Glimpsing the lives of others

[mtbc]

I had an interesting conversation with a member of cabin crew on one flight recently. I often sit near the back of the airplane which is a good way to get to chat with them. She was surprised that I opted for a window seat and I thought about it rather and, at least for shorter flights, I supposed that I like them for a few reasons. One is that the window affords a striking view that has been unavailable to humanity for much of its history so I feel obligated to take advantage of it. It took many people a lot of work to get us that view. Another is that, perhaps related to imagining the life of the monks in the abbeys I visited, I do like to think about what I see. For instance, I saw a large barge, maybe on a river to a Great Lake, and I thought about the people on the barge and how they know about managing and navigating it and whatnot. Also, I've mentioned coming into Newark: all the cargo containers and cranes and whatnot at the port's docks are a large, complex world unfamiliar to me but many others there know it well. Another thing about Manhattan is, in visiting it, I like to see places that are already familiar to me from television and movies: for instance, I was pleased to find myself passing the courthouse steps often seen in Law & Order (1990). I realized that a common thread here might be that I like to know about others' lives and to connect with them in tangible ways like sharing their world in person. This kind of thinking had my interlocutor label me a dreamer.