Musings in Bakersfield

I have to admit that sometimes my job is pretty dreamy. Of course, it always seems that way to outsiders because they haven't experienced the reality of passengers rolling their eyes and blaming you for yet another weather delay or being delayed yourself for a mechanical and not being able to get home to your family. I've moved past those struggles and learned to embrace them. My latest learning experience has been listening to coworkers complain about trivial things over and over again.

It's always the same tune with a different voice. Don't get me wrong; I complain in my head A LOT, but most of those complaints come from other people. I'm just recently learning to stop them in their tracks and remember that these are literally "first world problems." That is the best way to describe my annoyance at flipping safety cards back to the front of a seat back pocket or having to pick up a few cups in the aisle, when that's the job of the flight attendant who was on the plane before me (that's right, regional flight attendants have to tidy up the plane themselves. We don't get a fancy cleaning crew! Okay, that's another lovely complaint)! In reality, I have a job. I have the sweetest, most handsome fiancé on the planet (okay, sorry had to brag a little there, since I literally can't believe my Prince Charming actually exists in the flesh). We have an apartment and an abundance of food. I wouldn't struggle getting a loan, and we have a small savings. My family is healthy, and I don't worry about any of them. My biggest worries are having seats open to get to work and looking for a house.

Some people struggle to pay for food or find work. They have to worry about protecting themselves from being killed by guerrillas or gang members, and, God forbid, they have a life they've build here in the United States for decades be taken out from under them and they be sent back into that kind of violence, just because we have a president in office with a personal vendetta against people who look different than him or didn't plop out of their mom, luckily, on American soil. If you haven't watched "Undocumented" on Netflix yet, educate yourself and learn to listen to those around you. They are fighting a battle that we haven't even tried to understand.

I'm not sorry for this post suddenly taking a turn towards reality, taking your mind away from your phone and back into what's happening in society today. I hope it's not the only article you read today that reminds you to feel immense gratitude and to show kindness to those struggling through these decisions being made by our government, without any thought of how they will affect the lives of people here, only caring that those decisions will not affect themselves. How our president can claim he is a "Christian" who completely lacks all compassion is beyond me, but hopefully he won't claim that title much longer, right?

Yeah, like I said, so many more problems to worry about. My coworkers' complaints about how we have "so much more emergency equipment than we used to" seems to go right over my head.