mur-c-mi

People I met or saw on my bad travel day.

The flight home from Heathrow was packed. I was assigned an Isle seat along the side of the plane. I took my Isle seat next a nice Canuch studying in London. Within a few minutes the conversation came around to why I was in London. I told him about the prayer/missions training. He seemed rather interested, but asked if we would incorporate forms of prayer from other religions. We continue talking for a while then he fell asleep while we’re talking. That was fine with me.

In the 5^th or 6^th hour we got to talking again. He told me that he was studying development and that he’d lived in India. He’d actually lived in the city where the Dali Lama lives. Which would explain the Tibetan prayer book he was softy reciting for a while after his nap. We talked at great length about the G8, Live-8, China, Tibet, Oxfam, the Bill Gates foundation, Walmart and what he called the “Aid Industry. He was not impressed with the Live-8 effort and that a majority of the Aid that gets portioned to poor countries doesn’t even leave the sending countries. He said Oxfam is about the most effective of the Aid agencies, but the only real change would be affected by transformation of the infrastructure of the poorer countries. If the monetary aid gets to the countries in need at all, it often just creates an unhealthy dependency on the giver. Further the poorer countries have no way of competing in the global market. The Tibetan farmer raising barley has little chance or competing with the US subsidized barley producer. He said the “Aid Industry” is really just the richer country’s way of alleviating some guilt while we continue trading and doing business as usual. It was really interesting and challenging to talk with him.

During one the times I got up during the flight to stretch my legs I noticed this man seating several rows behind me. His face was greenish and he had what looked like budding horns on his forehead. I had to go ask the flight attendant something so I took a closer look as approached the back of the plane. What I thot for sure was some sort of mask was actually a tattoo of his whole face. The design was light blue and light green interlocking puzzle pieces. Only his eye sockets weren’t tattooed. As for the horn buds, he must have had some sort of implant, because there were little horns about the diameter of quarter or 10p coin. To add to it he was sound a sleep with his had back and his mouth wide open. He looked dead. It gave me a shiver looking at him. Shortly after that his girlfriend came out of the toilet. She too was tattooed all over her face and down her arms. Hers were stripes like a Zeebra or snake. She had stripes that started on her forehead that extended down her shoulders onto her chest or down her arms. They were quite the match, but it made kinda sad. They seemed completely given over to a really dark form of Tatoo art which I’m sure is reflective of their lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong I’m not anti Tattoo one of my friend has sleeves but, this was creepy.

After we landed in Chicago I saw this massive man who’d just arrived from Manchester. I’m sure he was professional rugby player. Then I talked to this guy on the train from the Manchester flight who, I'm pretty sure, was a heroin addict who was on his way to LA. He talked about how “shattered” he was. I’m sure that was true.

Finally, during the 4^th or 5^th hour of my lay over I saw Oprah Winfrey’s live-in, Steadman. He’s quite tall and was wearing those fancy Nike or Adidas sweat suits. He sauntered casually down the terminal/wing looking like a retired NBA player.

I didn't see John Cusack, but what an interesting day.

posted by kt @ 7/17/2005 10:55:00 PM