Superintendent’s Chat

Richard McClements, Shonto Preparatory School

This chat discusses stepping back and looking at life from a bird’s perspective. How does a bird learn to avoid oncoming cars? Their timing is just about perfect. They will be doing what birds do and fly out of the way just in time. Birds are incredibly interesting if you just take the time to watch them and their mannerisms.

On the 4^th of July weekend, I flew home to visit my mother and daughters. There were many delays, and I got into the Syracuse airport at 2:30 A.M. I had planned to catch a rental car, but of course at that time of night, the rental car booth was closed. I had no choice but to sleep in the airport. I had a laptop computer and two suitcases to deal with. I found a comfortable couch near the luggage pickup. I put that computer beneath my head as a pillow to make sure no one took it. I draped my hand over the two suitcases so I would feel it if a thief was about to snatch them. I slept on my side with my wallet beneath me. I was all set. I wondered if anyone who spotted me thought I was a “homeless bum” who had caught a convenient place to sleep. I smiled.

The first things I had to deal with were the bright lights and the various workers who were cleaning the airport. Soon I learned to block out their noise. Next, I started to listen to the background music playing over the loud speakers. The selections were just beautiful. I enjoyed song after song. Soon I forget about my desperate need to sleep and simply enjoyed the music. I thought to myself that I needed to spend more time listening to music when I got back to Shonto. Since it is so hard to get a radio station due to our remote location, I planned to buy more CD’s and play them on my computer which is on most of the day. Eventually, I drifted off.

The next thing I knew, I awoke to the sound of two women chatting. Instead of being disturbed by this interruption, I listened to their conversation. They were airline stewardesses who were getting ready to go to work. I checked my watch. It was 4:15. It was too early to get up as the car rental booth didn’t open until 8. I went back to sleep.

At 6 A.M, I woke up. The airport was now bustling as travelers were checking in. I went outside and sat on a bench. Since I had the two suitcases and laptop, I knew that sooner or later I would get one of the luggage carts that travelers were using and avoid paying the $3.00. Cost wasn’t the issue, But since I had time to spare, I thought it would be foolish when I only had to wait a couple of minutes until someone else left his. I spotted a Chinese family with about ten suitcases. I knew I had my cart. I smiled in satisfaction as he emptied it, and I grabbed it. One of my suitcases was really heavy. Now I was all set.

As I sat on the bench, I watched several tiny birds as they hopped about looking for food. It hit me then that normally I would have never taken the time to do that. They were beautiful and interesting. One of thoughts that hit me was why do they hop rather than walk as we do? If any reader knows the answer, I sure would like to hear it. As stupid as it may sound, it also occurred to me how lucky I am to be a person and not a bird, dog, or cat. How often do we get to think that? ---- Only perhaps when we take the time to think it. It occurred to me that the tiny sparrows were identical and that for some reason. God has seen to it that a sparrow only mates with another sparrow – not like us Americans.

We are a mixture of every race on the planet. I chuckled as I thought of my heritage. While I am Irish, perhaps centuries and centuries ago, an invading Viking may have left his mark on my family line. Maybe one of the sailors from the Spanish armada of 1588 who was shipwrecked off the Irish coast was somewhere in my line. I prefer to assume it was a Viking, as that made me a “feared marauder.”

Then I started to watch people arriving in their cars and unloading their luggage and saying good-bye to loved ones. These people were all ages and all shapes and sizes. One woman hugged a man and just cried and cried. A black Marine walked by. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was on his way to Iraq, and if we Americans value their sacrifices enough. We are taking this war of terror for granted and need to take it more seriously.

Three workers walked by and one said that some guy had a job that paid him $15.27 an hour. He said it as if that man was so lucky. That is only in the range of $30,000 a year. Once again, I reflected on how fortunate I am to have an education and earn substantially more and love what I do.

I went into the airport to have breakfast. As I walked through, I observed the airline staff dealing with people. Most were patient and kind. I felt good about that, as service is what they are supposed to give. I ordered orange juice, a big muffin, and coffee. As I sat down, I noticed that the man next to me was terribly deformed and less than five feet tall. He was with his wife and son. It was clear that they were a happy family, and I was moved to see that in spite of his infirmity, he had love.

While I was sipping my coffee, I opened up the small suitcase and took out my 13 bottles of vitamins. For some reason, I didn’t close the suitcase. I then went to the men’s room to brush my teeth. I set that open suitcase on top of another. The next thing I knew, it had fallen off and everything came flying out. Instead of being angry with myself, I started laughing – thinking of Murphy’s Law, which is whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Just minutes before, I had made the wrong decision and now I was paying for it. I thought how I needed to trust my intuition more.

The point of this whole story is for all of us to stop and smell the roses. There is so much to appreciate about everyday life. Much of the time, we don’t see the wonders and beauty that are all around us. In retrospect, now I am glad that I had that early morning experience at the Syracuse airport. Somehow, I am a better man because of it.