The world recently saw arguably its worst airline disaster on June 12 when a Boeing Dreamliner aircraft crashed into a building within seconds of takeoff. The pilots had a combined flying experience of 9,300 hours but fate is so gruesome that they didn’t even get one complete minute to decide, digest and deliver. This mishap made me think how ungrateful we are. While death is a certainty, we face each living day without being grateful. So every time you reschedule chores and work for later, remember that later is so uncertain.

 

One particular story worth mention from the Ahemdabad crash is of a young woman, all set to travel to London, who missed the flight by just 10 minutes. She must have pleaded and begged with the unrelenting airlines authorities to let her through, unaware of how lucky she actually was. She later told TV news channels that it was that traffic that had caused the delay. The Burnt Toast Theory comes into play. It says that each time you are rushing to work or some important event and some mishap takes place that leads to delays, do not get frustrated, for these delays are at times a blessing in disguise. Look at the bigger picture, one cannot connect the dots from present to future, dots get connected from present to past showing how some delays were miracles.

 

Our life is like an airport. Not everything will go as planned and sometimes, problems would save the day for us. In this journey of life too, there will be times when you achieve your goals in a single go, but there would also be times when nothing will; come easy. Departure gates are nothing but opportunities. Sometimes the gates change just like sudden opportunities that pop up in life.

 

he flight boarding and journey before landing is nothing but the people you meet on your way. The window seat shows us how far we have come or how small the problems look from above. The hand baggage you carry is nothing but your past beliefs, values, emotions which you don’t want to part with. The pilots are your conscious mind and self belief. They will help you navigate through turbulence and soar high in the sky. The cabin crew is your family, friends and mentors who keep caring for you, and even pushing you through the emergency exit when the need be. Then comes the landing, which can be smooth or rough, as is one’s karma. By Anika Santani