What makes someone a genius? How comes one person wins the lottery on such low a probability? What set a Malaysian flight apart from thousands in today’s aviation sky?
A few weeks ago, I was looking up at the same Boeing 777 overhead bin, and admiring its contour design. One hour into flight, that’s when passengers were allowed to use the restroom before the in-flight meal. The majority of passengers on the ill-fated Malaysian flight were from China, “snow birds”, back from early Spring break. (The Chinese New Year rush had then been behind).
Relatives were there in Beijing, anticipating their coming back.
No transit. Just got waved through at arrival if you are a national.
I remember looking up and admired the design and decor at Beijing airport as well. Just to kill time. There was a hotel on prem, where relatives of flight 370 are gathered to brace for the worst. Instead of holding a hand-written sign with someone’s name, we might as well see signs that say “have you seen flight 370 anywhere?”.
The jet just vanished into thin air. As if existence were just a looming cloud at 35,000 feet. Nobody wanted to speculate, but everybody knew as more time has passed, the slimmer the chance for any survivor. At least South China Sea is warm at this time of the year, unlike counterparts in Polar Vortex region.
But still. No trace except for the oil streaks seen from an aerial surveillance. (at this edit, even this faint glimpse of hope turned out to be a false alarm).
Anger! How come two people using stolen passports were allowed on the plane? Others said they didn’t trust the Vietnamese. Right!
The public learned a new fact: 40 million passports got stolen. That’s the population of a small country. Where are they trying to go with those documents? Leaving behind loved ones, the familiar for the unknown?
If we had stayed put, we wouldn’t have made that much progress (now that we have stood on the shoulders of Columbus and the Wright Brothers).
But progress comes at a cost.
Just as we thought it’s safe and that we may unbuckle our seat belts, that’s when disaster hits. Leaving behind very few traces, and the many to stay sleepless, conjecturing and questioning. The airline, Interpol and government of many countries will have to handle this crisis to show they are now ready and skillful in toughest of times.
And for us, nothing can be taken for granted, for the last person we see might be that person sitting near the window, and the last sight, the overhead compartment, with dimming lights that bid us into the gentle goodnight. Chinese or Japanese, grief is grief for all bleed red.
