After a perfect trip to St. John with two of my best friends and our moms, the Virginians headed home while the two Texans and two Georgians boarded a plane for Atlanta. Lamenting the fact that we had to leave the sunshine and go back to tests and writing papers, we all wished that we had one more day.
Be careful what you wish for.
After close to two hours of sitting on the plane, the pilot finally came on to tell us that the engine was leaking and we were not going anywhere. (I promise I don't always write about flight problems...) Eyeing the last plane departing for Atlanta out the window, we ran off the plane and headed for the ticket counter.
Another hour later, they were not able to get us on a direct flight to Atlanta but told us that we could get on a 6:30 am flight to San Juan the next morning and connect from there.
Exhausted and anxious to get home, we walked up to our gate the next morning to meet the same agent who printed our boarding passes now meticulously calculating the total weight of everyone's carry ons. Walking out onto the tarmac we saw why:
Two tiny 8 passenger puddle jumpers were now where a 757 had been yesterday. Not only did my head touch the ceiling of the plane but my mom looked over to see a small carrying case with a cartoon picture of a body-builder rooster on it sitting next to her (TSA approved?). The rustle of feathers and a scary looking man periodically glancing over his shoulder soon confirmed it: we were sitting next to two roosters on their way to San Juan for a cockfight.
Not kidding.
A thirty minute flight over the Caribbean (sound effects included) and we were in San Juan to get on a normal sized commercial airplane. At this point we were all on our second cup of coffee and were standing in line to board the plane, laughing about the roosters and the toy plane we had just come in on when my mom looked down to see a 6 inch sticker stuck to the bottom of her shoe. So naturally her response was to turn around to the stranger behind her, stick out her foot and say "here, take this" as if it was his duty.
Extending his own foot to step on the corner of the sticker he did. No questions asked.
Still wondering what compelled my mom to do that, I turned around to count as this sticker (a baggage tag?) was passed by twelve people standing in line to board the plane. No one asked why they were doing this, they all just let out a little laugh as it came to their feet and turned around to pass it off to the next in line. This all went on until a man in a blue striped shirt thirteen people back killed it with a shake of his head.
This may not be the best comparison, but as I was watching this I couldn't help but think of the movie "Pay it Forward". If you've seen it then you know what I am talking about and if you haven't, the premise of the movie is that someone does something kind for one person who then in turn does something kind for someone else and so it continues. It is basically a domino effect of kind-hearted gestures.
Though clearly passing a sticker on can't really be classified as a benevolent act, it did produce the same "pay it forward" effect. The laughter that passed through the passengers waiting to board the plane as the sticker moved from person to person was infectious.
This is a ridiculous example of a great concept. It's incredible the effect a small act can have on someone's day; how after canceled flights and plane rides with roosters you can find yourself in a group of people laughing over a sticker.
would have loved to see susan throughout all of this... only yall would get stuck with roosters on the way to a cockfight
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