Have you ever spent a significant amount of time in an airport? I sincerely hope not, for your sake. Airports have many uses, and they have enabled us to make important strides as humans, but they are definitely squeaky wheels in the machine of American civilization.
Airports are not altogether evil, but rather a necessary evil. They allow us to travel safely (for the most part) from one destination to another, and often a lot of space occupies the area between these. Air travel allows families to connect in the event of an emergency. It allows soldiers to come home from war much more quickly. It helps missionaries and medical aides fly to places such as Haiti, Chili, China, the Gulf of Mexico, and now Louisiana, where natural disasters have plagued the denizens there. It allows our leaders to meet with their counterparts in the rest of the world and decide on foreign and domestic affairs.
This is not to say that the system is without its flaws, be them large or small. Most airlines, for example, charge extra money for each checked bag. This is collected when the traveler reaches the counter in the terminal. However, if the traveler in question is an unaccompanied minor without a credit card, how is he or she to pay this fee? Why do airlines not establish different procedures for unaccompanied minors so that if no credit card is available, the minors are still able to board their flight? Air ports are also often confusing; there are endless lists of rules and regulations that must be followed, even concerning water bottles taken on the plane by a traveler before the security checkpoint.
Obviously the tragedy of 9/11 and numerous other attempted attacks have caused this to occur. Because of the selfish and harmful desires of a few, many people must deal with the obstacles inevitable in airports. The airport system as it is (at least in Arizona) is definitely far from perfect, but this simply aides us in learning a lesson about life: many things are imperfect. A list of these things would surely never end, and if it did by some chance, it would absorb far too many pages for a humble blog post such as this one. Many parallels between airports and life can be drawn- the workers in airports compared to angels and, well, not angels; the security checkpoints compared to tests and trials; the safety speech before take-off compared to school. But I digress. The point of the matter is that airports, in a funny and eclectic way, represent the difficulties and triumphs of life. Things appear great in the beginning; then there are bumps (and sometimes chasms) in the road; then the journey continues up and down, up and down, until you realize that the best way to make it through is to rely upon God and family and friends, and to realize that life is about enduring and enjoying the journey. And in the end, there is a reward waiting for us. In the case of life, this is heaven. In the case of the airport, this is a Starbucks (after the security checkpoint, of course).
