The Pleasure of People Watching

It’s Spring Break!

Despite my original plans to spend the week at home, I find myself at the arrivals area of the Fort Myers airport, anticipating the appearance of three friends with whom I will share this unexpected vacation. I’m more than happy to be here… I’m enthralled. I’m amped. I’m psyched. I’m pumped. I’m whatever it is that describes an intense feeling of excitement. My friends were more than generous to help me get here. I needed this getaway…

Anyways, if there’s one thing I like about traveling it’s the time I spend people watching. No, I’m not creeping… What I mean is that traveling brings out a really good side of the world which I often forget exists. Yes, people can get angry and frustrated with cancellations, delays and incompetent workers (you know it’s true!), but no matter what, traveling shows me that love really is out there.

I’m getting all Love Actually on you, I know. But I think that movie captures and portrays a fact about human life that is often lost within the chaos and confusion of everyday life: love really does exist. Although I am a frequent speaker about the atrocious habits of human society, including our ability to be cold, unforgiving and bad without just cause, it’s the time I spend watching all these unknown travelers that proves to me that goodness does exist.

For those of you who are not familiar with the movie I’m referencing, let me repeat to you the opening monologue:

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around” (Love Actually 2003)

Airports are stages upon which true human decency makes its debut. I can sit here, alone with my laptop, and still I cannot block out the sounds and sights of the families and friends reuniting and parting with the ones they love. I see grandparents standing with balloons… a woman standing with her hands clutched together tightly, looking over the vast crowds for her long-time friend… and a man standing teary eyed as he embraces the return of the woman he has loved since the very first time they spoke.

Every single person I watch, I envy. Love is beautiful and yet I have little faith in it. As my grandmother once said, there is a lid for every pot, and I know one day we will all find the people that make us truly happy. For me, at this point in my life, it’s my friends and family. I love them. I could not make it through the ups and downs of my hectic life if it were not for their support. While my family has always been a very big source of love and encouragement, my friends are the family I chose for my own, separate, and personal life.

Still, what is so incredible to me is the way in which airports, worldwide, show us the true and raw feelings we have for the people who mean the most. Take, for example, the departure gate; a place where even the strongest find themselves weak; where even the most stable find themselves crumbling. If love did not exist, the parting of those closest to us would not provoke such intense feelings of sadness, regret and anger towards their absence.

I will always enjoy traveling for the happiness I feel about arriving at my destination, but I know it is the time I spend watching and taking part in the loving moments of the people around me that will make my travels worth every penny. Each and every day we are surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of people we never meet or even notice, but what I want everyone to realize is that we are all connected through one basic desire: the desire to feel, experience and be in love. Whether it’s family, a friend, or someone we want to spend the rest of our lives with, love is all around.

Let’s go out there and find it.