshit. For every person who was lazy or made bad choices there is someone who outworks you for pennies on your dollar. To those of us that don’t have things others have, never let it affect how you see yourself. I think if you think about it you will see you are better off. It takes character and strength to not want more. But that really is the quickest path to happiness. Bring on the wind! (No more than 20 knots please)

If you read this far, thank you.

Tris.

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