Lift Off

I am not bound by anything... no one is. Where we may be limited in the physical world, we are absolutely free in our mental world. We do choose, for the most part, how we live. This being said, I have found a new form of freedom: flying. I started flying lessons about two months ago. And I feel there is no freedom like flying. There is a moment right before take off, when I'm sitting on the runway, waiting to go. It's the calm before the storm. My plane sits at one end the runway, the engine is going, but my feet are pressing down on the brakes, so I'm not moving. I push the throttle in the whole way, and I listen to the engine roar. The propeller moves so fast I can no longer see the motion. The plane jolts forward as I release the brakes. The wheels are still touching the ground for half the length of the runway as I gather enough speed to take off. About three quarters of the way down the runway I lift the nose of the plane and I'm airborne. I slowly go from touching the ground to 3000 feet in air.

From 3000 feet in the air, the world is a very different place. The world is much more beautiful. The details that I focus on on the ground, are no longer visible 3000 feet in the air. Large becomes small, and small becomes non-existent. There is a whole new set of details, that were previously unseen. Flying has given me a new perspective on how to look at the world. Sometimes we focus so greatly on very small details, we miss the whole picture. It's much easier to see everything if you step away and look at things from a different point of view...

All the philosophy aside I really enjoy flying. I enjoy the lift off the most. There's an element of magic mixed in with all of the engineering/science. I think I'm in disbelief each and every time I pilot the plane to take off. I usually sit an airplane about once a month, it's definitely not the same. There's something about piloting the plane yourself...

On Butterflies and Significance

In most Indian films you know something life altering is going to happen if there is lightning. There's a lot of lightning and thunderstorms today and if this was an Indian film, something life shattering would definitely be happening right now. Of course life doesn't work that way. We have ups and downs, rights and lefts, usually very few "point of no returns." Most real significant moments in life accumulate over time. They take years to develop and sometimes a moment to realize. We tend to focus on these moments and give them great importance. They are realizations, wake up calls, signs from God, whatever you would like to call them. I don't believe there are switches that change you for good, I think changes accumulate and build up over time. This accumulation tips you to a point of no return... Without the accumulation there would be no tip... so is the tip significant, or is it the slow buildup. Why do we focus on that one moment?

I think we all want to be "better." Better people, better siblings, better spouses, better employees... whatever it may be, just better. There's a myth or a hope that makes us want to believe there will be some random point in time, when we'll be struck, not by lightning, but by a higher power to give us the strength or inspiration to be better. We've all heard the stories of people that had their awakening call one day while doing some seemingly mundane task, and their life is changed thereafter. I think we wait for a moment like this to give us a reason to change, give us hope to be significant. Significance, like most things, is a relative term. We want to change the world, but we feel we can't make an impact from our small house in our small city. The truth is we don't know how far our actions reach. You can just smile at someone at your local coffee shop and change the course of their day, maybe even their life. Smiling at someone doesn't seem very significant to me :)

What do they say about butterflies and hurricanes again?

A Fast Year

I can't believe it's August. I don't even remember when this year started and now it's more than half over. This year has been full of good changes for me and most of the world. I think deep down the conscious of the world we knew we couldn't keep up the way we were going. Our checks and balances system was off. Our economy collapsed. Our environment is changing due to global warming. I'm happy to see the President pushing the world to change. President Obama initiated a program for Americans to switch in there old cars for money to put toward hybrid cars. The program sold out their billion dollar budget in days. The world is ready. We need this change.

Thinking back to the months that have gone by, I think so much has happened that it seems time has been in fast forward. Every morning something new is happening. I recently read that the recession has started showing signs of slowing down. I'm a little surprised to see that. Maybe my life is still hasn't found the balance that economy is finding. I can see the signs of the recession a little more clearly in Tennessee. There is a much larger divide between the wealthy and the poor here. Signs of the recession are everywhere. Empty restaurants, vacant parking lots, stores closing down, foreclosed/auctioned homes.

Aiya, you might find it amusing that in the US the poor are usually quite overweight. The wealthy are usually slim. It seems like an oxymoron, until you see the most of the people below the poverty line eat food from McDonald's, BurgerKing and other fast food restaurants. The commercials on TV advertise fast easy and very cheap meals. Most of these families can't afford better than this. They are left without a choice. These restaurants have disproportionally changed the amount of diabetes and heart disease in the poor communities.

I'm excited to see the world after this new balance has been found. I'm hoping for a better place. I have been reading a great book: The Next Hundred Years. I recommend it. This book has really made me think about the world as we know it, the future that seems so sure, and the impossible being possible.