Flight 1569

[archive from: February 13, 2006]
I woke this morning and like most days I’m never sure what encounters I might have that will stir my thought process. After having a great night of sleep at a great hotel, then taking a custom motor coach to the airport, the day had already started really well. The motor coach dropped me off right at the check-in counter at the Birmingham airport and I had a really smooth check-in process.

The group I was with had enough time to grab breakfast and hang out before we went to our various gates. It was a good morning. Well paced.

When I got to my gate to board the plane, I noticed a couple of men in camouflage clothing. Looking closer I noticed that they were in the Army. One of the men looked to be in his early 20’s and engaged to be married. His fiancé was with him and they were in a constant embrace. The other officer looked to be in his mid-30’s and he was married, with two sons; his sons were probably 6 years old and 3 years old.

The gate attendant was beginning the boarding process (by zones, of course) and with most unspoken airport rituals, everyone began congregating at the end of the gate entrance…me included. I was standing in the middle of the general walkway. Within moments after the airport employee announced the beginning of the boarding zone 1, the 6-year-old son of the married soldier, began crying and cried out, “please don’t leave Daddy!” In the hustle and bustle of the airport gate, all eyes and attention was now directed toward this family. Some (like me) watched with sympathy and others would look occasionally, either way, you could feel the sympathy in this group. In my mind, I felt like in that moment of watching the reality of war, the reality of service, and this random group of people had become a community.

The young boy continued to cry out to his Daddy. With every cry, you could feel the weight of our sympathy. I began to get tears in my eyes and as I looked around me I caught the eyes of an older woman and she was in tears. With each cry of this young boy to his Daddy, businessmen, businesswomen, vacationers and people from foreign countries observed and internalized the pain that this family was going through.

The gate attendant then announced “Zone 5”. Both of the soldiers had seats in this zone and it was time for them to board the plane. The younger soldier and his fiancé embraced and both were crying. It was hard to watch and even harder to write about. The married soldier picked up his older son and began to console him as he cried loudly and continued to plea with his daddy to “not go”. His wife gave her husband one last hug and kiss; his younger son gave him one last hug and kiss. It was heart wrenching to watch, but it wasn’t over when they boarded the plane.

After the soldiers waved good-bye and walked down the ramp to board the plane, the fiancé of the younger soldier began crying, sobbing. She was no more than 6 feet away from me. She put her face into a pillar in the walkway of the airport and all you could see was the back of her head shaking from the tears. I caught the eye of older businessmen and both of us were crying. The older son of the married soldier ran to the window and went into a tirade of crying and screaming for his daddy.

“Daddy, please don’t go!”

“Daddy, I love you! Please Daddy, please don’t go!”

You could feel the awkwardness in the moment. Primarily because there was nothing we could do. Nothing we could say. Nothing. We were powerless. I was speechless.

Everyone observing wanted to reach out and say something; but what can you really say? Most of us had tears coming from our eyes or we were welled up with tears, but those tears weren’t going to bring those soldiers back to these people.

The gate attendant then announced “zone 7” and it was time for me to board the plane.

When I got on the plane I decided to read 1 John 1. It reads:

“We write you now about what has always existed, which we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, we have looked and we have touched with our hands.” (NCV)

I know that this scripture is written about Jesus, but in that moment, the scriptures came alive in a new context. The war has been going on for years now and although I’ve been aware of it, it wasn’t personal to me. It was something that I heard on the nightly news. And occasionally, you hear about some soldiers being killed in the war. It’s a blip on our radar for us, but not for these people. Not for this 6 year old boy. It is very real.

For me the war wasn’t real or personal up to this point. It is now. And if it wasn’t for those around me that were observing at the gate for flight 1569, it is now.